It’s been a frantic month so far, and I’m still some way behind with my blog, though reading the excellent pieces from Alan and Simon on trips from 1998 and 2012 made me feel lightly less bad about bringing you a report from early April. I can’t claim my heart sings for joy at the prospect… Continue reading BACK TO THE BROADS
Tag: Norfolk
PILGRIMAGE TO THURSFORD
When I retired I didn’t have a bucket list, at least beyond the one in the annual 1032 pages of the Beer Guide. I do however, have a “Don’t Go There” list of things I will never do. This includes things like Prosecco, Coldplay, polite society and Thursford Christmas Spectacular. Perhaps to keep the peace… Continue reading PILGRIMAGE TO THURSFORD
“LIVE AS YOU DREAM” – DEREHAM IN A CAMPERVAN
Slightly out of sequence due to temporary hysteria, but here you go, Dereham. In a campervan. Miles from “London-on-Sea”, a safe distance from the self-pronounced “City of Beer“, and without so much as an overhyped town trail to promote it, Dereham competes vigorously with Swaffham to be Norfolk’s dullest town. Or so I thought. Not only is… Continue reading “LIVE AS YOU DREAM” – DEREHAM IN A CAMPERVAN
THE RETURN OF LACONS
I first notice the revived Lacons brand when I kept walking past one of their delivery vans parked up in Chesterton. The styling is impressive, and their beers weren’t bad when they popped up as guests in Cambridge and Norfolk. Since their revival in 2013, I’ve been noticing some well-preserved heritage like this from Diss.… Continue reading THE RETURN OF LACONS
TWO MORE “PUBS” NEAR HARLESTON
Yes, we’re mainly doing Norfolk at the moment, until sanity is restored with trips to Manchester and Worcester tomorrow. The post on the Lillie Langtry Bar in Harleston’s tat antique market prompted a fascinating debate about what constitutes a pub, which descended into an argument about horseboxes. I liked Dave’s comment that a pub is a… Continue reading TWO MORE “PUBS” NEAR HARLESTON
HARLESTON’S SECRET PUB
Apart from the Beer Guide (of course), What Pub is the best CAMRA achievement since they invented real ale in 1973. The real challenge of the Revitalisation project is maintaining the interest of a dwindling band of volunteers in monitoring and measuring pubs and beer quality. Nearly all the real ale pubs are on WhatPub… Continue reading HARLESTON’S SECRET PUB
DISS – MERE & MARSTONS
You can’t really avoid Diss while travelling to the occasional new pub ticks in the Waveney Valley. It’s one of our preferred Norfolk towns. A decade ago it had one of the UK’s premier analogue Hi-Fi shops, and I still have bits of valve amps in the garage waiting for Mrs RM to stick on… Continue reading DISS – MERE & MARSTONS
NORWICH – CITY OF BEER ?
Richard Coldwell posed an excellent question on his Ouhouse blog the other week. “Why are only Derby, Norwich and Sheffield vying for the world’s best beer city“, referring to the editorial in the new Beer Guide. The answer may be simply because Mansfield, Stockport and Nuneaton are towns not cities. It might also because there’s more interest in… Continue reading NORWICH – CITY OF BEER ?
RULE BRITANNIA IN THE NORFOLK BROADS
A night in the Norfolk Broads, one of the few bits of Britain I don’t get. Despites Bowie’s recommendation I’ve never felt the slightest inclination for a slow exploration of fields;a canal trip round the Black Country lockworks sounds much more appealing. It’s also very dull on the ground, which is why I so rarely seen any more… Continue reading RULE BRITANNIA IN THE NORFOLK BROADS
THETFORD – MORE THAN JUST BIG TREES
My idea of hell is a week at Centerparcs. I always struggled to show the required enthusiasm for colleagues trips to resorts at Thetford and Penrith, particularly when they never left the site all week. Pontins in Southport is more my style; access to the world from that one. Some people don’t even know they’ve gone to… Continue reading THETFORD – MORE THAN JUST BIG TREES
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