HOUSES AND ALE
From Ushers Guide To The West.
Text by Bill Bawden, circa 1970.
THREE COUNTY COUNTRY
At Zeals on A303 the Andover-Wincanton road over the border country of Wiltshire and Somerset also touches Dorset and marks a change of scene, with Salisbury Plain, so essentially Wiltshire rising eastward at Mee, and the grasslands of Somerset spreading westwards to the Bristol Channel. On this road the Bell and Crown at Zeals is a welcome sight as it is a sizeable inn, its principal purpose to cater for the wayfarer as the inn has done for centuries.
The Bell and Crown once brewed its own beer in true country tradition but now dispenses draught Usher and Red Barrel to give the customer the brand-name uniformity of quality he has come to expect. Incidentally, the cold buffet at the Bell and Crown is quite something.