MEET YOUR LOCAL
Meet Your Local: The Baker Arms, Child Okeford
Our regular column in which you discover the faces and stories behind the pub sign. This month we’ve been chatting to The Baker Arms in Child Okeford.
The Baker Arms is owned and run by husband and wife team James & Desi Hutchings who bought it in 2017. How did you end up at The Baker Arms?
We have always worked in hospitality, notably at The Museum Inn in Farnham, The Cow in Poole, Westbeach in Bournemouth, Odette’s in Primrose Hill, The Pig & Butcher in Islington, and Smokehouse in Highbury & Islington to name a few! It was at Smokehouse that we both worked & met, and then eventually moved back to Dorset. We had always thought of having our own place after 20+ years of working for other people.
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We randomly found the pub online (and on the market!), it ticked lots of boxes, so we went for it and we’ve now been here 3 years.
What’s your favourite local place to visit on an afternoon off?
We don’t afford ourselves much time off in normal circumstances, however we enjoy eating at The Fontmell when we can, or clambering up Hambledon hill with our dog Smokey.
Tell us about your 2020... Lockdown 1 last spring was tough but it did enable us to make small improvements around the pub, with much of our attention focused on our beer garden, before what proved to be a busy summer thankfully.
The second lockdown & then Tier 2 proved much more challenging to come out of and we only reopened in mid-December with a much reduced offering and limited hours. And now here we are again closed except for a Takeaway Roast on a Sunday.
What’s been your biggest challenge since taking over - apart from COVID, obviously!
Our biggest challenge actually resulted from a Motorcycle accident that James was involved in, in May 2019. James’s left arm was shattered and he had to be air lifted to Southmead Hospital. Following 2 surgeries, the recovery is still ongoing. So, James learned to cook one
