The Duchess Of Cornwall Inn

The food was lovely, and the gluten-free menu had lots of options. I was organising a meal for my 40th birthday and sent in our choices a week ahead on an Excel spreadsheet, using the menu THEY had sent me. But the organisation let us down. Three desserts were effectively ignored because the printed spreadsheet only showed “pudding” in their cells, though the whole cells had shown when I sent it. I say “ignored” rather than missed because there were several chances to clarify this with me beforehand. Also, two dishes weren’t available because ingredients had run out, which I can partly understand. But they also told us the sherry trifle was no longer being served. They’d had our menu choices for a week and could have let me know so those guests could choose something else. Instead, the people who’d picked it were put on the spot when we arrived. There was a long wait between courses as well. That was frustrating because the reason we’d been asked to submit our choices in advance was to avoid long waits. I tried to make this birthday meal perfect, so I was disappointed by the planning.

It’s a lovely place to eat, with a beautiful building and tasty, quality food. There wasn’t much choice of drinks, especially cider, and it was a little pricey. I had to ask for more custard because the serving with my dessert was tiny. Nobody greeted us for our booked appointment, and service wasn’t great. They took a while to clear the plates, and after taking the menus away with our food order, they didn’t bring one back. I had to go up and ask for a menu so I could choose dessert.

We had a birthday dinner here and the evening was appalling. The food was just passable, nowhere near good enough for the price. The service got every basic thing wrong: courses came at the wrong times, they tried to bring mains while we were still eating starters, and tried to clear plates before people had finished. We had to ask for cutlery, and there was a 15-minute gap between the first and last main course. When we complained at the end and asked for the service charge to be removed, explaining why, the floor manager was brash and clearly annoyed. He did little beyond removing the charge. It’s such a waste of a beautiful pub with so much potential. The pub trade is already on its knees, yet a venue like this can’t get the basics right. Hugely disappointing, and it clearly needs a competent management team.

We hired the whole first floor and most of the bedrooms for a family and friends gathering after our son’s wedding. It was so convenient to head straight upstairs to a super-comfy bed once the party was over. Our guests chose their dishes ahead of time and we pre-ordered them, which worked well. The evening started with drinks, followed by dinner and speeches. Everyone enjoyed the food and drinks, and we’ve had so many compliments about what a successful weekend it was. We live overseas and worried about organising everything from afar, with guests travelling from near and far. The weekend took plenty of planning, but Danny and Pearl at The Duchess were amazing. Communication was good despite the time differences, and they seemed to care as much as my husband and I that the evening went well. Danny understood our vision for arranging the space and made it happen. Throughout the evening, staff were attentive and helpful, and someone was always close by when we needed anything. Most of the bedrooms we booked were charming and clean, with very comfortable beds. We all enjoyed a delicious breakfast the next morning. Poundbury is a lovely community, and despite the weather many of our guests went exploring on foot the following day. It was a hugely successful weekend with fabulous memories. Thank you, Danny, Pearl, Chloe and everyone at The Duchess!