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.

 

Happy Day

Our first ever Market@ on Saturday was a resounding success. Despite a downpour first thing in the morning, the skies brightened, and while we were safely ensconced inside our skittle alley, it certainly didn’t dampen our spirits or stop the crowds. Stalls for our first ever event included the brilliant rural photographer Jake Eastham, deliciously more-ish fairycakes by The Stardust Bakery in Frome, excellent quality meat from Stourhead, designer homewares by Bath company Treasury, bespoke and speciality teas by Lahloo, exquisitely handcrafted wooden furniture by Boon, just down the road in Woodlands, lovingly-restored vintage pieces for the home by In The Woodshed, hot offerings from Deer’s Leap Chilli, hand-turned wooden pieces made in the village, English fruit and veg, freshly-baked bread, village-smoked mackerel caught and smoked by Rob Dean, and some gorgeous items from our talented kitchen team – we sold out of pork pies, chocolate brownies and onion chutney!
The proceedings were helped along by Horningsham band Stamp, and our beer, cider and Pimm’s stall kept everyone well lubricated – including a few of the stallholders. We’re hoping for a gloriously sunny, English summer’s day on Saturday 4th July four second Artisan & Farmers’ Market@. If you’re interested in having a stall, please drop us a line or give us a call. We have an additional 5 stalls to give out this month.

 

Market@ The Somerset Arms

We’re already very proud of our new Market@ The Somerset Arms. A new monthly occasion on our calendar, on the first Saturday of every month we’ll be inviting some of our favourite local suppliers, producers of fine food and talented artists and craftspeople to show off their wares. The first Market@ takes place on Saturday 6th June, from 9am until 1pm-ish, and will boast stalls from Stourhead (our excellent meat producer), Lahloo Tea (a very cool tea company based in Bristol), Treasury (a funky design company from Bath that creates beautiful handmade homewares), a furniture maker from just down the road in Woodlands, a renowned photographer of countryside scenes and events, our very own stall selling brownies, homemade piccalilli and freshly-baked bread, plus fairycakes, flowers, local cheese, beer and cider, plants and seedlings, a barbecue, and fresh fruit and veg. Plus there’ll be live music from Stamp, a band of merry fiddlers, guitar players and singers who entertain us every week on a Tuesday in our bar, but will be taking to the great outdoors to celebrate our new Market@. Whether you’re interested in coming along, or if you’d like to have a stall, just give us a call or drop us a line. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday 6 June.

 

Something Of A Reputation…

In just the short time we’ve been here (coming up to a whole year on the 6th of June), we’ve gotten ourselves something of a reputation for our steaks. So much so that our new Spring menu boasts its own steak section – 28-day hung steaks from the Stourhead Estate cooked to perfection and served with hand-cut chips and steak garni. “The best steak I’ve had this side of the Atlantic,” pretty much sums up our diners’ view of Rachel’s cooking. We like that. To celebrate the deliciousness of our steak, we’ve launched a new concept for a Thursday night: Thursday nights are now officially Steak Night at The Somerset Arms. Two 7oz Stourhead rump steaks and hand-cut chips for TWO PEOPLE and a bottle of house wine for £19.95. If that doesn’t crunch your credit, we don’t honestly know what will. Book a table with us now (we’ve only got a few tables left for our first Steak Night this Thursday) on: 01985 844207.