It is not often that my husband and I get out for a meal these days with Kian away at university, but now he is home for the summer we requested his babysitting services so we could get out for celebratory birthday meal.
We were invited to review the Inn in the Park, a stunning traditional English pub located in Branksome Park, just a five minute walk from the beach.
The pub was refurbished in 2017 and is filled with fascinating photo’s and paintings of the local area.
Inside there is a formal dining area, a large bar and a paved garden where you can enjoy the sun, or a warm summers evening.
The new summer menu was launched just in time for our visit and with everything cooked from fresh and almost entirely gluten free, making the menu inclusive for all visitors, knowing what to choose was a tough choice.
Andrew opted for the Soup of the Day (carrot and parsnip), whilst I enjoyed the Cabrese Salad.
The service was attentive, but not over-bearing, and the arrival of our food at the table was perfectly timed.
Andrew’s main course was the Fish of the day, locally caught Haddock, in a Wadworth 6X Gold beer batter served with chips, mushy peas, lemon and tartare sauce.
My choice was the Confit duck and mango with spring onion and cucumber salad with a soy, honey and sesame dressing and although I was slightly envious of his chips, both were absolutely delicious and we managed to leave a little bit of room for dessert.
I happened to mention is was Andrew’s birthday during the meal, so it was a lovely surprise for his Sticky Toffee Pudding dessert to arrive with a birthday message for him.
I really enjoyed my tropical pavlova, which arrived with mango, pineapple, kiwi cream and mango sorbet.
Once we had finished our meal, we headed to the bar area, which is more relaxed and the perfect location to head to after a day on the beach. We thought the jars of dog treats on the bar was a lovely idea.
The Inn in the Park is part of the Wadworth group, an independent family brewer based in Wiltshire and as such has a large range of ales on offer, as well as wines, beers and spirits, with more flavoured gin’s than I can name.
It is also a host to some live music events and has Chad Gold, Sophie Chandler and Jimmy Bradshaw performing on selected dates over the summer.
If you are visiting the Bournemouth and Poole area, the Inn in the Park is on the border between the two towns and also offers five gorgeous en-suite Bed & Breakfast rooms to stay in.
The Inn in the Park is open daily from 8am, serving breakfasts, through to 11pm at night, offering a lunch time menu and a Sunday roast on Sunday’s. It also offers a kids menu for the younger members of the family.
We will definitely be back with the kids in tow!!
Disclaimer: We were guests of the Inn in the Park for the purpose of a review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
It’s great to get out for a meal like that isn’t it? The food looks great, especially that pavlova that looks perfectly tropical.
This looks like a perfect place for a meal out and I love that it’s within walking distance of the beach so you can have a stroll along the sand afterwards. Being coeliac I also love that the menu is mostly gluten-free – perfect!
I hope Andrew had a Happy Birthday!!! The duck and mango salad sound lovely, I’d have tried that myself.
Oo this all looks delicious! I love it when places go that extra mile and write Happy Birthday on the places or in some way help make someone’s birthday that extra bit special 🙂
The fish and chips look yummy, great batter and chunky chips are my favourite, This is the sort of place we would definitely visit if we lived closer
It looks like a lovely place with a really nice atmosphere and the food looks good – I can see why you’ll be returning!
it’s so nice that you got to have a night out with your son babysitting (take advantage of it while you can), looks like a lovely meal x
This looks like a lovely place to visit! It’s nice they put a little birthday message on the pudding too, very nice gesture.
Looks like you had a fab dinner out. My hubby would love the fish and chips for sure xx
Those desserts look so yummy, great photos! I have family in Poole so will have to check it out soon for myself
I love proper traditional English pub meals and the Inn in the Park does not disappoint at all and I love the beach side view as well
Oh the meal looks so good and the location. I really feel like having some soup after seeing that photo! What a lovely birthday meal.
How handy to have him home from uni! That does look like a nice evening out, and meal. Happy belated b’day Andrew!
I love a relaxed setting when going for a meal. It’s great to have a good service and not having to wait long in between courses. The battered fish with its 6x gold beer batter would be the one I would opt for.
Aww how nice that Kian is back, this date night /birthday meal sounds amazing.