Dumb Post Inn (Wilts)

“Everybody’s welcome to our traditional country gastropub, including dogs. We are known for our great food, terrace and outdoor bar as well as one of the best views in Wiltshire.” ‘Traditional’ and ‘dogs’. How many times has this website shown that means ‘welcomes hunting with open arms’? And indeed The Dumb is a regular Thursday host of the Beaufort Hunt, a pack run out of a ‘stately home‘ that used to count Charles and Camilla amongst its riders. So, yes, they definitely welcome dogs (though for every other ‘guest’ the rule is that “dogs are welcome but must be kept on a lead at all times”). And those ‘best views’? The hills around Calne are beautiful but somewhat tainted for many of us by the thought of foxes being killed, by roads being blocked, by being anywhere near terriermen riding quads, and by being looked down on from the back of a horse by a rider with a massively inflated sense of entitlement…