While BeerMat presses on with west Leicestershire and its old coal mining town boozers, I get gastro pubs in the land of Barbour and Branston pickle.
It’s about time the Saddle got into the Guide; it’s a virtual Beer guide desert in the famous A607/A606/A47 triangle.
Quite hilly around John O’ Gaunt, and I gave myself time for an hour’s walk in intermittent sunshine. You could have been in a Constable painting, bar the hay wagon.
I heeded the warning sign.
Apart from a couple of Barbour folk who looked me up and down, there was not a soul. I guess that accounts for the closed “Village Stores”.
Not much Barbour in the unpretentious Saddle, with no takers for a Sunday carvery at 12.30pm.
It’s just a pleasant village pub, ticking over with the custom you’d normally find in Spoons.
Not much interest in the real ales I could see, even the obligatory microbrew from Oakham and Retford.
Yes, of course I had the IPA. It’s made in a factory, you can trust it.
And it was OK, 2.5 at worst, though if you can’t pack a village pub for Sunday lunch then 3 beers are never going to be as fresh as the beer was in Manchester last week.
That thin glass does it no favours, either.
retiredmartin 
Nowhere will there ever be beer as fresh as in Manchester last week.
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I think we can all (apart from Richard) agree on that. If it was always that good around the country then cask would be fine.
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But Richard wasn’t there so he can’t disagree.
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That’s never stopped him before !
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Re your header picture, I once went in a pub (admittedly a Fox & Hounds) where the toilets were labelled “Foxes” and “Vixens”, which raised the question of exactly where the gentlemen were supposed to go.
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Ah, I reckon there’s one like that near Rutland water. A simple “Men” and “Women” is, of course, the safest option. Or was.
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I hope he doesn’t tell us the women’s W\C was called “fillies.”
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Preferable to “Mares” 🙄
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I enjoy a good graveyard too -spent a very pleasant time pottering in the one at Westerham (mr Tyke was bowling nearby -yawn ) I find them very peaceful places & on a warm sunny day with birds twittering I thought all the folks “6 feet under ” must be at peace too
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Hi Pauline, hope you don’t mind me jumping in here to say I also enjoy strolling through a cemetery every once in a while; they tend to be in green and leafy areas, and, as you say, almost quiet and serene by definition.
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Probably a bad juncture to ask if you saw Russ’s joke about necrophilia yesterday. All-time classic.
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Those warning signs are a plague, since the change in the law, which means that landowners can permanently close footpaths if they can show that they have not been used for a specified time. There is often no bull.
However, a walker’s right not to be gored or trampled to death trumps that of a farmer to let his animals roam unchecked, and one was prosecuted, quite rightly, after a tragedy in Notts.
Last paragraph has it:
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/the-farmers-guide-to-voting-for-brexit-then-being-a-dick-about-it-20190110181175
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Maybe this is more to folk’s liking:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6583639/Office-staff-trendy-Manchester-workspace-left-devastated-free-mid-week-beer-stopped.html
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I’d find it hard to resist asking for “A pint of Cooking”, Selwyn Froggitt style.
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And we wonder why so many pubs are closing – Sunday dinner should be one of the best sessions of the week in a village pub.
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Indeed. Mudgie did an excellent blog post about his own famed local 4 or 5 years back which I recommend.
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“in the land of Barbour and Branston pickle” –This was especially interesting to me, as my friend in Macclesfield introduced me to Branston Pickle years ago, and for while I was able to buy bottles of it here in Michigan. Didn’t occur to me that it hailed from a particular region.
I was surprised to see in your “Not sure about the seating” photo that one of the old boys had opted for a glass of red wine rather than a pint of beer. Almost seemed like something you’d see inserted into a “find what’s wrong with this picture” challenge. 😉
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You do occasionally see Old Boys with a glass of red wine, and not just the Hampstead cravat man. Chap from our church was often to be found in the local at 6 with a glass or two. I guess we associate wine drinking with women sharing a bottle after work these days.
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“occasionally see Old Boys with a glass of red wine” – yes, last seen in the Crown Penzance last autumn. ,
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Did you check the bloke nearest the camera was still with us? I’m not sure he’s moving!
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He’s of an age where a nap for a few minutes will keep him going for another few hours.
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A power nap!
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Liking this run of Midland boozers. Melton a good pub town
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Good pints to go with proper pies ?
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Believe it or not I’m not a pork pie man !
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– maybe because you’ve not experienced the best of pies yet.
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“and Branston pickle.”
I haven’t had that in a while.
“Phone number on sign a controversial touch”
Pfft. People can find controversy in practically anything these days. 😉
“You could have been in a Constable painting, bar the hay wagon.”
Or another famous landscape artist with you subbing as the blue boy?*
*(Man. City colours)
“Guinness the beer of choice”
It looks a little off in the glass.
“NOT the local CAMRA mag”
Crikey. It’s nothing but bloody diet info.
“That thin glass does it no favours, either.”
Couldn’t they have given you a Guinness glass, or is that against the rules?
Cheers
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