Hosts with the Mosts: Eat Out Al Fresco in Essex

Here are two different options to try this Christmas. Where will you eat out?

The Alma, Copford, Essex

The Alma is a good-looking redbrick village pub dating back to the 16th Century, with two boutique-style bedrooms upstairs, in Copford Green hamlet. Eat locally sourced dishes, from pork scratchings to sausage and mash, washed down with draught and kegged beers on the terrace warmed by patio heaters or inside the heated marquee in the grounds. Booking recommended; some availability on weekdays until Christmas.

Copford Green, Colchester, Essex CO6 1BZ; to book call 01206 210 607. 

Milsoms, Dedham, Essex 

Milsoms’ hattrick of restaurants in Essex offers seasonal al fresco dining on their trademark classics-with-a-twist dishes at Milsoms, their 15-room boutique hotel with a relaxed no-booking table policy, under oversized canvas sails in their pretty gardens with festival lighting, fleece rugs and plenty of heaters.  Also try the Winter Terraces at the fine-dining Le Talbooth restaurant also in Dedham and The Pier hotel and restaurant in Harwich on the Essex coast.

Stratford Road, Dedham, Essex CO7 6HW; to book call 01206 322 795.