Sustainable, ethical and delicious
The Bull Inn
Totnes Unnited Kingdom
The Bull Inn
The Bull Inn is an organic, ethical pub and hotel in the South Hams, Devon, with nine contemporary, eclectically designed stylish bedrooms and one four-bedroom self-catering apartment across the road. The restaurant is fully organic and guided by its suppliers.
The Bull Inn is run according to the ethos of “planet, people, profit”, as summed up in a series of “No-Bull Rules” that determine what the staff buy, how they trade, and how they work as a team to deliver a deeply radical, ethical and values-driven business. The staff are dedicated to a philosophy of doing business better, continually scrutinizing their habits and ways of being and buying.
"I have found my home, my place, my passion, my love."
Geetie Singh Watson
Owner Geetie Singh-Watson grew up in a commune in Herefordshire, where she lived a life in which everyone considered the impact they were having on the environment and society. She has childhood memories of munching vegetables straight from the garden and talking radical politics at supper.
When she started working in restaurants, she loved the trade but was disillusioned by the lack of sustainability and of high-quality, organic ingredients. She decided to open her own place, values-driven to its very core. That was when she became the founder of the first official organic pub in Britain, The Duke of Cambridge in Islington, London. Geetie moved to Devon in 2012, having fallen for a local farmer called Guy Watson, the founder of Riverford.
We talk to Geetie on the last day of our stay, having slept, breakfasted and dined at The Bull Inn throughout. It’s one of those places where we immediately feel at home, a hotel restaurant that you wouldn’t necessarily expect in a small English village in the West Country, but rather in London.
The décor is tasteful, the atmosphere easy-going, there’s a big-city vibe, the people who work there are capable, friendly and helpful, the bedding of organic cotton is a delight to sleep in, and the coffee and tea in the rooms are organic, as are the soap in the bathroom, the shampoo under the shower and everything that comes out of the kitchen. The vegetables and fruit are from Riverford and other local suppliers.
In the mornings the washing is picked up by an electrically driven van with Sustainable Drycleaner written on the side. (It “doesn’t cost the earth”.) The whisky I drink in the evenings is organically produced, from the Nc’Neal distillery that we will visit later on this journey. The menu, which changes daily and has many vegetarian options, offers a variety of tasty and well-prepared dishes that glean all possible flavours from the available ingredients.
The Bull Inn is one of those places you’d recommend to anyone as a place to eat or to stay, but more than just a recommendation to friends and acquaintances, this is a recommendation to catering entrepreneurs, hoteliers, chefs and financiers to take a look, to see and taste that it’s possible to run a hotel where everything is sustainable, ethical and delicious.
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