The Burcott Inn, Wells

Official site of The Burcott Inn - www.burcottinn.co.uk

Official site of The Burcott Inn - www.burcottinn.co.uk

A traditional pub on the outskirts of Wookey and just a mile or so from Wells, it has a cosy ambience and there was a pleasant crowd of locals in on a recent Saturday afternoon visit. The landlord and landlady were very friendly, and this strikes me as a great pub. The residents of Wookey are indeed lucky to have three splendid hostelries in their mist. Outside is a good sized garden, although the majority was laid to lawn and bereft of any furniture. Half a dozen picnic benches were on a gravelled area at the front. The main bar area is an L shaped room with the servery on the corner of the L facing two ways. The front half has a flagstone floor whilst the left hand part is carpeted, but both share an otherwise similar decor with a low beamed ceiling and whitewashed plaster walls with some exposed stone pillars. A number of old plates and such like were hanging from the beams and old black and white photographs of the locale were on the walls. Seating was a mixture of church pews and chairs with chunky pine tables. A large fire-place was to one side, although whether or not this is used I’m not sure. A plinth in the stonework above it suggests that the building dates from 1730. There was a community notice board next to the bar, and a notice advertised a forthcoming charity auction where you could bid on 2¾ m³ of woodchip mulch! At the rear was a restaurant area, which had exposed stone walls and perhaps looked a little dated with dark red drapes at the windows and matching napkins stuffed in to wine glasses on each table. We didn’t study the menu, but a chalk board up above the fire-place listed a few options such as a burger, BBQ rack of ribs, lamb shoulder, cod fillet or belly pork, and these were mostly priced somewhere around the £9 - £12 range. Beers on tap were Cheddar’s Potholer and Hopback Summer Lightning, whilst a third pump appeared unused. The solitary cider was Thatcher’s Gold. All in all, a great little pub and well worth checking out.