The Castle Inn, Wareham

bought by Butcombe Brewery

Picturesque thatched inn at the upper end of West Lulworth, retaining a two-bar layout with a further small seating / dining area beyond the main bar and a larger room behind the compact lounge bar. As you would expect, very traditional throughout; but with not a lot of space inside, it benefits from a large number of wooden picnic tables both out front and in the beer garden. Perhaps best known as a cider / perry pub, with 40 different varieties on offer, but there were also six real ales available. However, the handpumps on the counter are just for decoration, as all are dispensed by gravity from a room at the back (and from a decent selection of beers in different styles, my pint of Palmers 200 was in good form).

A pleasant, thatched village pub on a narrow road to an over-used tourist trap, The Castle has managed to avoid commercialisation and remain a friendly, welcoming place to eat and drink. It has a small car park just across the road, which is free to those eating and drinking but charges those who just want to contribute to the congestion. The business is family-run. There is a large outside garden at the back. Inside are two bars, both comfortable and cosy, although the presence of a salad counter in the right hand bar has a hint of cheap café about it. Food is good pub grub, basic but not particularly cheap; that is to be expected given its position. It is dog friendly, child friendly and has free WiFi. The pub is in GBG, although there was only one ale on – Flack’s Porter. There were several pins of real cider behind the bar – I counted 23, although they claim to have 40 available. Indeed, there is a banner proclaiming the pub’s award of prizes for its cider including CAMRA recognition as a regional cider champion. Pints of Pent Y DDraig’s Dog Dancer and Lulworth Skipper’s Twilight slipped down nicely, followed by the Porter: all complemented my sausage and bacon pie rather well, though given the strength of the cider, I wasn’t too fussed about the subtle (or was it bland?) aromas of the puff pastry. This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience which I should be most happy to repeat.