Friday 27 March 2009

Hook Norton Brewery

For me, one of the great pleasures of being in England is the beer. Lower in alcohol than the continental stuff (3-4 percent), with bags of flavour and all the more drinkable for not being too cold or too fizzy.

One of the best proponents of classic ales in Oxfordshire is the Hook Norton Brewery in North Oxfordshire, a historical firm that dominates the charming Cotswold village of the same name.

We went to the Brewery recently, taking a look at the museum before repairing to the Tasting Room, where we tried several beers from the Hook Norton range: Hooky Best, a clear, plangent bitter; the weightier, hoppier Old Hooky; and the superb Gold, a pale ale of supernal delicacy with a floral nose and a beautifully balanced finish.

After making several necessary purchases we moved on to the nearby pub for a bite of lunch - and a decent pint of beer. I chose mother-in-law pie for lunch - a steak pie that is so named because the meat is marinaded in Old and Bitter before being cooked.

Thanks to my dad for staying sober and driving us home...


The brewery


A pub sign, perhaps?

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Penny lane is in my ears

...and in my eyes. But it's not on Merseyside. Of course the 'real' Penny Lane is in Liverpool, but there's another one in the wonderfully named Crazies Hill in Berkshire, just a few steps from my parents' front door. As a child I used to take the family dog walking here. Now I can take my son. Unfortunately he doesn't really like wearing a lead and collar, though.

Where once there were fields of wheat, rye and cattle on either side of this enchanting, high-walled ancient footpath, one side now borders a golf course, which means that you have to keep an eye out for hard white flying objects and people wearing silly clothes shouting "four"!

But the golf course does have one advantage. Four year olds find the idea of looking for golf balls very entertaining and can be persuaded to take very long walks when there's a promise of finding plenty of them. Our haul on the day in question was ... four!

Photos below show the beginning (with my son Ivan), middle and end of Penny Lane, starting on Worley's Lane and ending on Crazies Hill road.





Bad husband

One morning we drove over to Hook Norton in North Oxfordshire, where they have an excellent brewery. On the way back we stopped at the Rollright Stones, a wonderfully gnarled and atmospheric mini-Stonehenge. [See previous blog post]

On the path leading to the stones the following devastating but amusing sign was on display:



Someone was in big trouble that night...

Monday 23 March 2009

The Rollright Stones

Standing stones are a feature of the English countryside, like narrow, hedged-in lanes and endless golf clubs. The Rollright Stones in North Oxfordshire are a particularly atmospheric example, due to the strange, weathered appearance of the stones and the legend which says that they are in fact a group of warriors who were turned to stone by a witch.





Puffball

While we were in England we spent a lot of time walking, and one of the oddest things we saw on our walks was this puffball.



About the size of a standard football, it was the largest I have ever seen, and was a source of amazement to my son. When I told him that it is a kind of fungus/mushroom, and that it is also edible he said "Is that a joke, daddy?"
As you can see from the pictures we did give it a little tap to get it properly puffing.

More on Wikipedia...