Birthday Meal at The Bell Inn, Tewkesbury

I have just had a lovely weekend celebrating my birthday. As nice as it is being able to go out and celebrate with Rich and enjoy some time together as a couple, I also really enjoy being able to have a birthday meal with the girls as well. We decided to spend some time on Sunday in Tewkesbury and have lunch at The Bell Inn.

The Bell Inn is a gorgeous, half-timber hotel and restaurant dating from 1696 and situated right opposite Tewkesbury Abbey. Being part of the Old English Inns group, The Bell Inn offers the sort of menu that you would expect from a pub chain. There is plenty of variety to satisfy all tastes, with a Roast option on a Sunday. Most importantly for us, is the fact that they are family-friendly with a great Children’s Menu. There was plenty of choice for the girls with “Little Bear Mains” at £3.49 and “Big Bear Mains” at £3.99. For an extra £2 on each of these we went for a Meal Deal to include a main meal, dessert and drink.

The staff at The Bell Inn are obviously used to dealing with children. The girls were bought colouring books to use and sharpened pencil crayons and this kept them occupied whilst we were waiting for our meals.

Emily had homemade fish fingers, chips, beans and tomato ketchup (much to her delight!) and Freyja opted for fish, chips and beans. Freyja was very lucky as the chef had accidentally put on an “adult” sized piece of fish to fry for her, and she ate every bit of it – even at the expense of a few chips!

Whilst the girls were enjoying their huge platefuls of food, Rich and I were able to get a starter and main course in. I chose a Smoked Salmon starter which was served with a horseradish & dill crème fraîche mayonnaise, salad leaves and a couple of slices of brown bread and butter. The generous portion of smoked salmon almost melted in my mouth.

I decided to stay with fish for my main course and had Sea bass fillets. These were served on pesto mash, Chantenay carrots, fine beans, broccoli, peas and roasted cherry tomatoes. It was all beautifully cooked.

Rich couldn’t resist a Roast Dinner. He had Beef and Pork Loin and this was served with a huge Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, mash, parsnips, cauliflower, Chantenay carrots, peas and a piece of crackling. He was very impressed, and is still going on about how delicious his Roast Dinner was days later.

Rich and I finished off our meals with cappuccinos whilst the girls had “choccypop ice cream”. This consisted of clotted cream ice cream, chocolate-coated popcorn, marshmallows and chocolate sauce. It didn’t take them too long to polish these off. I was lucky to be able to persuade Freyja to stop eating hers for a moment so I could take a photo….

The Bell Inn proved to be even better than we thought it would be. The quality of food far surpassed our expectations from previous experience of that from pub chains, yet still retained a huge choice. The service was excellent, and the feel from the interior was clean and welcoming, retaining its own individual charm from a building over 300 years old. It was the perfect place for a relaxed family meal out, and we are already thinking about when we will be back again for another visit.

Disclaimer: We received a discount off our meal, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are our own and we fully intend to return again soon!