The Woolpack Inn - Gillingham

Lynn W

A great play to stay overnight and eat if you're visiting Hampshire and Basingstoke area. Not a part of the UK we go to often, which is a shame because it's lovely. We were going to CarFest for the day in late August so this was very local. It's a contemporary country pub with the feel of being independent, not part of a chain. The style is comfortable with open brick and flintwork, wood beams, leather seating and polished tables. Bedrooms are a bit on the small side but moderately priced for B&B and anyway that's not a problem if you're out all day and in the bar or restaurant in the evening. Locals seem to visit it just for a drink as well as it being pretty popular for dinner. Food is generally British and really very good, the first night we both had guinea fowl with cabbage and bacon, and tarragon mash, followed by summer pudding with clotted cream, and mango & passion fruit parfait with pineapple salsa – comforting, tasty, luscious, really good pub food. The Sunday night they only do pizzas, but with a decent bottle of Italian red and a wood fired thin crust these were great pizzas. The wine list is short but there's some interesting bottles there, and some specials as well. Breakfast was a bit disorganised and generally service is unstressed, mostly by young students on gap year, chatty and charming but still effective. I'd be very happy to go back there again and explore some more.