Review of The Blue Bell in Stoke Ferry: Award-winning village pub has cosy feel and offers great food too

After hearing about this village being named ‘Neighbourhood of the Year’ thanks to its efforts to save its pub, I was eager to see what it had to offer.

The Blue Bell is nestled in the quiet village of Stoke Ferry and was awarded Nextdoor’s Neighbourhood of the Year award after a number of residents came together to buy the pub and save it from closure,

Seeing that they serve roasts on a Sunday, my friend Liv and I were eager to visit and had a lovely afternoon enjoying what the pub had to offer.

After parking up, we could see that The Blue Bell was busy with many sitting in the main section of the pub, standing at the bar enjoying a pint, or even making the most of the bit of sunshine and sitting outside having a drink.

We were seated in a cosy annexe room to the side of the pub which was beautifully decorated.

Three members of very friendly and welcoming staff served us throughout our time at The Blue Bell and made sure we had everything we needed.

After visiting other eateries recently and being shocked at the rising prices of soft drinks, The Blue Bell was a welcome change and it was refreshing to pay £2 for an orange juice and lemonade and £1.70 for a diet coke - both of these were pint-sized.

The Blue Bell offers a number of starters, mains and desserts during the week but also a Sunday lunch option of roast beef, pork, or a walnut and fig roast with all the trimmings for £13 a plate.

As well as children’s options, there are also smaller portions for those with less of an appetite for just £8 which I think is brilliant.

Liv decided to go for the roast shoulder of pork and crackling as well as roast potatoes, carrots, peas, red cabbage and a Yorkshire pudding.

I went for the walnut and fig roast, which came with all of the above as well.

My nut roast was delicious and was full of flavour, I particularly enjoyed the roast potatoes which were crispy on the outside but fluffy on the inside.

Liv said she really enjoyed her pork and was impressed with her portion size too.

“Sometimes pork can be quite flavourless, but this was full of flavour and the crackling was tasty too,” she said.

Liv and I both said that the red cabbage was a good addition to the roast as well.

We then agreed that we had some room to try one of the many desserts that were on offer, priced at just £5 each.

We did have a little bit of time to wait between courses, but we didn’t mind as we were too busy chatting and had time for our main courses to settle. The pub was also very busy.

Liv went for the chocolate brownie and had the option of having custard, ice cream or cream to accompany it. She decided to go for the latter.

After being told by our waiter that apple strudel was on offer as well, I went for that with ice cream.

Liv noted her brownie was rich and said how delicious it was. My apple strudel was beautiful, you could tell it was handmade and it came out nice and hot and had a hint of cinnamon to it.

Our total bill came to £39.70 including drinks which I think was extremely reasonable considering how much food we ate.

We both decided we would really like to return again soon, Liv had previously been to one of The Blue Bell’s pub quizzes and said it was a fun evening.

Ratings out of five:

Food: Really delicious home-cooked food which left us feeling very full. ****

Drink: We only had soft drinks, but I could see a huge variety of alcoholic drinks behind the bar. ****

Price: I would say it was very fairly priced, especially the drinks. *****

Staff: Super friendly staff who made us feel very welcome. *****

Decor: The decor complimented the cosy pub feel The Blue Bell has, with beautiful artwork which could be purchased dotted throughout. *****