The Blackwood Arms

Lovely out of the way pub. Good beers and food. Incredible crispy batter on fish.

Visited this gorgeous country pub on 26 July for the first but definitely not the last time. Ordered from the specials menu. Food was amazing. Very warm welcome received. My husband’s food choice wasn’t available and the chef came out to discuss alternative and adapted dish for him. Very impressed.

Such an amazing pub. Setting in the Beeches is so idyllic. Food and service is excellent. Only wish they would serve proper coffee. Always a favourite to visit when I’m England.

Such a lovely place, inside and outside with lovely walks on its doorstep x
Menu is lovely, quite varied and interesting.
Went for the veg curry and they served different veg than specified without mentioning it so was a little disappointed though the food was lovely.
If you were served lamb instead of beef you’d expect to be informed … likewise if you’re vegetarian.
Hopefully a lesson learned and won’t happen again.
Manager came over and made amends.
Hope to come back and try another dish.
Note that there’s no cappuccino/latte etc before or after your walk …

:
It's always difficult to take criticism I know but I thought this was a very complimentary review. I gave 4 stars despite not getting the food we ordered and pointed out that the manager made amends and that the food was lovely ... I did not think you'd want me to specify how you made amends i.e. by discounting one meal and all our drinks. In fact she offered us free desserts and additional drinks and we kindly declined as were not looking to take advantage.
I'm assuming after a while you'd read it differently and see it was a 4 star review that complimented almost everything and not a 3 star or below.
Yes, perhaps the 'lesson' about serving beef instead of lamb not being acceptable was a little pointed but as vegetarians the world over will attest to - we've historically been treated like sh%#, - times have changed a lot but the initial response to our complaint was along the lines of 'it's still veg isn't it?' despite the absence of two of the three advertised ingredients that drew us to it. The fact the sauce was lovely is not the point as with beef and lamb example a lovely sauce wouldn't make up for it.
As far as the coffee situation was concerned - again your rating was unaffected - this is a google review and this is exactly the information readers want to see. It's a lovely walking spot, and in the same way I chose it for a coffee and spot of lunch to follow our anniversary walk, others will be making decisions on such information and now they can plan to eat here without any disappointment of no coffee as they will be pre-informed and can plan to get their coffee elsewhere. So it's not a complaint, it's advice for others to get their coffee on the way to their walk or afterwards etc.
Knowing this will improve their experience of your lovely place as their expectations have been managed.
I hope this is helpful. I know words on a page can be read in different ways but the only intention was to be informative as possible and how could I show that you made a good attempt at putting something right (important to prospective clients) without explaining what went wrong.

We love The Blackwood Arms as a friendly local to us. It's got atmosphere by the gallon and the opportunity to sit in, in the marquee or in the garden. Food is good pub fayre and it's well prepared. Beers and ales are plentiful too, try a tiny glass to see if you like first. We've been coming for years and especially since this landlord took over many years ago the standard is consistent.

We visited on the 4th of November. Worth to know that kitchen doesn’t open until 6 pm. It’s a beautiful place and I loved the atmosphere however was very dissapointed with the food - their signature burger was so bland, no seasoning on the patty and just tasteless, chips I think were frozen (sorry it I am wrong but really bad chips), the only thing that I tried that I think was quite tasty was bangers and mash - decent size and price. Wouldn’t come back just because of the food.

While on a walk in the area we planned to have a pub lunch here at the half way point. It was a very cold day and we arrived 20 minutes before the pub opened at 12 pm.

Still they allowed us in and asked if we were booked in for lunch. Being a Thu lunchtime we did not think it would be necessary but they were fully booked! Again they said we could have a table but would need to vacate it by 1 pm.

They had a varied menu and the food was great. Could not fault it. Nice pint of real ale as well. Really nice compact pub with terrific friendly service.

The moral of this story is if you intend to frequent this establishment for lunch make sure you book a table - you will not regret it.

So all in all a first class customer service provided in a great pub.

Located next to a nice walk and a popular parking area.

A seamless booking experience, with friendly staff, decent service and a nice ambience.

Food was the weakest point and I would not eat there again.

A popular and comfortable pub which will continue to do well.