The Haymaker Inn in South Somerset

We received a lovely welcome in a warm and cosy pub. The meals were good, great value, theres not loads of choices but its better to do less and do it well, and really well is what they do here.

We have come to the Haymaker a few times this year and can honestly say every time we eat here we always have the best experience. Staff are lovely and friendly, the pub has a lovely cosy feel and the food is always fantastic. The Stilton sauce is the best we’ve ever ever had and one of the many reasons we regularly visit!

I was with a group of 15 and had booked for lunch. It was roast day and most people had the turkey option, the others the beef. The main course consisted of really tasty freshly carved turkey, roast potatoes Yorkshire pudding, gravy and sauces with big dishes of vegetables. Portions were on the larger size of adequate and amazingly every plate was cleared completely. There were a small selection of sweets to choose from and everyone had one and they were very large portions. I had the very sweet and tasty lemon bread pudding with custard . Just great. Atmosphere was vibrant, many others were enjoying the food too, staff brilliant and the meals were served to everyone promptly, something that is quite unusual in England. A great selection. and the price for two courses was under £10 - how do they do it?

Brilliant place to stay. Within walking distance of Chard with bus stops outside for Taunton and Chard, albeit a limited service. Cary and Jason are absolutely brilliant! With really great members of staff to make your stay memorable. Wonderful food and drink,excellent breakfast to start the day. Sunday roast is second to none!! Please, do not stay as it makes it difficult for us to book a room.😊. Seriously, it's great.

Great pub, great prices.. would highly recommend

So sad to write this after eating here many times before but Sunday Lunch was the worst I have ever had. Bland tasteless meat, tasteless glutinous gravy, frozen Yorkshire puddings and veg reheated which tasted .like they were cooked yesterday. It is cheap but I’d rather pay more and have an enjoyable meal. We were all agreed. It didn’t help that we had to queue outside in the rain till the pub opened at 12.00.

Four of us ate here last Thursday (17th Oct); a reunion that was many years overdue! The menu may be a bit limited in choice abut what they do, they do very well. The beer is good and the landlord (I assume owner) welcoming. I would certainly return. Perhaps my only niggle would be the limited choice of "puddings" - not a big enough moan to knock off a star! Prices very reasonable too!

Traditional pub serving good food and comfortable accommodation rooms.

Fantastic service lovely lunch food Was excellent

Great place to stay, very warm welcome, hosts were fab, would definitely recommend staying here if you want to explore the area.

Lovely stay again..our go to Chard stopover..Lovely welcome..clean and tidy room..Lovely breakfast..great parking..

Lovely village pub. Food excellent. Dog friendly. Lovely people.

Had a lovely meal here. Good service and great value.

This pub seems to be a rarity in this neck of the woods, in that it serves food seven nights a week, and the food is pretty much all home-cooked. The menu on the website is a fairly standard pub menu, but we found lots of specials that gave a really good choice. Home-made soup followed by home-made curry, all served with a smile. What's not to like?

Great beer good food friendly sfaff We had a fab night yet again This is a place to try for your self all Tonight was a great night at darts well looked after

A perfect stopover on our way back from Cornwall to Surrey. A friendly welcome, excellent food and service. I can see why the restaurant is busy!

Lovely staff excellent food highly recommend

Fantastic staff lovely food and cider

A one night stopover. Amazing place to stay and food that is cooked and served to perfection. With a breakfast that is also amazing. Thank you and see you in May 25 if NOT before.

We stayed here for three nights and ate here every evening. I could not fault it. The room was comfortable and clean, with everything you need provided. The food was excellent. The staff were very friendly and helpful. There is a large free car park at the back.

Stopped for a pint to check the place out after hearing good reviews. I wasn’t disappointed, friendly staff and still cider!

The best vegan food in any pub!!

Quick bite after a long hard week of cooking.Lovely to be cooked for.The Hay maker is right on our doorstep&the home cooked food is tasty&plentiful.

We use the pub as a start of a walk around the area. We arrived back to a friendly welcome. The special lunch menu was exceeding good value. I had pork steak with new potatoes and peas, plus a home-made mocha cheesecake for just £9. We will coming back with our walking group later in the year.

Friendly and helpful staff. Didn't try food as fully booked but can recommend the Sheep Dog liqueur; whiskey and peanut butter!

Delicious food and lots of it. Comfortable clean rooms. Landlords and all staff were very friendly. Would definitely recommend 👌

What a lovely little find , this place has it all clean friendly food amazing staff very laid back slept very well. Free breakfast included in the price we paid £63 for the night. Food in the evening was amazing being lactose intolerant they had df options with no fuss, husband had homemade lasagne i had the steak. Would definitely go back

Love it! Just watch your head on the beams.

If you want a nice environment, with good value, good food and beers and nice staff, then this place is great

Friendly, helpful staff/ landlords. Good beer and cider

Great food great prices, couple of real ales definitely eat there again.

Selection of real Ales, inside and outside needs quite a bit of renervation. Pleasant staff. Meals just a little more expensive than I thought

A great village pub, a warm welcome & good food at a very competitive price. Definitely the change of chef has improved the food quality, clearly having an understanding on local trade makes a difference. We'll be back without a doubt!!

Staying locally and decided to book and try local pub. Very impressed with lovely food, great portion sizes and variety. Thoroughly recommend. Very friendly

Fantastic food and service! Traditional pub food done superbly; lovely friendly staff. 10/10 would recommend and visit again

Good food and drinks. All priced reasonably, very competitive compared to other pubs around and nice to see staff all getting along

Had a Sunday lunch here recently. Best Sunday lunch in a good while I can tell you. Roast beef, veggies, gravy, Yorkie and horseradish. Win ...

We stayed at The Haymaker Inn for s few nights whilst visiting the area, although we did not eat any evening meals here we did have breakfast and some drinks in the evening. The accommodation is very good value for money, comfortable bed with en-suite, the breakfast was very good with cereals and cooked food available all freshly cooked in the kitchen. The atmosphere in the bar in the evenings was very friendly and the beer was very drinkable. If we come back this way we would definitely stay here again.

This was our third visit to the Haymaker. As always Carrie and Jason were warm and welcoming, especially to our dog. Food is good pub grub with lots of dietary options. Room was clean and comfortable with immaculate white linen. Breakfast is first class; there's even a sausage for the dog. Highly recommend this pub. If you are from North America and want a proper English village pub experience, the Haymaker is for you.

This review is well overdue, apologies for that. We have been using The Haymaker on a semi regular basis for a couple of years. The staff are always friendly and helpful and the food (evening meals and Sunday roast) is always excellent and is good value. When we were unable to visit for a while due to our new granddaughter's arrival, we asked about having a takeaway Sunday roast, this was readily agreed and we were all able to enjoy the food at home. This was going the extra mile and meant a lot to us. The Haymaker is exactly what a village pub should be and we will continue to be customers.

Just a pub lunch - good variety of food choices. Welcoming atmosphere, plenty of parking. Delightful waitress, friendly and efficient.

What great food. Visiting friends who have just moved to the area first time they have had a chance to visit as it will be there local we where all blown away with the standard of the food. I had the cheese burger and I can say as some one who runs pubs and restaurants? It is most probably. One of not the best burgers I have had in a very long time, every one else was extremely happy with their food Especially my mum who had the veggie/vegan lasagna. Every time we visit this will be our pub of choice. Well down to the team on the night.

WeRooms clean, comfortable and reasonably priced. Breakfast fresh, hot and plentiful. Evening meal way too large to fit in a dessert and again, reasonably priced.

Wonderful service, friendly staff, great food/atmosphere.... Will definitely be back 👍

Delicious home cooked food. The lunch specials are incredible value and ooh that onion jam…yum. Cider reasonably priced and great service. We’ll be back !

We ate here last night as part of a large group. The food was fantastic and the service excellent. I don’t think I’ve ever had a better steak the meal was faultless. Delicious wine too. The size of the portions were awesome we were all stuffed! You don’t really get pubs like this any more- a real gem!

Lovely food, staff efficient, helpful and friendly, definitely be back. Highly recommended.

We stayed at the haymaker Inn from Sunday, the 18th of Feb till friday 23rd of Feb. Carrie & Jason are very welcoming and lovely couple to get to know they even treat their staff as thou they are family...

Great family friendly pub. Lovely Sunday lunches at very good prices. £9.50 for one course

Used regularly for work purposes. A great family friendly pub that are very welcoming. Lovely food, great service and best of all a warm skittle alley.

Great pub for food. Off road parking. Coal fire. Friendly atmosphere

Great food with my husband and his work colleagues.

Food was good and plentiful, will visit again.

Only 3 stars because its not mobility friendly....its downstairs for the toilet. The food was lovely and plentiful, the staff were exceptionally good. The only downside was the lack of accessibility for the toilet.

Very hospitable staff. A dog friendly place so many guests have dogs. Very good generous breakfast. Not accessible for all as there are quite few steps.

Nice comfy bed - no rush to vacate the room in the morning & nice big window for check in time on arrival.

Went there for food - I've had better. Roast beef over cooked. Potatoes tasted like Aunt Bessie's.

Friendly staff excellent food at reasonable price

The sun is pouring in the windows of our spacious double room. I can hear church bells in the distance, and a crow, out on a tree branch. I can glimpse rolling, hilly fields through the line of poplar trees. The staff are warm and friendly, their Somerset accents adding to their charm, and we just had a lovely 'full English' breakfast. Pure bliss!

Had a great time lovely staff and comfortable and clean rooms

A country pub with a lot to offer. Our room was very comfortable. The evening meals are reasonably priced and there is a good menu plus specials. The freshly cooked breakfast superb and no expense spared with everything catered for ( except black pudding and maybe porridge, I think.) The landlord and staff brilliant. An all round excellent place to stay in this area.

Nice, inexpensive stopover for trip to Cornwall. Room nice and clean. Nice pub meal at night and a small but adequate breakfast. Massive car park at back. Staff friendly. Would stay again

Great country pub. Good food. Comfortable room. Great hosts and totally dog friendly. Perfect for a quiet country break

Start very polite and food was nice

Only been here for food really nice and the locals are friendly....

Great little pub. This is fourth time we have stayed here overnight. Rooms are very clean and comfortable. Great food and the owners make you feel welcome.

Great Value, friendly family run pub

Roast wasn't all that great to be honest but for the price it was reasonable

Lovely location Great selection of beers large beer garden and dog friendly 😀

Only had Sunday dinner and a pint of Cider I bought 3 pints for £11.50... 2 Guinness I cider the Cider was refreshing the Sunday dinner only cost £9.50 which includes a generous portion of beef and turkey and plenty of vegetables and a Yorkshire pudding with plenty of gravy everything cooked perfect

Just had another fantastic meal at the Haymaker. Excellent steak, friendly staff and welcoming ambience. Definitely on the list to return.

Lovely food.... well catered for Gluten, dairy and meat free! Lovely staff...

the food was lovely, however we had an incredibly rude and aggressive waitress. She flung cutlery down the table, aggressively put down the plates and didn’t even crack a smile. She barely looked at us and she ruined a meal that would otherwise be lovely.

Great pub, really friendly, lovely evening meal and breakfast. Will return.

Very nice country pub. The Sunday roast was excellent. Staff very courteous and friendly.

Really disappointed... had a meal with friends, we all ordered the special, chicken, stuffed with mushroom and cheese. It was awful! Overcooked and really dry, hardly a mushroom in sight. Veg had clearly just been heated up and was soggy. What made it worse was that when we told the waitresses, two of them , they just said sorry, didn't offer any type of goodwill and were happy for us to pay full price. . Won't be going there again. Come on Haymaker, sort out your chef and customer service.

Ideally placed halfway between London and Cornwall for an overnight stay to break the journey up.

Great as always friendly staff and put them selves out to help 5star

So a brief stop while heading East. The Haymaker is a pretty old building with a lovely quiet location. The room is basic, however the bed is comfortable and warm and the shower was hot. The food was great, great portions at a reasonable price. The staff are very friendly too, even them from Devon 🤣. Would we stay again, yep 👍

Out late Sunday afternoon, called in to see if we could eat and we were too late for a Sunday roast ☹️ we had ham, egg, chips and salad, the ham was gorgeous, there was too much rocket (which I don't like) in the salad, was ok after I removed it, all in all a great atmosphere the staff were happy and friendly, a great place to eat and drink, will definitely be calling here again but earlier next time so we get a roast dinner.

Tucked away in the countryside, nice views

Beautiful pub, lovely gluten free food with plenty of choice and a gluten free beer. Will definitely visit again.

Stayed there for 2 nights best pub and food you could wish for so friendly and even they got up at 6 in the morning to give us an early breakfast well done and wish your business every success

The only downside of this place is the super creaky beds! Everything else is brilliant, the people, the location, the welcome!

Haven't been to the Haymaker for quite a few years even though it's just down the road. Now a different landlord from my last visit and staff very friendly. I was there for a Folk/Jamming evening and it was great fun. Quite busy, good atmosphere and the Cider was good. I've heard good reports about the food as well.

Lovely meal, worth every penny 👍👍👍

Great service, excellent food and a friendly atmosphere!

Very welcoming, food was amazing, comfortable room Would definitely stay again 😀

Excellent service and food excellent

Really nice pub in a small village, reasonable priced pub grub and nice beer garden.

A splendid meal very reasonably priced in a very friendly country pub

Proper country pub with a relaxed atmosphere serving generous portions of nicely cooked food with a smile.

Lovely local countryside pub. Food is great and good value. Relaxed atmosphere.

Very nice hotel/pub plus everyone of the Staff are really friendly A+++

A great little pub with a varied menu of usual pub grub which are well priced and great portion size. A good range of beers and ciders behind the bar too.

Charming pub, friendly team, great value food!! Exceeded all expectations. Will be coming back for sure!

The best real ale I've had for yonks

This place is one of the best places in chard to eat. The food was delicious and the service by the two young lads was faultless. I have food intolerances and they had plenty of options for me to choose from. I would definitely recommend this place to friends. Well worth going to.

Friendly staff, lots of parking at rear. Comfortable rooms, hot shower. 👍🏼

Good selection of beers and ciders. Nice beer garden and friendly staff.