Bullers Arms Hotel, Bude

Good food, Good ales, Friendly staff & locals.
The Bullers is the archetypal Village Inn and we dined there on several evenings during our recent stay in St.Gennys, south of Bude. The Bullers is a large white building in the centre of the village and is very easy to find by visitors to the area. It has a good sized car park and a large garden with wooden picnic tables. Despite it being peak time in a very busy August the service was good, and the bar staff and waitresses were both friendly and efficient. Though your schedule when on holiday revolves around the weather, booking your table a day or two ahead is advisable. This is one of those places where we all felt comfortable from the moment we walked in. There were 5 Real Ales available, including Tribute, Abbot and Betty Stoggs, the latter was particularly tasty. There is a wide choice available on the menu and also a Specials Board. The pan-fried chicken breast in a mushroom and Madeira sauce was excellent. A selection of vegetables has to be ordered separately. The food prices were about average for "milking the tourists in Cornwall" this year, and good value due to the high quality of the food. Within a few minutes of our arrival on our first visit we were very politely asked by the locals whether we would
like to participate in the quiz night, and later, whether we would like to purchase some raffle tickets, now that�s friendly.

26 Aug 2011 09:24

Wyndham Arms, Cullompton

We visited this excellent village dining-pub twice during our recent stay in East Devon in August. How I wish that we had pubs as good as this at home in Shropshire! The Wyndham Arms is a proper village local in the attractive
village of Kentisbeare, a few miles from both Honiton and Cullompton. The pub is next to the Church and opposite the village shop/post-office. There are Lots of wooden tables and umbrellas in a shaded area behind the pub
suitable for summer lunchtimes and warm evenings. The only criticism is that like many other village pubs, car-parking is not plentiful, though we managed to find a space each time parked tight beside the low-wall round the churchyard. Unfortunately on my getting in and out of the car on both occasions I was molested by the gear-stick! The pub keeps excellent Otter Bitter and Otter Ale, I also noticed Doom Bar as a guest ale, there may have been more. Halfway through our first visit the family were already asking me whether we could visit again during our stay. The Restaurant Service was attentive, with just the right delay between courses. Comparing our two visits ALL the bar, serving and kitchen staff were all different on each occasion, but they all had one thing in common, they were ALL very well trained and were very friendly and helpful. For example, my Wife asked for some Rose by the glass, they didn't have any open but the barman put himself out to go and find a bottle and bring a small sample glass into the Restaurant for my wife to try. They have a wide ranging traditional pub menu and a good range of Specials available. There is a proper Restaurant area, though we could have eaten at a table in the bar if we had wanted. The food is nicely cooked to order, so it does not arrive five minutes after you have ordered, "fresh from the microwave." We visit East Devon several times each year, and when we go back at Christmas there are no prizes for guessing where we will be eating and drinking!

22 Aug 2010 12:46

The Fort Inn, Newquay

This is an Ansells pub. It's best feature is the superb views of the sea, beaches & cliffs from both inside the pub and from the tables out on the terrace. It's very a much a family dining pub, complete with inside play area. Before 8pm it was more like a dining-hall at a junior school, with young kids running everywhere. Later on there were more adults as the families went home to bed. Being able to walk there from our B&B was the main reason for our visit. I had unremarkable pints of Tribute & Proper Job. Food was pretty standard fare for this type of establishment, Steaks/Grills/Burgers etc. It was quite tasty, apart from the tired brownish lettuce in the side salad. Beware the seagulls outside on the terrace as we saw them getting inside the lattice of cord barriers meant to keep them out, and hoovering-up any leftovers they could find on the tables.

3 Jul 2009 10:34