The Blue Ball Inn, Taunton

As described below, the barn is still being finished so the scaffolding was in place, masking its whole frontage. Inside felt like a theme park, part fairground fun-house, part pastiche of The Farmer’s Arms down the road, where this kind of architecture has been done considerably better. There was one ale on, Exmoor Gold, and this was in poor condition. The other choices were Sheppey’s 200, Sharp’s Atlantic on keg, Staropraman, Pravha, Guinness and Thatcher’s Gold. The young barmaid was friendly enough, but the landlord was less so, meaning it lacked the atmosphere and conviviality present in most other local pubs and was, frankly, a waste of time. On the plus side the mobo had been replaced with dull muzak. The lack of any other customers, particularly local villagers, is testament to this. Given that I remember the original Blue Ball, now converted to residential, this was a disappointment that I am unlikely to repeat.

Facebook page of The Blue Ball Inn - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Blue Ball Inn - www.facebook.com

Located somewhat off the beaten track and certainly unlikely to get much in the way of any passing trade, it is nonetheless just a short detour off the A358 so quite easy to get to, and it seemed popular with walkers and cyclists on our visit. It’s an attractive thatched building, albeit obscured by scaffolding on this occasion unfortunately, and housed in what was at one time a barn, with the original pub being in an adjacent building that is now holiday cottages. Internally, there is nothing on the ground floor other than the loos, although the landlord did mention that they were looking to develop some sort of snug/lounge area there. Proceeding upstairs you come to a split-level room in three parts, with a few steps between each. It’s barn origins are quite evident, but it has been sympathetically, and expensively by the looks of things, refurbished, and it now has something of a refined but rustic feel. The first room that you enter is the lowest of the three, and this had wood strip on the floor, exposed ceiling rafters and a large window at one end. A single large table was off to one side, a couple of small tables opposite, and a row of stools in the window. Walls were mostly a neutral cream colour, with some contrasting blue in places. Up a few steps was another room with a rustic, wood panelled bar counter, a wood burning stove and some minimal bench seating, whilst beyond this again was a kitchen that was apparently “available to hire”. Quite why anyone would want to do this when most people presumably have a kitchen at home, I’m not entirely sure. Another door here led across a bridge to the garden which was a pleasant spot set across two or three levels. At least, it was a pleasant spot, until for some unfathomable reason they decided to pipe some sweary rap music through the outside speakers. That felt wholly inappropriate for the style of pub and completely destroyed the peace and quiet that we had been enjoying up until that point. We swiftly finished our drinks and left. Despite three hand pumps on the bar, none were in use, with the landlord saying something about a missed delivery. That said, two were unclipped with only one having a reversed clip, so even if the alleged missed delivery had turned up, it looks as though there still may have been only one on. I did though spot Sharp’s Atlantic on keg. Ciders meanwhile were Thatcher’s Gold and Sheppy’s 200, the latter of which went down well. Overall, a nice pub in a lovely spot, but based on my visit there were too many negatives for me to be able to recommend it.

Official site of The Blue Ball Inn - blueballquantocks.com

Official site of The Blue Ball Inn - blueballquantocks.com