The New Inn – a country pub just a few minutes from Barnstaple with a fantastic menu that you will deliberate over for hours. Oh and it’s delicious! Check it out.

Why it’s on my list

The New Inn has been a favourite of my parents for a long time. They go so much that the chef might as well not bother asking about dessert and just pass her a plate of homemade honeycomb ice cream. A little bit of research told me it’s the top rated restaurant in Barnstaple on Trip Advisor. Plenty of reason to give this pub a try!

Pub Information

Website: www.thenewinnatgoodleigh.co.uk
Location: Goodleigh Road, Goodleigh, about a 10-minute drive out of Barnstaple
Opening times: Hours change between winter and summer, so it’s best to check the website or ring up. To give you an idea they do both lunch and evening meal hours on some days, just evening meal hours on others.
To book: call 01271 342488
Dog friendly? Dogs are welcome inside, they just need to be kept on a lead.

Overall verdict

The owners Justin and Julia are wonderful hosts and wonderful cooks, so I’m unsurprised it is a favourite with my parents. Julia managed to cook up a feast for our group, which was no mean feat as everything was freshly cooked, there were nine of us and only two of us ordered the same thing. Hats off to them for an excellent experience.

What I had

I cover two visits in this blog, worth returning!

I’ve recently discovered I really like lamb, which was a wonderful surprise following years of believing it was horrendous (I blame a dodgy lamb burger from Iceland for that, probably not the best idea for a first experience of lamb!). So I went for the trio of English lamb chops with lemon and herbs.

We each had a main meal and then had potatoes and veg to share – two huge bowls of chips and two huge bowls of carrots, broccoli and new potatoes.

For dessert I had a rather festive white chocolate and cranberry cheesecake.

On a second visit I had a sirloin steak with garlic mushrooms for main and a toffee waffle for dessert.

The best

The lamb was absolutely lovely. Chunky, flavoursome and delicious, it was clear that it was cooked with great respect. I explained to the owners that I was a bit of a lamb noob and they advised me how to have it (just a little bit pink, not too much) and their advice set me up for a great meal. Magnificent sauce! And I added a bit of mint sauce too, because lamb and mint truly is a match made in heaven.

The cheesecake was also fantastic, it was incredibly light, like eating a cloud. And it wasn’t overly sweet, the perfect dessert after a filling main meal.

On the second visit, the toffee waffle was incredible! The ice cream was super creamy, the toffee sauce warm and comforting, and there were some lovely crunchy nuts in there for a bit of bite. Highly recommended.

 

Not the best

The venue is cosy and we were quite a large group, which meant we used pretty much every square inch of the table. Whilst this was absolutely fine, it did mean I kept getting mixed up with my mum’s drink, and when you’re expecting a sip of lemonade I can tell you soda water doesn’t quite cut it!

The venue

The New Inn is a lovely pub. It’s nice and cosy, with dark wood furniture all around, thick beams along the ceiling and comfortable seating. There was a green leather chair that looked fantastically squishy, I should have had a good sit but will have to do it next time instead. There is a lovely open fireplace, had it been lit I expect we would have been a little too hot, but on a colder day I’m sure it would have added even more cosiness to the atmosphere.

The car park is good, once you get in that is. It’s one of the tightest squeezes I have ever seen! I wouldn’t dare try it in my husband’s car as he is rather protective of it, but if I had my own car I probably would. You just need to take it slow and do a little manoeuvring to line up your car directly opposite the entrance to the car park.

Top tip

As you can see here, the choice of mains is really quite varied. Explore it, it will be well worth your time. I cut off some of the starters in the photo, sorry about that!