Date Visited: Saturday 8th April 2017
Number of Nights: 1
Who Stayed:
2 Adults, 1 Small Dog (Lottie)
Outfit:
Mazda Bongo (Betty) with pop-up awning
The True Lovers Knot is a
pub owned by the Hall and Woodhouse brewery and is situated in Tarrant Keyneston, a
small village near Blandford Forum in Dorset.
The pub offers both in-house
accommodation as well as a small campsite with eight hard standing pitches and
a few grass pitches, all of which are available with electric hook up for an additional
cost.
The campsite area is
adjacent to the overflow car park and there is little definition between the
two. In fact, when we stayed several pub patrons parked on the grass pitch next
to ours which meant lots of talking and car doors slamming when they left at around
11pm (the pub shuts at 11:30pm)
 |
| Aerial View |
 |
| Betty on Grass Pitch |
We paid £15.00 for a grass
pitch for one night, if we had opted for gravel this would have gone up to
£20.00. We also paid an additional £4.00 for electric and £3.00 for an awning.
Both charges apply per stay which is great if you are stopping for several
nights but as we were only there for one night it felt rather expensive.
 |
| Toilet and Shower Room |
The campsite is served by a
single unisex toilet which doubles up as the laundry room and a separate unisex
shower room. Both rooms adjoin the pub and beer garden. There is also a small
area with a fresh water tap, grey waste and chemical toilet disposal points.
 |
| Facilities |
Unfortunately, the amenities
left a lot to be desired and when I used the toilet on the Saturday night it
had obviously been frequented by a pub goer who liked to smoke! It stank of
cigarettes and when I went back over on the Sunday morning the smell was still
lingering and I found a half drunk pint of beer on top of the tumble dryer.
During pub opening hours you
can use the toilets inside which I would do in future.
 |
| Pub Menu |
If you choose to eat in the
pub, which I would highly recommend as the food is excellent, make sure you are
given the 15% discount that campers are entitled too. The staff seem to have
little awareness of the campers discount and even when we paid for the pitch at
the same time as the food they still failed to apply any discount.
I only realised this when I
checked my receipt on the Monday and phoned the pub to explain what had
happened. They have since given me a refund.
 |
| Beer Garden |
Four Legged Friends:
If you are taking a dog with
you they are welcome in all areas of the pub and beer garden but the immediate
vicinity is not ideal for dog walking. The narrow road next to one side of the
pub has no footpaths and the busy B3082, on which the pub sits, can be
difficult to cross and the footpaths soon run out.
Interesting Fact:
The pub is said to be
haunted, this is the story on the website:
‘The True Lover’s Knot came
into existence to serve people who had stopped at the toll gate that was
located on the road next to where the pub is today. Here the landlord’s son met
and fell instantly in love with the local lord’s daughter as she accompanied
her father to collect the toll money’s. They then began a secret relationship
in fear of the reaction of the lord if he found his daughter with a commoner!
Unfortunately the lord’s
stableman spotted the two love birds together, when visiting the blacksmiths
shop which was next door to the pub, and promptly told his master. Full of rage
he forbade his daughter to see him again and planned to have her packed off to
relations far away. Overcome by grief, she hung herself from a tree on his
estate. The boyfriend consumed by the loss of his girlfriend also hung himself
from the same tree, realising he didn’t want to live if he could not be with
her.
The tragic footnote to all
this is that having already lost his wife in childbirth the landlord could not
carry on without his son and in a fit of depression he hung himself from the
same tree as the tragic youngsters. So the locals soon referred to the inn as
the True Lover’s Knot because a true lover’s knot has 3 loops (to depict the 3
people who died) ,and when tied correctly it has a heart in the middle.
As a tragic and spooky
ending to the tale, the pub is said to be haunted by the landlord to this day.
Certainly unusual things do indeed happen and who knows you may see or hear him
still.’
We did do some ghost hunting
when we stayed but I can’t report seeing anything unusual or spooky. Maybe
you’ll have more luck?
Booking:
To book the site you need to
go through www.pitchup.com and you will
need to pay a small, non-refundable deposit. I paid £3.30 on a £22.00 total and
the rest was payable on arrival (pitchup states the deposit is 15%). The pub is
very flexible if you need to change dates, cancel etc and even emailed to tell
me part of the beer garden would be shut when I stayed as they were hosting a
wedding and I was offered the option to book an alternate night if I wanted.
On arrival day be aware that
you can only check in when the pub is open (at the following times):
- 13:00 to 15:00 and 18:00 to
22:00 Mondays to Fridays
- 13:00 to 22:00 Saturdays and
Sundays
You may be able to check in
outside of these times with prior notice but always call ahead if you need to
do this.
Handy Hint:
Be aware each Thursday night
(April to September) the pub hosts a bike meet so do expect some noise and the
last Friday of each month sees live music.
Ratings:
Cleanliness 1/5
Poor. The facilities need
updating and to be for campsite users only. The fresh and waste water areas
were dirty when we stayed.
Location 4/5
Lovely views but the road
can be noisy
Pub 5/5
Quaint, excellent food,
great beer garden, love the fact its meant to be haunted
Pitches 3/5
Gravel pitches looked level
but grass pitches are very uneven and there are some very deep ruts
Value for money 3/5
Average – would be better if
the facilities were improved
Lottie’s Verdict 3/5
I enjoyed the views and
being allowed in the pub and beer garden but I was disappointed with the walks
in the immediate area.
Overall 2/5
I thought the pub food was
excellent, staff were friendly and welcoming and the view from our pitch was
perfect but the standard of the facilities was a real let down. If you have
your own toilet and shower then you’ll be ok otherwise I wouldn’t stay for more
than a night and would shower at home or on arriving at your next destination.
 |
| Enjoying the sunshine :) |
If you want to see more check out my youtube video (can you spot the ghost?)
True Lovers Knot You Tube Review
Firstly you'll need to remove the carpets that you want to dye. The grubbiest in my van were those under the driver and passenger seats and I chose to tackle those.
