December 2025. Whitstable. I’d only been gone those 67 minutes in Sittingbourne, leaving Mrs RM in Whitstable Spoons to do what Spoons are there for; recharge your phone, use the free Wi-Fi, pop to the loo, and drink unlimited coffee (but not hot chocolate). But the photo she sent as I headed back to the… Continue reading SUNSET OVER THE OLD NEPTUNE
Tag: Shepherd Neame
THE PARK TAVERN, SITTINGBOURNE. AN OLD MUDGIE SORT OF PUB
December 2025. Sittingbourne. Back to my campervan overnighter in Whitstable last week, as I leave Mrs RM in the glamour of the Spoons and nip off to Sittingbourne to tick the sort of new GBG entry our Mudgie would appreciate. He did like his historic towns, though perhaps Sittingbourne would have appealed less. In fact,… Continue reading THE PARK TAVERN, SITTINGBOURNE. AN OLD MUDGIE SORT OF PUB
A MODERATE MASTER BREW IN RYE HARBOUR
November 2025. Rye Harbour. One of the BIG questions, along with “Why ?” and “Would you like some wine Mrs RM ?“, is “Can you get a good Shepherd Neame beer anywhere ?“. Well, I’ve not found it in a generation, and the Sheps managed houses (including the nice looking one near the in-laws) seem… Continue reading A MODERATE MASTER BREW IN RYE HARBOUR
DUNGENESS
November 2024. Dungeness. Plenty of undiscovered Kent and Sussex coast to explore from the base of Mrs RM’s Rye caravan; never been to Lydd. And oddly, until Saturday we’d failed to make it to Dungeness, which holds a strange place in the English psyche due to remoteness, the rolling (?) marsh, a desolate but beautiful… Continue reading DUNGENESS
“Jug or straight ?”. For once, I make the WRONG choice in Tonbridge.
September 2023. Tonbridge (not Royal). Three (3) posts from the self-proclaimed Garden of England on a Tuesday night when Tonbridge suddenly made sense. Mrs RM and I have felt exhausted on our return from attending to parents, and that’s as much to do with being confined indoors and missing out on our 20,000 steps as… Continue reading “Jug or straight ?”. For once, I make the WRONG choice in Tonbridge.
Commandeering the jukebox in the 3 Lions, Godalming
Today’s post comes to you courtesy of the Museum, a (now) Butcombe pub in Cranborne Chase. Look very closely at the little jars below; they’ll become relevant when I get to my reports from End of the Road. The Museum one of the poshest pubs ever to grace the GBG. My next pub isn’t posh,… Continue reading Commandeering the jukebox in the 3 Lions, Godalming
“Presented to the bat & trap team of The Golden Lion by the Grand Association of Fun Kings 12th July 1969”.
April 2023. No hurry, here’s Sturry. That would have been the best title. 10 minutes out of Canterbury, we arrive in the land of weatherboards and lamb samosa (£1.20, 20% up on a year ago). Broad Oak has its own heading in the GBG so I guess it’s a bit more than a suburb of… Continue reading “Presented to the bat & trap team of The Golden Lion by the Grand Association of Fun Kings 12th July 1969”.
“MOST IMPROVED PUB”
On Sunday morning we headed off to the in-laws, after the traditional small English breakfast at Hitchin Spoons. Truly, there is nothing sadder than a Spoons before John Smiths Smooth can be served. The biggest obstacle to the 90 minute trip round the M25 and down the A21 to Southborough is remembering the top-up of… Continue reading “MOST IMPROVED PUB”
retiredmartin’s DAY OFF IN TONBRIDGE
My last Kent Guide pub, in lovely Tonbridge. I would have done this on Christmas Day but apparently it’s not the Done Thing to leave the table before the Christmas pudding to tick a pub. #PoliteSociety. Five minutes walk from Tonbridge station, the Foresters is a rare tick in what is becoming quite a pubby… Continue reading retiredmartin’s DAY OFF IN TONBRIDGE
ANNIE LENNOX IS FOLLOWING ME ROUND KENT
A Proper beer blogger would have called this “An Ale In Swale“. But I’m not. The last of the Kent mini-series, which no doubt you’ll be pleased about. Hopefully I can meet up with Paul Bailey in Tonbridge and do karaoke again*. At least the Sun in Bredgar is a Proper Pub, to a point.… Continue reading ANNIE LENNOX IS FOLLOWING ME ROUND KENT
retiredmartin 