We came from Romney Marsh in Kent where we had been living in a small village for some years, Dean originally from Kent and I being a Londoner.  We always wanted to live in the West Country, but we soon realised that engineering and media jobs were very sparse in this neck of the woods, so we decided to completely change the path of our life and to run a pub! The rest is, as they say “history”.

Though it can be hard work and demanding at times with me ‘front of house’ and Dean heading the kitchen, we are having the time of our life. We get to meet different people everyday and thoroughly enjoy welcoming them into our lives even if it is for only a short time.

All our food is homemade (even our puds) and freshly prepared, but it’s still very important to us to remain a friendly village inn and not a restaurant or gastro pub. We organise events such as fishing trips, brewery tours and so on.  We also have quiz nights, charity nights and occasionally have live music, which has been a great success.

Our personal time is very limited, but if we do manage to get a moment Dean likes to spend his time doing the “country thing” he loves to fish, shoot and partake in falconry. 

I love spending time with our dogs (which you may get a glimpse of) and also appreciating the wonderful countryside, especially fungi hunting (mycology).

You can also come and say "hello" to Pyewacket our African Grey Parrot. You never know, he may say "hello" back. We also have 4 Lavender Peking Bantams. Elvis is our cockerel and his girls are Tulula, Gloria and Lola (showgirls of course!)

 

A new and exciting addition to our pub is our ‘Smokery’ which Dean has built (you can never take the engineering out of the engineer!).

So now you can sample and see for yourself a fully operating cold Smokery – We smoke many things like Cheeses through to Salmon. We also hot smoke – our Smoked Belly Pork is legendary!

 

 

We could not run this great busy pub without the fantastic help from our wonderful staff.  Here they are:-

Sylvia, keeps the room’s ship-shape and the lunchtime diners happy. 

Twink (aka Sarah) & Bunny (aka Jess) brings sparkle (and youth) to the bar. Twiggy (aka Diana) and Becks (aka Val)
give all important assistance (and comedy) in the kitchen to Dean

We really hope that you can drop by and feel some of the magic of Montacute.

Look forward to seeing you soon

Dean & Nat Taylor
Licensees