December 2023. Colsterworth.
Although not celebrated as widely and elaborately as Retired Martin Day (22 December, but you knew that), Mrs RM’s birthday two days earlier is also a day that needs to be commemorated with a blogpost.
I’m not at liberty to tell you her age, but the day is sponsored in Heinz. And rumours that I bought her that new Mary Earps goalkeepers jersey she wore at Sports Personality of the Year (well deserved),
are wide of the mark.
No, Mrs RM gets a £13 bottle of Tesco finest Malbec and a fridge load of Tony’s chocolate, and a stop for a pint on the way south at Colsterworth.
Where ?
Colsterworth, home to the Woolsthorpe Manor apple tree where Isaac Newton invented gravity (closed for cider marking or something) and one of those villages on the A1 between Stamford and Grantham about which we know nothing.
I notice the Ram Jam Inn (above) has now been demolished, without a fraction of the fuss accorded to the Crooked House, leaving the (new) Great North Road all but bereft of pubs, which I guess makes sense for a busy dual carriageway.
Sorry to say that when we want to break a journey from Sheff to Waterbeach we often stop off at the McDonalds at Marston Moor or Colsterworth, two villages ONLY known for their service stations.
But Mrs RM demanded a pint and a half and crisps in a nice village pub on her birthday,
and wasn’t fussed that the plain looking White Lion wasn’t in the GBG.
But perhaps it should be, although Grantham branch doesn’t get many Guide entries to start with and the new gastropubs out east have been worthy newbies this year.
Because the Old Peculier and Landlord were both cool and foaming and gorgeous (3.5).
And while the interior isn’t heritage or chintzy, it’s cosy and welcoming,
though we didn’t fancy the dining area, and the bar area was full, so ended up round the corner by the bookshelves. Len Deighton rules round here.
We stuck to Pipers and mini cheddars, but the menu look Old School,
and the Google photo confirm that you do, indeed, get proper shortcrust pastry with your pie.
Returning the glasses to the bar I tell the landlord his beer is very good and he looks chuffed, telling me they try their hardest.
Make “your beer is very good” YOUR alternative to “Happy Christmas” this season.
retiredmartin 
Quality pints.
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They were as good as they look, Morten (shame I couldn’t have a pint myself !).
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We would sometimes stop off at The Olive Branch in Clipsham before it won it’s foodie fame
On one occasion we stopped at a small village a couple of miles west of the A1 in South Yorks but I have never been able to find it on a map since that one visit! There was a large village green with a cricket match in progress. I would imagine lots of your readers will know this village with it’s pub across the road from the green.
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I would guess that pub was the Chequers in Ledsham, but that’s just into West Yorks I think.
And yes, it was the Olive Branch I was thinking of as the gastro replacement to the Ram Jam !
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Eight meals on the menu.
Two’s plenty in the Bull and Bladder.
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I’m wondering if that pub was accidentally misnamed, intending to be a tribute to the fictional one in the radio series The Fool and Bladder, itself named after the traditional morris dancers’ clown.
It doesn’t make much sense as a name as it is.
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No, the building started off as a butchers shop, hence the informal name, but one room became a beer house in early Victorian times and the pub grew from there.
A bit like my great grandfather’s premises in Salford, coincidently also named the Vine, being a greengrocers shop and a beer house.
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Ah thanks Paul
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Happy birthday Mrs. RM – you share it with our eldest.
it was Bateman’s for and Mrs. E. and me on one of her more memorable ones (for the beer and entertainment, that is, not for her age)
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Happy birthday, Mrs RM
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Happy birthday Mrs RM.
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