retiredmartin

One more Somerset tick (yay !) on the way back from Weston to Brizzle, and a first trip to Nailsea. Ever.

Mrs RM had a head office of her Norwegian IT company in the Gordanos near here 20 years ago, quite close to the famous Black Horse, but this bit of Somerset remains a bit of a mystery to me.

It’s a Britain in Bloom award winning town, you know, one of only 37,887 such places in the UK, and the Bridgwater Town FC were made to come and see the flowers in 1984, as you can tell from the sticker.

The flowers, and the pungent (stinky) farmyard smells remain a highlight of a modernised ex-mining town, the Cinderford of the south-west.

With an hour between trains and a suggested walk time to the pub of 24 minutes I didn’t have much dawdling time, so I may have done Nailsea a huge disservice in this post.

But I doubt it.

With another 10 minutes I’d have visited the Spoons for you, but instead I had 20 minutes in the micropub, coincidentally named the Nailsea Micropub. Better than “Cask & Tap” anyday.

A tiny place with a big heart, it really is.

Go there tomorrow and watch Declan fiddle.

On Thursday I just had time for a half of a lovely cool Cheddar pale (NBSS 3.5) in one of those oddly squat BBF glasses (top).

The conversation turned to closed pubs, the chap next to me reporting on duff information about opening times in Bristol. Hey, my specialist subject !

“Lunchtime drinking is dead” said one.

“Only because the micros never open at lunchtime” said another.

“I blame you lot for not drinking enough” said the publican, in jest.

And they’re all correct.