More unpronounceable (if you can’t pronounce them) Welsh villages, as we leave a fully-ticked Herefordshire a fortnight ago for our Room at the Inn. I used to use that CAMRA guidebook to £45 B & B pubs in the 90s, before the internet made books redundant. We tend to mix up the nights in a… Continue reading PUB LIFE, ABEREDW
Tag: Wye Valley
CHEPSTOW BOOKED
The end of the Welsh Wander, on a gorgeous day that started with avocado smash at the wonderful Parc Pantry in Malpas. I bet you didn’t think you could even get avocado smash in suburban Newport, did you, let alone that it looked like this; Chepstow is practically England, but it never feels quite as… Continue reading CHEPSTOW BOOKED
I’M FEELING GLADESTRY ALL OVER
AKA Dodging Duncan. This post from Euro Semi-Final day feels more interminable than the Final itself by now, but we brought it to a close near Gladestry at the end of the Hergest Ridge in what Real County Enthusiasts know as Radnorshire. Not many people are aware that Hergest is named after the “difficult” sophomore… Continue reading I’M FEELING GLADESTRY ALL OVER
LEOMINSTER IS BACK
Of course, if this were BRAPA it would be “Cheese munching spinster, illuminates Leominster” (actually that’s Mark E. Smith) or something. But when you’ve made as many trips to Herefordshire and been disappointed by The Lem’ster as often I have, you’ll know a decent pub in the county’s second town is cause for raising a… Continue reading LEOMINSTER IS BACK
A PEAK INTO PEMBRIDGE
You always get one bit of classic Black & White Herefordshire in the new Beer Guide. Normally a village you can’t pronounce with lots of vowels, cherry blossoms on the approach, dull Wye Valley ales and that tempting sign for Robinsons cider the ticking rules won’t let you succumb to. Pembridge, the half-daytrip for Brummies… Continue reading A PEAK INTO PEMBRIDGE
HEREFORD : NO BULL
The oddest thing. I seem to have lost a few photos from a couple of weeks ago in Hereford. Perhaps they’ll turn up in 2021 and I’ll wonder what they are. Not to worry. I still have the photo of Duncan on his bike admiring the Cathedral while completing the Guide in 1977; As you’ll… Continue reading HEREFORD : NO BULL
OLD BOYOS IN THE OLDEST PUB IN WALES
Yes, Ushers. You don’t see that heading a post much these days, d’ya ?* A hefty walk along Offa’s Dyke, for once not too muddy, takes you towards the Skirrid Inn, supposedly even older than the debate about baps v cobs. Rather like the Royal Standard in Bucks or the Fighting Cocks, this is… Continue reading OLD BOYOS IN THE OLDEST PUB IN WALES
TOP 100 PUBS – BARRELS, HEREFORD
Yes, No.288 in my Top 100 series. So sue me. A third visit here in ten years, and heaving every time. Given what I wrote last time about how quiet Hereford was on Thursday night, that probably says it all. To be honest, it was never a good idea to finish at Barrels, after two… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – BARRELS, HEREFORD
T’OTHER BARNSLEY
Doyen of countless Good Pub Guides, Times Supplements and Pashmina Yearly editions over many decades, the Village Pub finally graces the only book that matters to tickers. So at last I get a trip to the other Barnsley. It’s pleasant, without being an essential stop for those touring the honeypots of north Swindon. The Barnsley… Continue reading T’OTHER BARNSLEY
BEERS OVER THE RIVER WYE
One of our great scenic areas, though we share it with the Welsh, is the Wye Valley. Beloved of Guardian readers and real people alike, it seems surprisingly down-to-earth, with amusement parks at Symonds Yat and relatively unpretentious pubs on both sides of the border (e.g. the Boat at Penallt, which I really ought to… Continue reading BEERS OVER THE RIVER WYE
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