The best restaurants in Charminster and Cerne Valley West Dorset South West

We really enjoyed our last visit to Cerne Abbas back in 2021 and remembered visiting the Giant Inn - so it was so lovely to come back once again here (on our annual break in Purbeck) for pre-walk drinks. We arrived not long after the pub had opened & had a lovely friendly welcome - we decided to sit outside in the rear garden, & it was so nice to see the sun breaking through as we enjoyed our drinks. As with the whole village, this is a very historic building with lots of history, & I'm sure the 'giant' of Cerne Abbas would choose this as his watering hole if he could come down from that hill! We really enjoyed our visit which set us up for the day & put a spring in our step for our hike around the beautiful countryside surrounding the village. Thanks for making our visit so pleasurable!

We made a late booking and the staff went out of their way to make us feel welcome. With 8 of us in the party, we expected a wait for the food but it arrived in good time. The food was reasonable value and excellent, especially the Dorset apple cake.

Stopped for a quick lunch while walking the dog today. I was served by a lovely young chap who was smiley and very helpful. He even offered to carry my tray outside as I had the dog with me. I chose a delicious cranberry and brie toastie. It was served piping hot and was PERFECT! I sat outside in the sunshine looking across the woods. Great value and can totally recommend this special place.

Disappointing. Incurs hidden charges for dogs to stay. I had checked the website and rung up to confirm dogs were allowed in rooms and for any extra charges, none were mentioned. I happily booked and paid for the room, only to receive an email stating each dog would be an extra £10. Normally I don’t mind paying extra for my dog, but the fact that they didn’t state this on their website (room said ‘pets welcome’ at point of booking, no extra charge) and i had asked over the phone about the dogs they did not declare the charges. We cannot cancel because of 2 day cancellation policy, so are now forced to pay undeclared £10 fee per dog or loose our £60 room payment. Really unprofessional and bad management. Again, normally I am happy to pay for pets when I stay as long as they are clear and upfront about charges.

Racist employees, extremely judgmental. Around 18/19 year old girl made my daughter feel uncomfortable as they were making fun of a delivery driver as he left saying he looked like a terrorist! Unacceptable behaviour as we are muslim ourselves won’t be visiting again!