I’d come across it mentioned on social media and was interested because it was in a favourite neighbouring town of ours, Bridgwater. This ‘historic market and town and parish’ has somewhat of a bad press, and people from elsewhere are sometimes unkind about it which I think is just rude. Yes, the town has problems, as do so many places, and for the same reason as many of those other places. According to ONS data, (Office of National Statistics) it is one of the most deprived areas in the county. However, Bridgwater has a great deal going for it, it’s not only ‘home to Europe’s largest illuminated carnival – a spectacular yearly event held on Bonfire Night’ (Keytek Locksmiths) but it has our favourite Turkish restaurant – the amazing Green Olive, a museum dedicated to Robert Blake, General at Sea from 1649, interesting buildings and architecture and a significant history.
We now have a new reason to visit the town, as I hinted at in my opening sentence – I’ve come across a new to us restaurant, The Old Vicarage. It is just across the road from the thirteenth century church dedicated to St Mary. The Old Vicarage itself is very old, dating back to 1327, and is a Grade II listed building:
A charming building with some wonderful historical links to Bridgwater’s past, including reputably being the place Judge Jeffreys stayed and, also, providing lodgings for Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the train station and a bridge in the town.
Brunel is another hero of mine, so it was quite a thrill when we visited the hotel’s restaurant last night for dinner. As we arrived, having walked through the town from the West Quay, there were several staff in the bar we walked in. They were very smiley and welcoming and we were led though into a really old dining room with doors through into another dining area and beyond it a lovely garden.
We settled ourselves at our table with a view through to the garden. A menu was delivered to us by one of the smiling people and our drinks orders taken. Some menus are enormously long, and you can’t imagine how a kitchen might have all of the stuff on it fresh and available. Some menus are so small that although the dishes might be délicieux, if there was nothing you fancy then you’re stumped. However, this menu would have suited Goldilocks because it was just right! We were quite boring with our choice, I had steak, husband had fish, but the cooking was perfect! I had a starter of cheese and ham croquettes but no dessert, husband had no starter but for dessert he chose his favourite, crème caramel. If we had fancied it, we could have had freshly made pizza baked in a pizza oven outside.
It was a wonderful meal from an interesting and tempting menu, friendly and attentive staff, fascinating surroundings, other diners all chomping away and enjoying themselves, the slightest hint of background music, very comfortable chairs (nothing worse than something wobbly, lumpy or hard!) and the delightful thought that we’d found a new favourite place to revisit and sample other dishes on the menu.
To make the evening complete, obviously we called in at the Dolphin when we arrived home!
https://theoldvicaragebridgwater.com/
Lois Elsden 