WARNING : Not for the squeamish. Contains Sam the Sham.
I give rural dining pubs a bad rap on this blog, by and large. But just occasionally they come good.
Plush, home of the Brace of Pheasants, is so small you can’t see it on the OS map.
Alongside Plush, Russ will be thrilled to see a cluster of bottoms, a Pancras and a Piddle(trenthide). Plus other unmentionables.
It was piddling down in Piddletrenthide. Even in the drizzle, Plush looks lush. The local TIC can have that one for Ā£5.
Without internet or my Explorer, the pub took some finding.
It would help if the Brace of Pheasants had a GBG sticker or a prominent sign.
Oh, it does.
Yes, it’s the Beehive of the South.
And it’s rather stunning.
I entered to hear the silence broken by a weird computer generated voice coming from the kitchens.
But there was just me at 1pm. I thought it might be a low-key welcome when the disappointment that I was only stopping for a half registered, but our landlady was a gem.
“Enjoying this lovely sunshine?”
I checked out the window to make sure I wasn’t in a climate hotspot. Still drizzle.
“Fantastic. Really brings the village out to the pub, doesn’t it?”
Anyway, beer from the barrel, just the three of them.
Always go for the one from up the hill with a flasher on it, that’s my idea.
I sat by the fire, enjoyed a rich Cerne Abbas (NBSS 3+), and enjoyed a radio seemingly turned on for my benefit. Wooly Bully, anyone?
retiredmartin 
“Contains Sam the Sham.”
Is that some bloke who washes and waxes your car?
“Alongside Plush, Russ will be thrilled to see a cluster of bottoms, a Pancras and a Piddle(trenthide). Plus other unmentionables.”
Well there goes my comment. š
“The local TIC can have that one for Ā£5.”
And for another fiver they can have ‘there’s no rush in plush’.
“Without internet or my Explorer, the pub took some finding.”
Pfft. There’s less than a half dozen streets in the whole village.
“A literal sign”
You don’t see that very often.
“And itās rather stunning.”
Even with the cushions? š
“āEnjoying this lovely sunshine?ā”
You heard it without the implied comma. She was calling you sunshine and suggesting the day was lovely. š
“Always go for the one from up the hill with a flasher on it, thatās my idea.”
Took me a second to get that.
“Wooly Bully, anyone?”
Still no comment on the cushions? š
Cheers
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Cushions are great.
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Certainly are, when the choice is that or bare stone/brick. No problem with dirty lines or unwanted sparklers either. Oh, and nowt above 4% ABV, just as should be. Looks a winner.
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PS, having seen the sign, it’s a relief that the pub was not called “The Turk’s Head” or “The Butcher’s Arms”, I suppose.
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“The No Deal Brexit”
“Prof Pie Tin’s Last Night”
“Undercooked Broccoli”
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You can go off people very quickly…
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Just think how big the sign would be if it was the Hare and Hounds or Horse and Jockey.
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Could always have been a Republican stronghold called the Queen’s Head.
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My first thought was for how gross the Cock Inn would be but on reflection, that would be OK; the Virgins & Castle (Kenilworth) could be a challenge though, as would be the Viaduct (Hanwell W7), particularly if a life-size sign were to be mandatory!
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Pelican in her Piety would be a challenge too.
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But where would they find virgins in Warwickshire?
(Thinking about it, train tracks somewhere outside Rugby – memories of driving down the motorway in torrential rain to rescue a girlfriend whose train took 6+ hours to get as far as Rugby and didn’t look like it would get much further)
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Too much detail, qq. And yet, not nearly enough.
“Rescued from railway sidings in Rugby” sounds a classic post.
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… and by Jove what welly we gave it.
Full-on,maximum shock and awe as befits a last night of your holiday.
Two observations I gleaned from spending a week with salt of the Earth Brits from all points of the compass.
In the entire seven days I never heard a single person swear once. Not a single oath uttered.( Even Tourette’s Eric did it under his breath).
This surprised me and I’m not entirely sure why.
And Brexit was never mentioned once either. Not even in passing. And that includes the Jocks. Of which there are many here. Drinking far more than even me.
But if you follow the media,social or mainstream,we’re meant to believe the whole sorry business is ripping our country apart.
Perhaps,when all things are considered,we Brits have more things in common than we think.
Fundamental human decency and good manners being the foremost.
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P P-T,
Doesn’t doing the last night of your holiday properly involve missing the transport home next day ?
Fundamental human decency and good manners are certainly evident with the Pub Men on their Proper Days Out from the Beer and Pubs Forum.
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Fortunately no chance Mudgie.
Late night charter flight and long drive at the other end mean a day by the pool drinking lots of water.
Gotta flush all those Long Island Iced Teas out somehow.
Mrs PP-T is in a bad way,bless her.
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No Brits swearing? Were you at a monastic retreat?
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Or has Humphrey branched out into doing package holidays ?
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Long distance charabanc trips?
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Saw Sam the Sham in a Rock & Roll show in 1965. He wore the turban & everything.
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That makes you older than Mudgie. And Robert Smith.
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But younger than a lot of the beer you seem to be offered.
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Beauty
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“A literal sign”
Thankfully the pub wasn’t called The Cock Tavern.
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Er, thanks š¤
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Could be worse. There’s one in Macc called “the Cock in Treacle”, or was. Their signature dish probably didn’t get many takers either.
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The Cock in Treacle was just one of the Atwill chain whose names were all in a similar vein – the Cock And Pullet, Cock and Seaman etc. Company went pop a couple of years ago.
[Martin, I think you need to zoom out a bit on the map, aside from the Ridgeway I have no idea where you were! š ]
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But if I zoomed out then Russ wouldn’t be able to read all the questionable place names š
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“But if I zoomed out then Russ wouldnāt be able to read all the questionable place names š”
Hang on. You just zoomed out in the Ellesmere Port post and it makes the town names easier to read. š
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Weird.
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Not as well known as the Cock Inn at Tillit !
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I’m not in on this joke.
Only Tillit I can find is a motorcycle repair shop in Cheltenham š
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Better known is the village in Hertfordshire !
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Still never heard of it š
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I’m just trying to remember the barmaid’s name.
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Can’t beat a bit of Woolly Bully…I am sure Paul WME has been to many a boozer where it is a staple on the jukebox…
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