Packhorse Inn, Highbridge

A pleasant pub in this small and rather out of the way village, it’s located right next to the attractive church and also offers accommodation. Although not a gastro-pub by any means, most tables were nonetheless taken with diners with several being reserved. There were a few stools at the bar where the locals congregated, but even here a few people were eating, so options for non-diners are perhaps a bit limited. Internally, it’s one open plan, L-shaped room with quite a cosy ambience, although not perhaps quite the olde worlde charm of some country inns and in places it was perhaps looking slightly dated, but it’s still very pleasant even so. Décor wise it’s quite traditional with red patterned carpet on the floor, chunky black beams on the ceiling, and dark wood panelling on the lower part of the walls with rough cream plasterwork above. A fire-place with a dark wood surround was off to one side and this had a few logs blazing away. A larger stone fire-place was at the rear, although this did not appear to be in use. The menu offered a good selection of “pub grub” dishes with options such as steak & ale pie, fish & chips, scampi & chips, Cajun chicken, curry, etc., as well as a few steaks and a small specials board. Most of the mains were in the £10 - £12 range, and we both very much enjoyed what we had. Beers on tap were Butcombe and Cheddar’s Potholer, whilst a third pump for Doom Bar appeared to have run out. Ciders meanwhile were Thatcher’s Gold and Thatcher’s Haze. Service at the bar was a little slow, and quite frankly, disorganised at times, but they were so friendly that you couldn’t really hold it against them. All in all I was very impressed with this pub.

A good friendly pub with 2 or 3 real ales and good special food boards and a basic pub food menu. Modernised over the past few years and lost some atmospher but the general ambiance and friendliness makes it worthy of recommendation.