ReviewThis is a tiny single room pub on the main road through the village, which takes its name from the spectacular ruined castle just down the road. You enter through a porch, into a compact rectangular room with superb flagstone flooring, Purbeck stone walls and lots of dark wood beams crossing the ceiling. The servery is along the rear wall, split into two separate sections, which suggests that the pub once had a two bar layout - rather hard to believe given the lack of space in the opened out space we now find. This theory is given further weight by the presence of two mighty inglenook fireplaces in the front corners to either side of the entrance. The larger fireplace to the right had a modern burner inside, which was on the go on this cold winter afternoon visit, much to our relief. Approximately six or seven tables have been crammed into the room, all with standard chairs and all set up for diners on our Sunday lunchtime visit. The ceiling has been decorated with hundreds, maybe thousands of small lights which have been entwined around a series of twigs and branches wedged between the beams, to create a visually arresting spectacle which looks better than it sounds. Various items of local interest line the walls, including photos of village life and some info boards providing some historical detail. To the right of the bar there is access to an even smaller rear space with room for one more table and some blue pews. A old pub sign hangs on the wall here and there are a couple of nice paintings of the pub on show. A door here leads out to a decent sized rear garden, with lots of picnic tables, a smoking shelter and several chickens running freely around on the grass. The garden has good views over the steam railway line beyond, which should make it a good spot in the summer months.
There are three handpulls on the right hand part of the servery and they were serving Sharp's Doom Bar and Ringwood Best, with Dorset Jurassic having been taken off. All three are regular offerings and my pint of Best was in good condition. We had a Sunday roast here as well and thought the food was of a high standard and that the service was particularly friendly.
This is an interesting little pub that was a bit tricky to gauge on a Sunday lunchtime when it was full of out of town diners rather than locals. I'd be interested to see what this place is like on an evening visit outside core food hours. The beer range is a little pedestrian but at least it was in good shape and overall I enjoyed the visit and would recommend if looking for somewhere to eat, although I would suggest booking in advance due to the limited number of tables.
