What a wonderful day. Pubs are back, there’s another tick in the Guide to pink in, and I have more evidence that Doom Bar is the connoisseur’s beer. But what about Blyth itself ? Last month I gave you memories from the Spartans’ finest hour, but failed to give you a feel for the town.… Continue reading BLYTH SPIRIT
Tag: Northumberland
NO SLEEP ‘TILL NORTHUMBERLAND PINKED
I know how some of you only live to see maps of Beer Guide counties covered in pink (rather than green), so here’s Northumberland. And here’s what my rather battered GBG looks like with two/three/four/? weeks till GBG20 arrives in pristine condition. Elsdon is in the remotest bit of the county, making Rothbury look like… Continue reading NO SLEEP ‘TILL NORTHUMBERLAND PINKED
SNACKS
I have an admission to make. I didn’t finish Northumberland last year. Not sure I actually claimed I did, mind, but the Wallace Arms in Rowfoot/Featherstone/Haltwhitle/whateverit’scalled escaped me. Not that remote, but the Wallace feels a different world to the glitz of Brampton and Haltwhistle. Not sure which villages it serves, if any, and there’s… Continue reading SNACKS
GOING UNDERGROUND – A FELTON MICRO
You may remember Felton‘s Foxes Den as the site of my latest failed attempt to visit a micro pub back in February. I tried again. It’s a pretty little stone village, clearly still at war with West Thirston just over the bridge, with its gastro pretensions and sports cars. Felton has the street art, the… Continue reading GOING UNDERGROUND – A FELTON MICRO
BOHO PRUDHOE
There aren’t many towns in the Beer Guide that come as a complete surprise these days. Dunbar was a pleasant surprise, Glenrothes less so. Prudhoe isn’t a complete shock. Despite being the first settlement into Northumberland along the A695, and being surrounded by greenery, it’s got more in common with Tyne colliery towns like Blaydon… Continue reading BOHO PRUDHOE
PUBS NEAR LOW NEWTON-BY-THE-SEA THAT AREN’T THE SHIP
Not a lot to say about the next two Northumberland pubs, Mrs RM quaffing a quick half and letting me sip the dregs, washed down by a soda water*. Frankly, I sense the OS extract will keep Russ going for weeks, anyway. When “Football Hole” and “Jenny Bells Carr” aren’t even the best of it,… Continue reading PUBS NEAR LOW NEWTON-BY-THE-SEA THAT AREN’T THE SHIP
KIPPERED IN CRASTER
No, nothing to do with B****t. A post with no pub visit in it brought to you in the interest of historical completeness as Mrs RM gamely sought to provide us with fish and chips on the Northumberland coast*. In Alnmouth we found the glories of the eponymous bay, and some pretty houses, but no… Continue reading KIPPERED IN CRASTER
MURKY & MAGNIFICENT IN MORPETH
A journey of 937 miles starts with a single 45 minute hold-up on the A14, and a mammoth series of posts on the North-East* starts at unheralded Morpeth. I’m not suggesting Mrs RM is only useful in supporting my pub going, but her six month stint at Scottish Borders Council has been instrumental in… Continue reading MURKY & MAGNIFICENT IN MORPETH
DIPTON MILL – DIPPING INTO HEXHAMSHIRE
Once a blog post is at least two years old you have free licence to use the same material again, confident your readers (and yourself) will have long forgotten it. And you can’t yet plagiarise your own work. Into ancient Hexhamshire. According to Wiki, now a name for a civil parish of 797 people,… Continue reading DIPTON MILL – DIPPING INTO HEXHAMSHIRE
A GAME BIRD IN THE BORDERS
Not every pub in the Beer Guide is worthy of a post, unless BRAPA is in there, when all the weirdos turn up at once. The fireplace (top) was the highlight of the Red Lion in Milfield, a pub I’ve been wanting to clear (not in the Highlands sense) for a while. It was drizzling… Continue reading A GAME BIRD IN THE BORDERS
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