nov, 20th - the olde bell....

day 1010 /109:

after our walk on Sunday, we had lunch at The Olde Bell. i've wanted to try this pub for ages, ever since Ilse Crawford revamped it in 2008 and pictures of the restaurant booths wrapped in Welsh tapestry blankets appeared in every interior magazine i opened. given how much i've thought of this place, you would have imagined that it was hours away, down some dirt track that you can only reach by donkey but in fact it's an incredibly easy, forty minute drive down the M4.

the interior of the pub was just as i pictured it, rustic yet polished; a limited palette and design that both blends with the 1135 building and also seems current and original. as their website says, they have used 'local furniture makers and materials' to make this pub authentically English. we sat in one of the blanketed booths while others were eating off solid tables made of English oak. i like this place and the fact that diners ranged from grandmothers to teeny tiny babes and everyone seemed to be having the closest you can get to a family, home-cooked Sunday lunch.

lunch was good, we had traditional roast beef followed by chocolate brownie served with lavender and honey ice-cream....we could have lingered except for the wriggly baby and bouncy toddler. 

in Summer, they offer barbecues in the garden and they even have a tire swing....this place was made for us.