The Bull Ditchling, a South Downs gem
The Bull Ditchling
The Bull is a landmark on the South Downs, a wonderful pub set in the beautiful village of Ditchling down the hill from the famous Ditchling Beacon. The village supports a superb museum that houses much of the work of sculptor Eric Gill and his community of artists and craftsmen and was home to Dame Vera Lynn until her death this year.
We were approached by the owner, Dominic Worral, in April 2020 to supply a replacement wood-fired oven to be set up in a new timber building at the end of their extensive outdoor seating area and veg plot. The old oven was small and anticipating a growth in sales of take away pizza during the Covid outbreak, Dominic was anxious to have a much larger oven set up. After a few discussions, we decided on our transverse 1350 chamotte oven, to be set in a corner of the new kitchen room with new prep tables to excite the pizza chef.
We started on site at the Bull Ditchling during June 2020 during the first lockdown and the pub was only doing takeaway meals from the main kitchen. Dominic and his manager Molly gave us rooms and food to keep us going during the build and superb they were too, excellent food and luxury bedrooms to rest in after a hard days work.
We can normally get the oven set up and ready for its first gentle firing in around 3-4 days so board and lodging costs aren’t too onerous on the owner. We are happy to use local hotels like Premier if they are cheap and close by but we often come to an arrangement if the site has rooms attached as it keeps installation costs down.
Everything went smoothly and the oven was handed over at the end of June 2020 so the builders could get on and finish the building details. The carpenters added a slatted log store and decorators added the sophisticated grey blue paint to the oven dome completing what will be a fantastic resource for the pub during this very difficult trading year. Please check in to the Bull Ditchling Facebook page for up to date news here
The Bull Ditchling The Bull is a landmark on the South Downs, a wonderful pub set in the beautiful village of Ditchling down the hill from the famous Ditchling Beacon. The village supports a superb museum that houses much of the work of sculptor Eric Gill and his community of artists and craftsmen and was […]