Friday Road Trip to The Swan at Wedmore

Last week I took a day off work as Sarah, Kym and I had been invited to a bloggers lunch by The Swan at Wedmore. As I am car-less, Kym offered to drive us the short distance to Wedmore, out just by Cheddar don't you know? After taking a brief pit stop in Cheddar for some cheese and fudge, the essentials of course, we headed over to the pub. Wedmore is a beautiful village and it suits them that they have a beautiful pub like The Swan to fulfill it's eating and drinking needs.  Also a mini hotel, boasting 6 individually designed bedrooms, so you can make a night of it in style, more on the bedrooms later.  We were greeted by Cassia who does the marketing for The Swan and we sat down to lunch with rumbling tummies and many questions. 

The Bar

Sneaky menu peek

We chatted about the food, mainly enthusing about our favourites but also about where the produce for The Swan was sourced. The beef is sourced from the Story group who raise traditional slow-growing British breeds they also supply the eggs and chicken to the pub. The pork is even more local reared by Wedmore butcher Jim, a few yards up the road. Basically everything is sourced local or British or made on the premises, it is nice to see such passion going into sourcing products and supporting local businesses.

It was a struggle to decide on just one starter so we decided to share three plates between the four of us and some bread on the side. We picked the home cured duck ham with rhubarb chutney and soft boiled eggs, chargrilled asparagus with Homewood ewe's cheese and piccalilli cauliflower and finally beetroot pakoras with house salad and kohl rabi raita.

grilled asparagus with ewes cheese

duck ham with rhubarb chutney

beetroot pakoras

bread and spice crumb dip

The starters were as beautiful as they looked. The duck ham was wonderfully smoky and rich, although I did think it could have been sliced slightly thicker so the rhubarb didn't overwhelm it. I had a particular soft spot for the grilled asparagus, perfectly cooked and was complimented beautifully by the Homewood ewe's cheese which was creamy but not overly strongly flavoured. I also deny anyone who claims to dislike beetroot to not be converted by the pakoras, the cumin and other spices worked brilliantly it was a totally new way, to me at least, of flavouring and cooking beetroot. The fresh bread was wonderfully fluffy and they even had some gluten free bread to cater to Sarah's needs, in fact nearly all the menu options could be made gluten free or substituted for a gluten free alternative. The spiced crumb dip was a great addition and we spent a few moments trying to analyse all the spices it was made up of.

For our mains Kym and I decided to go for the belly of old spot with chorizo, new potatoes, watercress and cauliflower puree, whilst Sarah and Cassia chose steamed pollack with fennel, white wine, wet garlic, Jersey Royals and a seafood sauce. After such a strong start I was really looking forward to my main I took the opportunity to steal a peek at the garden before they arrived and was gloriously rewarded. Had it not been quite so windy out, it would have been the perfect setting for lunch.

beautiful garden area

roast belly of old spot

...so pretty it deserved two photos

Sarah's steamed pollock

I can only describe my pork belly as delicious, well not only really but it was absolutely tasty. Though pork belly is a rich cut of meat the sharp tangy lemon and multitude of herbs cut through some of that perfectly cooked richness.  This was a huge main and I couldn't fault it one bit, I would eat this again in a heartbeat although possibly without ordering starters as I was pretty full by the end. Sarah's pollock looked a picture and was eaten with outcries of superlatives a plenty.

Surely we couldn't manage dessert is what I am sure you are all thinking, well you would be sensible and right, unlike us. We were too greedy but when you have Bakewell tart on the menu what do you expect? So Sarah was given the gluten free options and she chose the flourless chocolate cake with cream whilst Kym and I picked vanilla infused rhubarb with shortbread and cream and the aforementioned Bakewell tart.

poached rhubarb in vanilla

flourless chocolate cake

Bakewell tart

Ah the desserts, as delicious as the rest of the meal. In hindsight I should have ordered the rhubarb as it was smaller and lighter, the vanilla in it really came through and made a lovely light Summer sweet. My Bakewell tart was fluffy and perfect but after two courses it was a struggle, the strawberries, which may have been poached were the embodiment of strawberry flavouring and were actually my favourite thing about this dish. 

After a gorgeous lunch we were quickly shown some of the bedrooms at The Swan, should you wish to make an event of the weekend. Like everything else at this place they were also beautiful. It did amaze me how close to Bristol this place was to be honest, I thought it would take a lot longer but it was about 40-45 mins from Whiteladies door to door, plus the pub has some wonderful country walks near it.

one of the bedrooms

roll top bath fanatics, rejoice (and maybe close the shutters)

We had such a lovely time at The Swan I cannot recommend it enough, pop in for lunch one weekend you will not regret it. I am even thinking of staying here for my mini moon. Check out what The Swan has to offer by visiting their website. We were invited as guests of The Swan but my opinion was not affected by this and my reviews, as always, are totally me.