An Inn Down West
Riddle explores a razor sharp rural enterprise setting its sights on greater things
Review and Photography by Andy Barnham
Drive through the Wiltshire countryside and you could be forgiven in thinking that the low rumbling sound originates from the armoured military vehicles conducting manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. However a night’s stay at the Three Daggers in Edington will help educate the visitor in a rumbling of a less aggressive, and more commercial, nature.
Edington lost their two local boozers approximately ten years ago and for a time the village only had a local post office (which still exists) in someone’s living room. Three years ago a local investor bought one of the old pubs, prior to it being turned into a residence, renovated the building and added a conservatory. The result, the Three Daggers, now proudly boasts three bedrooms with a shared living room upstairs and a pub and restaurant on the ground floor. It also, fortuitously, sits next to parish council land in which are climbing frames and a small football pitch for children. The beer garden is perfect for families and a seductive way to spend an evening with the local ale.
The bedrooms are generous in size with high ceilings and the room we stayed in (called the Priory) had an en-suite shower with underfloor heating in the shower room; a lovely touch and I’m sure rather welcome in the winter. The bed was very comfy with a thick duvet and the room was warm throughout the night, even with a window wide open. Down the hallway the shared living room, restricted to guests only, contained a kitchenette and honesty bar for those looking for a larger private living space and wanting to get away from the pub below.
For those staying, and even for those not staying but happen to find themselves in the area, a meal at the restaurant is a must. With ingredients coming from the local farm it is no surprise the menu is stacked full of dishes taking advantage of the fresh produce. In addition to the food, the wine menu proved to be surprisingly varied and incredibly well priced with little noticeable markup. We ordered the organic Malbec Bodegas Santa Ana from Argentina (for £21.50) which proved to a wonderful tipple for the evening.
For starters, we ordered the Scotch Egg and the Bubble & Squeak, topped with a free range poached egg and hollandaise sauce. Both were delicious with the eggs making me wish I lived next to a farm; the taste of the local produce blowing away anything I normally buy in the city. For mains Chicken Kiev and the Featherblade (a steak cut from the shoulder blade) was the preference on the day with the chicken being very succulent and the featherblade sweet in flavour. Word of caution; the Featherblade was also very rich. While this reviewer loved it, those who prefer lighter dishes may want to try something else. The meal along with the wine came to £79.
Service throughout both the meal and whole stay was excellent, and to ensure no confusion as to where in the country one was staying, came with lashings of local accent finished with ‘My love’. Be warned, with such good food, the quality of the service on offer and at this price point, you’ll need to book as the restaurant is regularly booked out with locals and regulars coming to dine.
If dinner isn’t enough for those staying, breakfast is included with the room. Open to the public and not just restricted to guests, the meal once again shows off the best of the local offerings with fresh crusty bread on offer along side a full English or cereal and fruits.
By itself, the inn is worth a visit to the countryside. However it is the other ingredients that fall under the Three Daggers banner which are causing the rumblings. The local farms which supply the ingredients to the restaurant? They come under the banner of The Three Daggers. The local ale which is being supped in the beer garden? That too. All in all the Three Daggers boasts the inn, the local farm, a farm shop, a café and the local brewery. Quite the 360 degrees operation.
The farm shop, located literally a stone’s throw from the inn, sells local produce from the farm along with daily staples. It currently sells local honey with the aim of soon selling jam and last Christmas sold 70 hampers. The farm shop also includes a small café and is responsible for the village café culture.
Contained in the same building is the brewery; indeed the shop overlooks it and sells samples of the brews. One of the more popular offerings, available in the farm shop, is the ‘Growler’ a 3 1/2 pint bottle on sale to the public. The Three Daggers manager Robin Brown believes that the majority of Edington now own a ‘Growler’ with locals regularly coming in to fill theirs up from the sample kegs and in addition to the personal ‘Growlers’ the Three Daggers also offer 72 pint kegs for parties. The brewery currently brews four brews a week. Whilst there is scope to increase this to eight, the size of the operation is such that storage capacity would need to be expanded to accommodate the extra barrels made. The output from the brewery is not only available at the inn; the Three Daggers makes a weekly trip to London for the ale to be sold in boutique outlets and a gift set of four of the ales is also on offer.
If The Three Daggers wasn’t already the centre of the community, every Thursday night the brewery hosts a tapas evening. The format of the evening is simple; no bookings, first come first served, enjoy the local ale and every 20 minutes a new course is served. With offerings such as Torunska sausages, Polish mustard and pickled cucumber and Pork schnitzel served with chips, it’s no surprise that tapas night is so popular that the brewery is full to the brim every Thursday and people queue up 30 minutes before the first course to guarantee a seat.
The breadth of this multi pronged attack of the Three Daggers involves 60 employees and as Robin admits, the constant challenge is to keep the balance between the bread and butter local trade and visiting custom. The size of this challenge is set to grow as the Three Daggers expands. A property on the other side of the road has been acquired with an eye to adding five more bedrooms to the existing three and possibly a spa and, having been approached several times, the brewery is looking into acquiring a marriage licence to conduct civil ceremonies having already held receptions. Last, but not least, is the beer bus. The Three Daggers has invested in a 1968 Citroen H van and created a fully mobile bar with four traditional hand ale pumps. Recently seen at the day-after party of a celebrity wedding, the beer bus is to start attending festivals in addition to being available for hire - selling Three Daggers ale of course. 
Enquiries: The Three Daggers, 47 Westbury Road, Edington, Westbury BA13 4PG/ 01380 830 940/ [email protected]/ www.threedaggers.co.uk