Elevated pub dining at The Queen’s Arms

Just about everything on the menu at The Queen’s Arms is made from scratch, in-house – from the celery salt sprinkled on the Bloody Marys to the pork scratchings devoured at the bar and the milk buns sandwiching dry-aged beef burgers.

Straddling the Dorset-Somerset border, the pub has a longstanding reputation for its use of homegrown ingredients. Yet when the Mackenzie-Francis family took over in 2021, they worked with head chef Rich Townsend to ramp the homemade ethos up a notch. Now, if something can feasibly be made in The Queen’s Arms kitchen, it is – resulting in a charmingly rustic menu of hyper-seasonal dishes.

What Rich and his team can’t craft themselves is sourced from quality local producers, including Montgomery Cheddar in North Cadbury and pork from The Story Pig in Sherborne. Expect to sample elevated pub dishes such as pork collar with grilled runner beans, chorizo and red pepper sauce and crispy pork skin, and salt-baked carrot with crisp kale, chickpea panisse, chermoula and smoked almonds.

Above the pub lie five bedrooms, individually decorated with handpicked antiques and fabrics from the likes of Colefax and Fowler. There’s also pooch-friendly accommodation (a two-bedroom cottage and three rooms in The Coach House) for those visiting with a furry friend in tow. Stay the night to explore the many local walkways surrounding the pub, and a drinks list that includes cocktails such as the Somerset Sour (three-year-old cider brandy, Angostura bitters, lemon juice, sugar and egg white).