retiredmartin

August 2026. Sawtry. Near Huntingdon.

This was the view from our motel window last Saturday, near the lowest pub in the country*.

Redwings Lodge, on the B1043 (Ermine Street) alongside the A1(M) at Sawtry, was the only place (well) under a hundred quid we could stay near Dad last Saturday night. This weekend is actually a bit cheaper;

but who can afford those prices ? Perhaps I’m remembering a golden era of £29 Travelodges that never existed.

Our motel is so old (’80s) it’s marked on the OS map, but I bet there’s not much else in this extract you’ve heard of.

Roger Protz’s definitive book on the pubs of the Great North Road included the Manor House in Alconbury, next to a swingers club (no cask), but otherwise you’re in that Huntingdonshire wilderness with no distinguishing features. Which is Hunts in a nutshell.

Redwings looks like a sold-off Travelodge but isn’t. The Indian Restaurant (scary reviews) across the potholes has a bar on what used to be What Pub, but the motel bar isn’t.

Are Hunts CAMRA urging Redwings to add a barrel of Bass to this range ?

We popped the mile into Sawtry, last visited in the worst month in human history, when Greystones looked the smartest (closed) pub of the two,

and indeed it is very pleasant, particularly in the giant playground of a garden.

Two Grainstore pumps, the Ten Fifty the obvious pick.

I expect a 3, and get a 4, like a good Bateman XXXB. Blimey.

Mrs RM is suspicious, and spots the mint and elderflower Hugo Spritz for £7.50.

Sadly, you can’t check that in on Untappd.

In 2020 all you were allowed to do was walk the bounds and wait in line for a Brie & Cranberry sandwich, and the blog post about that COVID trip has had 1,139 views from bewildered residents. Getting a decent pint in the sun was some sort of Sawtry redemption.

ChatGPT said we should walk down Church Street for the architectural highlights,

and a modest highlight is still a highlight.

Tomorrow All Saints Church is hosting a mystery film screening.

I guarantee it won’t be “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.

*_{OK, possibly not, Whatever.}