Botany Bay Inne

Built in the 1920s as the General Allenby, the pub's name was changed during the 1990s in belated recognition of prisoners from Dorchester jail who spent their last nights in the area before transportation to Australia. Today this hard-working pub welcomes all-comers with or without children and dogs, with Hall and Woodhouse ales and menus of pleasing pub fare made using local ingredients: breaded whitebait with lemon mayonnaise, or Dorset field mushrooms topped with Stilton and apricot cream, are easily followed by slow-roasted lamb shank, or steak and kidney pudding.