Reviews

Readers thoroughly enjoy the appealing warren of little rooms and cosy corners in this character-laden 600-year-old tavern. The building has massive walls, low-beamed rooms and tiny doorways, with open fires everywhere, including one in an inglenook with antique oak seats built into its stripped stonework. Other seats and tables are worked into a series of chatty little alcoves, and the more open front bar still has an ancient lime-ash floor. Friendly staff serve Brains Bitter, Theakstons Old Peculier, Wadworths 6X and Wye Valley Hereford Pale Ale on handpump, alongside a changing guest such as Rhymney Bitter; games machine. Rustic seats shelter peacefully among tubs and troughs of flowers outside, with more stone tables on a newer terrace.

The pub can get very full in the evenings and on summer weekends, and it's used as a base by a couple of local motorbike clubs. From here a path leads to the shingly flats of the estuary.

I love this place! Every year my boyfriend and I come here for Christmas do's, birthdays, drinks, Sunday Lunch etc. The food is always brilliantly cooked with good size portions at a reasonable price. There is an extensive wine menu and a great selection of real ales. The Blue Anchor has amazing character and is a great venue for all occasions - from dropping in for a pint after a long walk along the coast or having a meal in the restaurant.

Nothing beats the Blue Anchor. This cosy pub and restaurant is situated in Aberthaw, about 15 miles south-west of Cardiff. As a former Coaching Inn the Blue Anchor opened its doors for the first time in 1380 and the owner is more than happy to share the many stories and anecdotes of its history with you. At the Blue Anchor you sit under low ceilings and beams in the pub or upstairs in the stylish restaurant in front of the roaring fire. The food in the restaurant is extremely good and has won many awards. However, I would recommend eating a pub meal downstairs and trying “Welsh Faggots”. This strangely named but yummy welsh dish is liver dumplings served with potatoes and mushy peas.

This pretty inn has a history spanning some 700 years, having first opened its doors for business in 1380. It has been trading almost continuously since, the only break being in 2004 when a serious fire destroyed the top half of the building, forcing its closure for restoration. The grandfather of the present owners, Jeremy and Andrew Coleman, acquired the property in 1941, when he bought it from a large local estate. Legend has it that this stone-built and heavily thatched inn has an underground passage leading down to the shore, once used by the wreckers and smugglers who roamed this once-wild coastline. The interior comprises a warren of small rooms separated by thick walls, low, beamed ceilings, and a number of open fires, including a large inglenook. A good selection of regional real ales is always on tap and an enticing range of food is offered in both the bar and the upstairs restaurant. Staying downstairs in the bar, expect starters such as chorizo, wild mushroom salad and poached egg; River Exe steamed mussels; and truffled macaroni cheese; then follow with a main course of lamb and mint sausages with butter mash and onion gravy; or aubergine and sweet potato curry.

In the restaurant, find pan-seared wood-pigeon with pickled walnut, celeriac and beetroot salad; and tomato fondue, wild mushroom and aubergine bake to start, followed by maize-fed chicken supreme with sweetcorn purée and Madeira cream sauce; rump of Welsh lamb with honey-roasted chantenay carrots and red wine jus; and fresh fish, such as monkfish tail alla gremolata with tomato, garlic and orange sauce; and pan-fried red mullet with mussel and saffron linguine. Desserts are well exemplified by iced blackcurrant and clotted cream bavarois, and baked lemon and sultana cheesecake.