retiredmartin

“What did you do during the Corona, Daddy ?”

“I re-read old football programmes, took photos of local closed pubs and ate crispy shredded beef, Son“.

For those who are collecting the set, Fen Ditton is Number 87 in the series of Your Top 100 Cambridgeshire Villages.  A special folder is available from the usual address.

Only 860 souls, says Wiki, which must exclude the rambling spread of council housing stretching from the old railway line down to Newmarket Road McDonalds.

The re-opening of the Maccy D’s has forced the re-deployment of half the county’s police force to manage traffic flow into the Drive Thru.

On that Ditton definition I’m not sure if  the Catholic church of St. Vincent de Paule is strictly Fen Ditton, but it’s definitely the most distinctive sight on the slow trek up Ditton Lane.

Three pubs for 860 people.  It used to be four for 847, but the Blue Lion was converted to executive homes so Dittonians lost their IPA and burger deals.

So you’ve got the ancient Ancient Shepherds, the ancient beamed dining pub.

It only re-opened a couple of years ago, tempting/repulsing us with its Ghost Ship and Ease Up in those horrific Adnams glasses.

Walk past the tat and the bright orange house,

and next to the almshouses you’ll find the genuine village boozer.

Back in 2018 I wrote

“No food, 4pm opening, a cheery welcome, decent Greene King IPA on the pumps, and determinedly catering for the boozing needs of real local folk. And there are few higher compliments I can give.”

Past more posh houses with growling dogs.

and you reach the pub that defines Fen Ditton.

The Plough is the riverside dining pub, beloved of generations of office Xmas lunch bookers, from which you watch The Bumps, or you would if not for you-know-what.

The entrance was blocked, so I had to climb a tree to take a useless photo.  Better to look at the on-line menu to get a sense of it.

This’ll be a good place to The New Normal in action come July.

I was going to walk from Ditton over Stourbridge Common into town, but I got put off by the rain. Or perhaps the cows.

Finally, it’s good to see the Church of England offering help to the local community in these difficult times;

Just a reminder, by dialing my 0898 number  you can hear the comforting sound of me reading out random NBSS scores from my trip to Douglas in 2018.