The Saxon Inn, Child Okeford — Restaurant in England

This is a pub in a village. The car park has about four spaces and limited space to pass people coming in and out at the same time. Ok. You can’t help the location and the space available but it doesn’t help when you have elderly that can’t walk far. ||We arrived about 15 minutes after the first guests in our party who ordered drinks when they arrived but still hadn’t received them. Ours were a lot quicker. When the final three of our party of ten arrived they were served a lot quicker. ||The bar area is small so on arrival we had to push through people to get to our seats. Again, can’t control the space and location. ||The menu, which isn’t available online, was limited and expensive. There seems to be an over use of truffle oil which seemed to be ok on the chips but the mash was awful. If it was a specialist town centre eatery it would be fine but for a small village pub it seem to limit the menu even more. We were also asked on Monday to preorder but because the menu wasn’t online and the person that booked only received the menu on the Friday (and we were visiting Saturday) it didn’t seem such an importance. ||A few of the party ordered burgers which had too much bread bun compared to the size of the burger itself. A couple had venison sausages and truffle mash. Neither liked the mash, which is a personal taste granted and one had a sausage which was really hard and overcooked. We mentioned it to the waitress, simply as feedback rather than a complaint and were offered a free pint which was a decent gesture in our book. ||The overall atmosphere was good and the staff sung happy birthday to the birthday boy in our party which was nice. ||The place seemed relatively clean but there were dogs going in and out of the kitchen which didn’t feel right. ||The food did not take too long to arrive after ordering. ||The waitress that served us was absolutely lovely. Very apologetic about the food that wasn’t good, obviously not her personal fault and she offered the free drink. We only wanted the feedback to go to the chef as, having experience working in restaurants, constructive feedback should always be welcome. ||Personally wouldn’t go back but partly due to it being a bit further out than I wound usually go. Service was generally good but I thought the food verses value wasn’t...

A bit of a squeeze to get into the car park, but what a charming little pub tucked away in a charming Dorset village. Having read other reviews & some valid points both positive and negative, here's mine. The staff last night were brilliant, from bar staff to the table service. Inside not only was the Inn full of character, it was spotless, including the all important toilets & it's customers all very polite. The all important menu was limited, but everyone should be able to find something they liked or could try, but from experience this will mean freshly cooked & more importantly "of good quality". Someone mentioned the cut of meat for the steak, I had the T bone which was good, but not brilliant & my advise would certainly be to stick with a smaller sirlion or fillet. Two others had scallops & the lamb that were delicious. The veg cooked to perfection and the chips perfect, bar possibly being slightly over salted for me, but that's a personal choice & I'm sure most would have been more than happy. There was mention of the cost of some asparagus in a review, here I see both sides of the coin. Yes of course we can all see what it costs in a supermarket, but all these public houses have had an increase in cost, from labour to energy to rates & if we don't use them , we will lose them. Finally, it goes without saying ,the owners are obviously trying extremely hard to make their business work & I for one wish them all the success they thoroughly deserve, plus they have my upmost respect for detail & the effort they all put in "FOR OUR BENEFIT". Good luck going forward to all at the Saxon Inn....

The Saxon Inn is a truly beautiful country inn, full of charm and character. Each little area, corner and nook is styled and curated to perfection, and the special little attention to details really elevates this place above what you'd normally expect from a country inn. Every turn reveals an almost lnstagrammable moment you'd want to capture.

The welcome from the hosts Sarah and Richard couldn't have been more friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them. They really were consummate hosts and you could just tell they'd put their heart and soul into place and genuinely cared that their customers not only enjoyed their stay, but loved their stay.

The bedroom and bathroom were spotlessly clean and comfortable. The cooked breakfast in the morning was delicious and the fresh fruit and doorstep toast was amazing. Real coffee, real butter, and locally sourced products made this a breakfast to remember.

My partner and I didn't have an evening meal at the Inn when we arrived but really regretted it when we tasted the breakfast the following morning.

To add even more character to the place, the Saxon Inn also has two other permanent residents, the beautifully-docile and aloof Reggie (a gorgeous whippet), and Herman , an independent little dachshund who parades around wearing a bandana.

Overall, it's a superb place to stay and eat. We'd highly...