I have an admission to make. I didn’t finish Northumberland last year.
Not sure I actually claimed I did, mind, but the Wallace Arms in Rowfoot/Featherstone/Haltwhitle/whateverit’scalled escaped me.
Not that remote, but the Wallace feels a different world to the glitz of Brampton and Haltwhistle.
Not sure which villages it serves, if any, and there’s no food bar the astonishing collection of snacks (no locusts, it’s not the Grove).
Just a boozer, albeit one with Sugared Cranberry hand lotion.
Not posh, but not an “alehouse” either. Eight locals, including a dad and lad, all chatting rubbish cheerily. It was great to just sit and listen.
Horse racing on the BBC, the badger cull, traffic jams (15 second delays on the B6318), all present and correct.
Some of the Manx stickers were from this year, I noted.
Plenty of Amstel, and Newcy Brown being sold, which meant the four casks weren’t flying out.
And there’s the slight dilemma with the Wallace. In a pub I was enjoying tremendously I was finding the River Catcher a bit thin, “3 at a push” I wrote, which probably means 2.5 if it had been a Brunning & Price.
But it’s not about the beer, is it ?
retiredmartin 
“Is there even a place called Featherstone ?”
Yes, best known for the Red, White and Blue pub it’s on the Cannock side of Wolverhampton.
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I was being mischievous, but I was thinking if the place that gives its name to a rugby league team near Pontefract 😉
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Featherstone Rovers? Do they still exist, or did they disappear when Rugby league went all Warrior and Rhino?
There’s a cracking pub called The Elms, I think that’s classed as Featherstone (Midlands version)
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Neil,
Yes, the Elms which I remember for M&B beers on freeflow electric pumps.
I always thought of it more as Shareshill but it’s only a short distance away.
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I never quite know where I am around there. I thought the dog and partridge was shareshill, or is that Calf Heath? What about the Swan?
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The Dog and Partridge is at Calf Heath, and I remember when it was just three or four tiny rooms..
The nearest Swan is probably Brewood, and there’s another in Whiston.
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Seems insensitive having a sign calling out slow adults… – oh, wait….
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My brother in the Royal Oak, Cannock was told to drink faster or get out – but that was a very long time ago, I think when he was still at school.
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They let you have 90 minutes to drink your coffee before they switch off the WiFi which tends to get rid of them.
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