The White House at Bladon

We’re frequent visitors to Blenheim Palace and we’ve passed The White House at Bladon so many times over the years. It’s somewhere we’ve always thought we should stop at and investigate, but our timing has never been quite right to make lunch or dinner a viable option. All that changed on Sunday, when we popped for Sunday lunch, and a chance to get out of the pouring rain. I for one will not miss January.

The 16th century pub can be found in the centre of the Oxfordshire village of Bladon. It has parking both at the front and side of the pub. It’s right on the doorstep of Blenheim Palace, and just down the road from the final resting place of Sir Winston Churchill.

We received a warm welcome from the staff as we arrived and were quickly shown to our table. The White House at Bladon has a bright and airy feel with lots of seating available. The tables are well spaced, so you don’t feel as if you’re sitting on top of other people.

Daddy P is only around on Sunday’s so that’s our only real window of opportunity to have a family meal. I knew he’d go for the ‘Sinday Sunday’ lunch menu without even looking at anything else. The roasts available included Chicken, Beef and Pork Belly on the day we visited. Children can also have a smaller portion of the Sunday roast. This could perhaps be highlighted on the Children’s Menu, but I knew there was no chance of my son going for that option. He’d spotted that there was homemade pizza on the menu, before he’d even sat down. His enthusiasm was plain for all to see.

It would be lovely if a sample menu was included on the website for The White House at Bladon. I knew that pizza would be an option and therefore my fussy eater would be well catered for. But I always find it nice to have some idea of the options available before arriving at an eatery.

Anyway, with drinks in hand, we looked through the menu’s and Monkey opted for the Garlic Bread as his starter, Daddy P went for the Soup of the Day, in this instance, Leek and Potato, served with homemade bread and I couldn’t resist the Baked Camembert served with bread and chutney.

The garlic bread barely touched the sides as Monkey demolished it, so I’m taking it that he gave that a seal of approval. Daddy P loves his soups and this one was full of flavour and he thoroughly enjoyed it. With mine, the camembert oozed out and worked perfectly with the bread and delicious chutney. I’d have liked a little more chutney, but that’s just me. But we couldn’t fault the starters at all.

For our main meal, Monkey couldn’t be swayed from the Margherita Pizza, Daddy P went for the Sinday Sunday Roast Beef and I opted for the Slow Roasted Pork Belly.

Monkey gave his pizza a big thumbs up and it was a decent size for a 7-year-old too. Daddy P enjoyed his Roast Beef and happily devoured the lot. I was a little confused with my meal, I think I actually received the Sunday Roast option rather than the Slow Roasted option as the black pudding mash, red cabbage and creamy leeks were all missing. But I’ll never turn a roast dinner away. I had expected the pork to fall apart a little more than it did, but overall the meal for good and the crackling was devine.

Deserts are always a big thing with us. With Sticky Toffee Pudding, Chocolate Brownie, Apple Crumble and a Selection of Ice Creams available, we weren’t going to be disappointed. Daddy P was always going to have the crumble option served with ice cream, in the same way that I would make a beeline for the sticky toffee pudding with ice cream. Monkey loves ice cream, so we were all easily pleased at The White House at Bladon.

I have to say that my choice was wonderful, perfect portion size and really melt in the mouth. Daddy P’s crumble was packed with fruit and got his seal of approval too. What’s not to like with vanilla ice cream?

The White House at Bladon has a nice, friendly atmosphere and I always gauge places by how my son reacts. If he relaxes and just enjoys himself, then I know we’re in a happy, family friendly environment. I thought the prices across the board offered good value for money too.

On a better day I’m sure we’d have had to explore the garden, but it was tipping it down with rain, so we’ll have to save that for another time.