retiredmartin

July 2023. Westhall. Somewhere in Suffolk.

Another day, another East Angular county conquered.

As with Norfolk, a lone straggler had been irritating me for months.

And, as with Norfolk, it was a visit by Simon that finally pushed me to Get It Done. How embarrassing is it to have BRAPA beat you to a pub that’s on your doorstep* 3 days a week ?

Pub 2539, Racehorse Inn, Westhall. Incredible scenes where Steve is the doyen of all goodness here. Clever lad tells me about pigment. Norris puts in a shift. Everyone is lovely n chef Johnny makes me beef n horseradish sandwich to take away. Band outside fiddling. Ale of day. pic.twitter.com/4BCO33dBDd

— Si BRAPA Everitt (@StymieSi) June 25, 2023

I felt a little shamefaced to have taken SO long to get to Westhall’s community pub, having seen the legendary Steve Gray‘s enthusiastic tweets for at least 3 years.

Perhaps it was my usual cautiousness about “community” pubs (sometimes they’ve seemed like posh village investments in a gastropub-cum-creche), or my surprise that it took the Racehorse so long to reach the GBG. Perhaps it took CAMRA researchers 3 years to reach Westhall from Bungay.

Whatever, the ride through the Waveney Valley was gorgeous, the “Quiet Lane” was quiet, the tractors at least went forward, and if my Google Sat Nav went haywire approaching a road called “The Danger” (I kid you not), that all made the arrival at my last Suffolk tick even more exciting.

I’d phoned the pub to check they’d serve me a beer if I tipped up at 1.45, with 2pm closing setting a challenge you’re bound to fail if you get lost, and the lady on the other end of the line was just SO cheery. “Of course we will ! And we’ll feed you !”.

So it was an easy decision to expertly (Beer Smellier, me) the Green Jack Nightingale with the Ham Sald and New Potatoes.

In some pubs in Southwold, those lunchtime specials would be £16.95, not under £7.

Simon and the Southworths (a short-lived US folk band from Dayton, Arizona) had told us the beer was good, and it rally was. Cool, rich, full-bodied (NBSS 4). I told the barman and he said he’d pass it on to the cellarman. And I bet he did.

Loads going on for Westhall’s 390 residents, particularly on the blackboard,

though I suspect a lot of custom comes from the heaving metropolis that is Halesworth, as well as tourists like the couple next to me who said “Nice pub innit, local pub of the year, nice pub” at least six times.

It IS a nice pub, a comfortable all-rounder,

with a pleasingly open pub garden.

And although ham salad with new potatoes sounds a bit worthy, it was as good a pub lunch (NHS&NPSS 5) as I’ve had in years. Who knew beetroot was edible ?

Genuinely, a nice pub, and before I left I had one more favour to ask them…

*Well, 90 minutes from Waterbeach. Nothing is THAT close in East Anglia.