For our third hotel stay during our spring road trip through South West England we chose to spend a night in the charming Somerset village of Mells at The Talbot Inn. The food-driven, darling coaching inn popped up on our radar when we were reading reviews about the hotel we ended up visiting next, just 10 minutes away from Mells. Honestly, we couldn’t choose between the two properties, so we opted to split our two nights in Somerset between the two inns. It seemed a little silly to do so at the time, but looking back, I wouldn’t have changed a moment about how we spent our time in Somerset.

The main reason that we couldn’t pass on a night at The Talbot Inn was its emphasis on the food. “Refined bedrooms, superb food,” is a tagline that you’ll find on the Talbot website and we couldn’t agree more. The “country pub” at The Talbot Inn is unlike most of the pubs we’ve experienced in the UK. Sure, part of it felt like a pub, with well-worn bar stools, low ceilings, and cozy nooks, but the food was simply outstanding – most of the ingredients are sourced locally and nearly everything is made in-house, in the most thoughtful of preparations. Whether it’s the impressively stacked Talbot Burger that catches your eye, as it did mine, or the 42 day aged steak that caught Michael’s, the beer definitely plays second fiddle at this pub.

Our aptly-named “very large room”, with its four poster king bed and tall ceilings was complimented by a bathroom which, by itself, seemed to be bigger than most rooms in our home. I made a point to enjoy two soaks – complete with bubbles from Bramley – in the clawfoot tub during our short one night stay.

Apart from our spacious, chic accommodations and the wonderful dinner at the pub, we’re both in agreement that our favorite part of staying at The Talbot Inn was exploring the bucolic walking trails behind the inn. We ventured out into the fields and on the paths twice the first night and once more the next morning. It was during these walks together, five days into our trip to England, no doubt with our dog on our mind, that we finally asked ourselves, “could we live here…?”

A remarkable landscape, an idyllic English village, and an outstanding meal at the heart of it all – what more could we look for in a town to call home?

Photos by Meredith Perdue for Map & Menu.