White Horse, Sturminster Newton

A stone-built village pub in a quiet hamlet just off the main road. There is a small car park at the back, an even smaller garden and some bench seats at the front with views of the hamlet and the village stocks. The building dates from the sixteenth Century and there are still some architectural features on display including beams, an inglenook fireplace and an unusual brick bread oven. The décor is fairly modern, but in keeping with a working village pub, as are the tiled floors. There are two bars, both cosy and comfortable, with a mix of seating arrangements including church pews. The pub welcomed dogs, and the staff are very friendly, but there was no WiFI and the background music was a bit annoying. There is a dartboard but it doesn’t seem to have seen much action lately. Cooked food is normally on offer, but on this occasion the kitchen was being deep-cleaned so we were out of luck. There was only one ale on, Doombar, which was in perfect condition. I really like this pub and will certainly come back.