Christmas Market & a Woofy New Year

This Saturday is our Christmas Market – we’re hoping for clear blue skies and a frosty morn’ to welcome our stallholders. Proceedings kick off at 10am and there’ll be mince pies, mulled wine and cider, a jolly Father Christmas handing out sweets and presents to children (with his ‘little’ helper, pictured), musicians and gifts and local produce galore. Come on over, spend the morning with us and then book yourself in for lunch in our award-winning restaurant. See you on Saturday!
Christmas Artisan & Farmers Market, Saturday 5th December, 10am-1pm

 

New Year Cheer: Bangers, Bubbly & Ballroom

We are pleased to announce our New Year’s Eve event. This year we will be celebrating with a night of “Bangers, Bubbly & Ballroom”. A ticket-only event that will be taking over our bar, restaurant and skittle alley, the night will have something of a Strictly Come Dancing feel about it. Start the evening off in our ‘ballroom’, with canapés and Champagne whilst watching a demonstration by our ballroom dancing teachers. Then head over to the main building for gourmet sausages, creamy mash and unctuous red onion gravy, followed by a selection of our now-legendary puddings. After dinner we’ll be heading back over to the ballroom for lessons from our teachers, and we’ll be dancing until the midnight hour strikes. At 12pm we’ll be letting off fire lanterns into the night sky to celebrate the arrival of 2010 and a new decade. Dress code is strictly Strictly: from gowns and black tie, to sexy tango dresses for the ladies and Latino outfits for the gents.

Places are limited, so call us now to book your tickets, which are priced £45 per person. This includes all of your food and Champagne on arrival. 01985 844207.

 

We are winners! FOOD PUB OF THE YEAR 2009

Just a quick update as we are in London, after collecting our award as FOOD PUB OF THE YEAR 2009 at this year’s Publican awards. We’re chuffed to bits, as you can imagine. Well done to our team in the kitchen, and to Rachel especially. What an amazing achievement after being open for just 15 months. That’s Lisa, looking a little bleary-eyed (too much Champagne, perhaps?) with the shiny, new award.
PLUS! Get your hands on a copy of this month’s Elle magazine (the December issue) and you’ll find us highly recommended (and Henry pictured) as the perfect winter hideaway thanks to our “delicious menus, five beautiful bedrooms, eggs from our hens and Henry the Great Dane sprawled in the bar…”
Award-winning and now recommended by Elle magazine.

 

Food Pub of the Year: down to the final four!

We’re very pleased to announce that we are in the final four for Food Pub Of The Year at the 2009 Publican Awards. We’re heading to London at the beginning of November for the awards ceremony, so keep your fingers crossed for us. We’re very proud of our food here at The Somerset Arms: our talented team in the kitchen are passionate about food and ingredients, and our seasonal menu boasts the very best local produce, and even includes fresh produce from our own veg patch.
Click here (and turn to page 38-39) to see the article about us in The Publican, and to check out our competition.

Wish us luck!

 

Bed, Burger & Breakfast: £65

Mondays are rubbish. You know it, we know it. So we thought we’d come up with a little idea that can lure you away from the humdrum of 9-5 and into our lovely, cosy pub. In the months of October, November and December (apart from during school holidays) we’re offering a very special rate for our rooms – and if you’ve ever tasted our delicious burgers, you’ll know why the offer is so special.
For £65 per room you’ll get a room, two burgers (that’s one each, greedy!) and a Continental breakfast (yummy Dorset Cereals, freshly-baked croissants & toast). Hence our “Bed, Burger & Board” deal.
The small print:
*The deal is based on two people sharing a room; rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis; a Full English breakfast is available for £7.95 per person; check-in is from 5pm, check-out is at 11am; a meat & veggie option will be available.

Call now to book your burger deal! 01985 844 207 or email Lisa for more information: lisa@thesomersetarms.co.uk

 

The “C” Word

We know it sounds terribly premature, but the best places to eat in our region get sold out early for Christmas. We’ve already had loads of enquiries and bookings about work Christmas lunches and dinners. In September!
Here at The Somerset Arms in Maiden Bradley, an award-winning pub (Best Gastropub & Best Newcomer in the West Country at this year’s Great British Pub Awards) we’ll be serving up a delicious menu with locally-sourced produce and excellent quality ingredients. Christmas meals will be served at lunchtimes and in the evenings from 1st December until 23rd December. Booking is essential. Price per person: £19.95

To Start…

Chicken liver pâté, fig relish

Baked Somerset Camembert,  onion marmalade

Potted Devon crab, sourdough toast

Mains

Traditional roast turkey, all the trimmings

Pollock, chorizo & butter bean stew

Smoked aubergine, tomato & cashew nut curry, coconut basmati rice

Puds

Christmas pudding, brandy butter

Double chocolate brownie

Cantaloupe melon granita, ricotta cream

Parties of up to 24 can be catered for, and a private room for 16 is also available. Call Lisa now to book your table: 01985 844207.

Details of our Christmas residential package and New Year’s Eve event will be going online soon.

 

MARKET@ this Saturday

Come rain or shine, our stallholders will be selling a wonderful array of products: from local meat, cheese, freshly-baked bread and homemade jam and chutney, to designer homeware (pictured are cushions from the Bath-based design company Treasury – we love their stuff so much we’ve put some of their cushions and prints in our boutique B&B rooms), rural photography, homemade soft furnishings and even bespoke blends of tea. Stallholders arrive at 9am, with proceedings kicking off at 10am. Local band Stamp will be in attendance to supply some wonderful tunes, and there’ll be plenty to see, buy and eat. Our favourite way to spend a Saturday morning! We look forward to seeing you there. Find us in the car park if the sun dares to show itself, or in the skittle alley and bar if it’s rainy.

 

A Roaring Deal: Free Longleat Tickets

** Sorry, we no longer have any adult tickets left, due to the success of this offer. We can offer free child tickets instead **
Longleat is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the UK and it’s just four miles from The Somerset Arms. And you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy it. Book a room and dinner with us mid-week from mid-September (from Tuesday 15th, Tuesday to Thursday nights) until the end of October and we’ll give you two free adult passport tickets to Longleat, worth £46. Book now by calling: 01985 844207, and let us know that you’ve seen the offer on our website.

 

The Great British Pub Awards 2009 – we’re winners!!

We are hugely proud to announce that we have been selected as the Best Gastropub and Best Newcomer in the West Country region for this year’s Great British Pub Awards, which is sponsored by the Morning Advertiser. We now stand a chance of being named the overall champion of our category and of the region at an awards ceremony which takes place on Wednesday 9th September in London.
As you can imagine we’re absolutely over-the-moon! A year of hard work has paid off. We’re very proud of ourselves, our staff, and we’re hugely grateful to our customers who have supported us.

 

Celebrating Local Produce & Local Talent

We’re a little bit in love with our new monthly Artisan & Farmers’ Market. July’s was absolutely brilliant: the sun shone, our stallholders brought some wonderful things, and we welcomed some new faces, including Deer’s Leap Chilli, Simpson’s Seeds and the guys who are taking over and bringing back to life the historic walled garden at Longleat. There are already new stallholders for August’s Market. The event will, if the sun is beating down, take place in our garden – so you can lounge around on the grass, listening to our band of merry musicians whilst supping Pimm’s and munching on warm pork pies. We honestly can’t think of a better way to spend a summer’s day. Treat yourself to lunch in the pub afterwards, and then walk it all off around Stourhead gardens for afters.