4th February 2023.
Our Search for Sites App, a fiver well spent, told us the next pub would let us leave our campervan in their car park overnight,
and sure enough Butterton’s Black Lion seemed delighted to have us hog a space.
It really was one of the most unfussy places I’ve been in, considering the menu is relatively upmarket,
and their own guest rooms cost close to a ton.
When a pub lets you park up overnight it’s normally expected you’ll have a meal, but they were so busy that Saturday night we wouldn’t be able to eat till 8:30 anyway, which meant 4 hours of sitting in front of a roaring fire drinking Bass.
Bass ? “Of course, we always have it on” says the Landlady.
Lovely cool Bass with a tight head, too. Mrs RM’s Hartington was just as good. Where has the Black Lion been hiding ?
But the beer was almost secondary to the banter, a group of four horse-riding women, all on pints of Guinness, discussing wedding plans.
Sample lines;
“Has Bella got a Plus One ?“
“I am on tenterhooks for Jack, I feel“
“Do they need a toilet brush ?“
“You’ve been the better person throughout this whole situation“
Great entertainment, and I expect MumsNet to be discussing the toilet brush dilemma this week.
As the venerable News of the World wrote, probably in 1998, this is a multi-roomed gem. No sign of the parakeet, or the McEwans 70/, but there are some weird markings on our table;
I think that’s Duncan‘s beer scores.
We popped back to the van for some cheese and crackers and chutney, not that we’re middle class oh no, and when we put our head back round the door at 6pm there’d be a cancellation so we got to eat early.
A table with a perfect view of some French ladies saying “Lurpak“, and a 3rd Bass in quick succession.
One table of four 30-something ladies sharing a bottle of wine was replaced with another identical group, just for our entertainment over pork belly and sea Bass.
Just for a change, we didn’t SHARE a pudding, so I got a whole Bakewell pudding (NBPSS 5) all to myself.
And I deserved it.
retiredmartin 
That’s never a whole Bakewell pudding!
LikeLike
I’ll tell you what Mike, it was bigger than the one I had in Ye Olde Original etc etc in Bakewell on my birthday. And far better.
LikeLike
Do people really gift toilet brushes or did you make that story up?
LikeLike
I didn’t make the story up, Dave. Everything I report is 100% true. It was probably a designer toilet brush. I’m sure someone gave us one for our wedding (we didn’t ask for presents).
LikeLike
But do you still have it?
LikeLike
No, we use the mummified pub cat we stole from the Nutshell after 3 pints of Abbot.
LikeLike
Is there a direct correlation between draught Bass and the necessity of a toilet brush?
LikeLiked by 1 person
“we wouldn’t be able to eat till 8:30 anyway, which meant 4 hours of sitting in front of a roaring fire drinking Bass”.
It’d be nearer 14 hours of sitting in front of a roaring fire drinking Bass if you’d gone for the Overnight roasted pork belly.
None of that “fast food” nonsense there.
LikeLiked by 1 person