Mr & Mrs Smith

The Bull Inn

Dorset, United Kingdom

A tasteful splash of Farrow & Ball, a barrel or two of quaffable local ale, a handful of upscale furnishings and some high-finesse country cooking lift The Bull Inn in Wimborne St Giles from 'quaint country pub' status to 'where I always stay when I'm in Dorset' territory.

Need to know

• Rooms Five.
• Rates Double rooms from $156.66 (£100), excluding tax at 20 per cent.
  Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency (£100), via XE.com, using today's exchange rate.
• More details Rates include full English breakfast. Single room rates are available midweek.
• Facilities Garden, free WiFi throughout (occasionally patchy), parking. In rooms: flastcreen TV, iPod dock radio, Tassimo coffee machine, home-made biscuits, Damana herbal bath products.
• Check-out 10.30am, but this may be flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 12 noon. The inn closes for three hours each afternoon (3pm–6pm during the week; 4pm–7pm on Sundays), so plan your arrival accordingly.
• Children Welcome, although bedrooms are low on child-swinging space. Older kids will fare better – extra beds are available to borrow if your room is big enough. There's a highchair in the restaurant. Babysitting with staff is £6 an hour – give a week's notice.
• Also Dogs are welcome in the bar if you're just stopping by for a meal, but not, alas, in the bedrooms. Please note: this is the land that mobile-phone signal forgot.

Food and drink at The Bull Inn

• Hotel restaurant Food is the Bull's headline act; no posturing or pretension, just honest, well-crafted and delicious dishes. Chef Matt Davey, once of the nearby Museum Inn, has been parachuted in to manage the menu, a showcase for fine fish and game dishes that champion Dorset-found fare. The cooked breakfast holds its own against other meals, helped along by the loaves of wonder-crumbed sourdough, made fresh on the premises each morning.
  
• Dress code Anything goes, but wellies and weimeraners would work well together.
• Top table Looking out over the lawn in the garden room, or, failing that, by the front window so you can gaze longingly at the prime Dorset real estate over the field.
• Last orders Dinner's available until 9.30pm (9pm on Sundays); lunch is noon to 3pm (4pm Sundays). Breakfast's 9am–10am (half an hour earlier during the week). The bar keeps usual pub hours (until 11pm). Don't expect food or drink during the afternoon hiatus.
• Room service None, and there are no phones in rooms, so pop down to the bar if you need anything.
• Hotel bar The Bull is Wimborne St Giles' village pub, so locals and visitors from further afield gather in the bar for a pint of Tanglefoot and a natter most evenings. The yellowy walls are lined with a mixture of retro French booze posters and monochrome snaps of historic Dorset life. There's a lovely lawn with a scattering of tables off to the side, and a cosy nook with a weathered green chesterfield that's made for squirreling yourselves away with the Sunday papers.
  

The Bull Inn Coach Road, Wimborne St Giles, BH21 5NF