Jane Rakison visits a pretty Dorset pub that delivers on every front
Can you imagine returning, as an adult, to the scene of your teenage Saturday job – only this time to run the show? That was the reality for Amelia Moore when, in 2024, she took over The Rose & Crown in the bucolic Dorset village of Trent. Amelia returned to head up the front-of-house team, while her chef husband, Malachai, took the helm in the kitchen.
The lure of the pub for the couple goes beyond nostalgia. The setting is a chocolate-box-pretty village, stuffed with grand manor houses, a beautiful church, and countryside that rolls into the distance, infinity-pool-style. It’s all devastatingly charming.
Period panache
Inside, the cosy pub is rich in historical features, sympathetically enhanced by soft lighting and pleasing period accessories. That this is a place loved by the locals – a crucial element in any pub’s success – is clear from the montage of Polaroids of villagers’ dogs that hangs in the bar.
A dining room with wooden floorboards and windows overlooking the garden is connected to the pub through a large hatch, allowing the gentle hum of bar life to carry through.
In this attractive pub setting, it’s not immediately clear whether to expect pub classics or smarter cooking. Happily, a merging of the two keeps purists satisfied, while those looking for something fancier can find it on the specials board.
Food worth finding
The integrity of local ingredients is hard to beat. Fresh produce is sourced from villagers’ polytunnels wherever possible, while Amelia’s father, who raises pigs, occasionally supplies the pork for the Sunday roasts. Trent is home to the Tom Putts apple, and local orchard owner Jeremy makes the pub’s bespoke apple juice – the only drink permitted outside the Wadworth pub’s designated drinks list.
In the kitchen, Malachai weaves his culinary creativity through a selection of modern British dishes. Our parsnip soup was silky smooth, beautifully presented and accompanied by warm bread and a knob of butter so large it should really be called a wedge. A smoked mackerel pâté was similarly generous, served with a dollop of pink horseradish and beetroot slaw.
For mains, we selected a beef short-rib sandwich, unctuous and served with a large bone planted confidently through the bread. A tart from the specials selection – taleggio with confit tomatoes and courgette – arrived as a huge, oozing triangle, served with a crunchy, delicately dressed fennel-and-leaf salad and crushed potatoes.
Our desperate efforts to find space for dessert were rewarded with a tangy lemon tart and punchy raspberry sorbet. This turned out to be the more restrained choice: a chocolate and caramel delice – layers of cream, mousse and chocolate cake piled high – was topped with two cream-filled choux buns. Amelia and Malachai have brought more than hospitality know-how and quality cooking to this rural pub; they’ve created the sort of place that has you planning a return before you’ve even left.
Those who want to make a meal of their visit will be pleased to know the pub also has tastefully decorated bedrooms.
