Dummer Travel Guide

Excellent food and ambience. The food ranges from bar food to haute cuisine. They are open to suggestions. I dislike salmon being smothered in sauce so they bring me a dish of freshly made French Dressing. Pepper and Salt come in mills not out of paper sachets.

Prices are competitive. Another establoishment not far away charges more and most of the food is hiding under a lettuce leaf. Not in the Queen Inn. Good portions and I have recently taken a party of colleagues there and they are have really enjoyed the food. Most of us had Sea Bass and it was cooked to perfection.

Pauline and Richard are excellent hosts and all the staff are friendly and efficient.

It's downfall is that it is very very busy. OKay for me as I can walk to it but a nightmare for parking.

Favorite Dish: The poached Salmon. Excellent and locally sourced. The mussels are also tip top. The rack of lamb is truly scrumptious.

I am now adding to that the Boar, it is really mouthwatering.

The nightlife in Dummer consists of Harvest Suppers, the odd pantomime, the occasional cinema evening, bingo night, quiz night , themed and fundraising concerts etc. We like it that way.

Dress Code: Harevst suppers - men in tutus, ladies in police uniform, kids dressed as rockers! Otherwise what you wore earlier that day is the norm.

The Dummer Mummers were a traditional acting and music group that would perform at places like outside the Foundry or The Queen Inn. Old photogrpahs show that they wore "rag strips" as costumes with various head gear (the Doctor wore a stove pipe, Saint or King George a crown etc). The last Dummer Mummer was Frank Bond who lived in kempshitt House when it was flats. This was demolished in 1974 after the M3 was built and to make room for the first of Basingstokes Industrial Estates. Frank had already moved to North Waltham where he tried to reform a group of Mummers although there was no longer the interest in it. Bob Copper produced a song which included Frank Bond and the Dummer Mummers and was called the Dummer Sheep Shearers. This was used at Mumming Plays.

I rewrote a Mumming Play last year and included some references to Dummer. Once I have managed to acquire the music for the song I will produce the play, hopefully at Christmas this year.

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On December 30th 2006 a tornado ripped through the village uprooting trees and completely shearing the tops from many ancient beeches (those that were not blown down in the great storm of 1986). Dummer Down Lane, leading from Seven Sisters to Dummer Down House was the most dramatically affected. Photos are a bit dark but I have done my best to show what happened.