retiredmartin

Time to leave the delights of Dronfield and head towards Driffield (or is it the other way round), with a stop in lovely Market Weighton.

Clearly a town in the slipstream of euphoria engulfing our Capital of Culture, MD was awash with OAP visitors on Friday lunchtime.  If they were aiming to complete the East Yorks section of the Beer Guide, they were out of luck. Not for the first time, the GBG and WhatPub were wrong.

Never mind, there’s churches and flowers to explore (and a lot of wind turbines just off the A641).

And fish and chips.  How can you resist haddock from Harpers of Wetwang ?  You can’t.  Due to Public Health restrictions I’m unable to bring you photographic evidence, but it was the best £4.25 I’d spent that week. I could have fed the family with what I had left etc etc.  Friday was 15% discount day, a calculation applied in her head by the cheeriest lady imaginable,.

“Come back in a week and see if I’ve still got a job !”  If they sack her for being 5p out I’ll start the petition.

Finishing my chips in the market place, next to the statue of Britain’s tallest man, I pestered an old couple for a funny quote for this post. They confided they were making visits to the eight Harpers outlets.  I was delighted to see the spirit of adventure is not dead, and that retired gentlefolk really do make journeys to unheralded English towns just to tick off shops.

“I might write a blog about it !” said Mr Everitt.

I was even more astonished to hear they had come all the way from York !  That’s a whole different GBG section (and 20 miles) folks.

I cannot tell a lie, this is no “Market Drayton of the East“, which is a shame giving rhyming potential.  But that may say more about the revival of Drayton due to Joules.  It was perfectly pleasant, with some cheaper antique (curio) shops than I was to encounter later in the week.

“Mrs RM will like that Cezanne” I thought, before realising my error. For five points, name the real artist behind the classic art above,

The Carpenters Arms is a proper edge-of-town drinkers local, whose 3pm weekday opening makes sense.  Tidy and welcoming, with proper seating, in the best East Riding tradition. A pound a pint more and you could have been in Beverley.

I couldn’t see any cask on the main bar; it were tucked round the side.  Doom Bar and Boltmaker (NBSS 3); a good choice.  More choice in the summer. Stuff choice.

“Are you taking a photo of your pint ?”  I was.

“She does that as well”  (points to lady at bar) “Don’t feel ashamed”  I was.

It’s a great pub.  The home-made scratchings were even better than the beer, but as a recovering scratchingholic I limited myself to a couple, enjoyed with “Rocking all over the world” and “Jump” (the other one).

“See ya later Sweetheart” said the lovely lady. I could have been in Chorley.