Garden Hermit Goes...To Flower Pots

 Anyone over certain age ( in the UK), when hearing the words ‘flower pot’ will inevitably be taken back to memories of their nursery years, sat in front of a black and white TV watching ‘The Flower Pot Men’.  Two puppet men made of flower pots, and a ‘Little Weed’. Anyone else will think I’m just jabbering, but I’m fairly sure I’m not the only one who bears those mental scars.

Tenuous link over, and these Flower Pot men run a fine independent brewery (with pub) in the North Hampshire village of Cheriton ( also famous for a battle during the civil war).

Flower Pots Brewery and the Flower Pots Inn occupy a spacious site, which was previously a farm.

The large pub sits at the front next to the country lane…

…and to one side is the barn housing the brewery.  There is also a bottled beer shop in the brick outbuilding.

The pub has a series of interconnecting small rooms, which retain the old farmhouse atmosphere, though there is also a new glass conservatory on the rear. 

There is still an ancient well in the floor of the pub…

From the display of awards, many from the famous beer and pub campaigners CAMRA, the pedigree of the brewery’s beers is not in doubt…

…the food is good too, difficult to choose, so I had to have two…

Of course they have a full library of the ‘Good Beer Guides’ they’ve been in…and it’s rumoured that Retired Martin is a regular.  Though searching for ‘flower pots’ on his blog will just tell you how many posts contain references to flowers and flower pots.

Better show you a beer.  The Perridge Pale 3.4% was delicate, floral and refreshing GHBS (Garden Hermit Beer Score) 3.5+

I’ve saved the best photo until last…a row of lovely Flower Pot beers, dispensed straight from the cask. Enjoy!

 

Garden Hermit Goes...To The Village Pub...

 ...The Black Horse, West Tytherley, Hampshire.

 This could be a sub-series of 'Garden Hermit Goes...' blog posts, the number of which is unknown.  It is based on my, and Mrs GH's, random wanderings to find a village pub for lunch.  May they long continue...

Our most recent random wandering took us to the village of West Tyrtherley, Hampshire, a Doomsday book village, whose church, St Peters, has the oldest bell in the world (nearly).  It is dated to 1260, though it is said that a museum in Bulgaria has a bell which is 1211 - 1216.  

And here it is on the map...

In addition to the pub (more on that shortly), it has a village hall, post office/shop, loads of chocolate box cottages...

 

 ... a good few of which have porch supports made of tree branches...

 

...which might relate to some kind of ancient practice or custom in the locality, I don't know, but perhaps someone else does?.   

Without doubt a very nice Hampshire village.

 Most importantly it has that essential hub of the community, a pub.

The Black Horse is a 17th century coaching inn presumably originally to serve travellers between Romsey and Salisbury (the two nearest towns) and beyond.

Today, there was something going on as the car park was partially fenced off and a group of men appeared to be decorating it (the car park).  Undeterred we parked on the village road and walked across to ask if the pub was open, which they confirmed it was.

 Further enquiry revealed that the decorations were for a centenary celebration for the village football team, West Tyrtherley FC, taking place the day after.  

West Tytherley FC are currently riding high in Div 1 of the Salisbury & District Sunday League, and I wondered whether thhe doyen of lower league (non-league?) football, Pubmeister had visited to watch a match at their ground, the recreation ground just across the road from the pub.

The decorations being put up included this natty display based on the teams nickname 'The Pigeons'

 

Anyway, back to the pub, and inside it definitely showed its history with loads of old character and charm.

I understand that this fireplace, according to the pub website, came from the nearby Norman Court manor house in 1830 and it is said to date back to the late 1600s.

At the bar, suitable country/farm style beers were available...

So I had a pint of Exmoor Ram (3.4%).  A fine naturally crafted golden ale - lovely.

'Butcombe' for me, conjures up a bad memory of their 'optional' service charge, compulsorily and quietly applied to the food and drink bills in their own pubs, (see post here)*.

Even though still scarred by that event, I had a half of Butcombe's Adam Henson's Rare Breed Pale Ale (3.9%)...a pleasant copper coloured pale ale.

Like many pubs there wasn't too many customers at the Black Horse on this weekday lunchtime (at least while we were there), which is a shame.  The food was tasty and good value, cask beers were well kept, a traditional village pub, deserving of more custom.  

At least I hoped that the following days celebrations for West Tytherley FC's centenary, would be a bumper day for the pub too.

The three wise monkeys will probably know!

*Such sneaky service charge practices are of course, avialable at other outlets.

Garden Hermit Goes...Without Tequilla For Lunch

 

 

 Luckily I've never been a fan of tequilla and so I am unable to personally fact check whether this warning is true.  

And when I and Mrs GH saw this sign at our visit to The Silver Hind, Sway, New Forest we didn't like to ask for verification.

 The Silver Hind is a dog and family friendly New Forest pub, which, on perusal of its website,  seems to have a community ethos, with 'whats happening' announcements for meat draws, quiz nights, cheese and wine afternoons, darts night, race nights etc.  

 To tempt in those from outside the village there is also an offer to pay your local parking charges when visiting the pub for a meal.

Our visit was for a bite to eat on a midweek lunchtime, though we found a free roadside parking space next to the pub.

Inside the pub looks like a typical dining pub, one large space separated into 2 or 3 areas and laid out with chairs and dining tables.

The large wood panelled bar had two cask ales, Greene King's Abbott Ale and Hardy Hanson's Kimberley Bitter.  

 I decided on a pint of Kimberley Bitter (3.9%), which was a nice session bitter.

 The pub was fairly quiet, with just a few other diners coming in while we were there.  The food was excellent and the beer battered haddock and chips, which I had, was very filling.

Mrs GH's salmon was nice too

Unfortunately we were too full to try desserts, but this is a great pub for quality food - highly recommended.  The cask beer was good too and I don't recall coming across cask Hardy Hansons in these parts ever before, so that was a nice surprise.

As for the beneficial, or perhaps just unexpected effects of the tequilla, I cannot vouch for, other than to say...

...no clothes were lost in the making of this blog post!

 Garden Hermit Goes...To The Turf Cutters.

Turf (peat) cutting is now largely a thing of the past, except in Ireland, and for a few specific activities elsewhere, such as for distilling peated single malt whiskies.

However once upon a time turf cutting was a common practice to provide fuel for rural homes. 

 

East Boldre on lower left (pub shown with pint pot symbol) - Bing maps.

 The Turfcutters Arms is the only pub in the small New Forest hamlet of East Boldre, which sits between heath land to the west, and cultivated/pasture land down to the shallow valley of the Beaulieu River to the east.  It's name harks back to ancient times when New Forest locals cut turf on the New Forest heathland, for fuel.  

Certain New Forest folk (known as commoners), still have various rights on the New Forest,  the main one still in use is the right to allow their ponies, donkeys, cows and occasionally pigs to graze on forest land.  The list of 'Commoner's Rights' still includes the Right of Turbary' - the right to cut peat for fuel.  However the New Forest National Park leaflet I was reading says: 'Now no longer practiced'.  

Anyhow there's a little bit of history, but now back to the Turfcutters Arms. 

 This is a lovely old pub, comprising a small right-angled bar, and several interconnecting small rooms, with old wooden or stone floors, and various nooks and crannies.

 Classic old pub furniture, tables, chairs, bar stools and bench seats abound, and the walls are covered with old black and white photos of local New Forest life...

New Ransomes threshing machine 1929

 ...there is even an 'East Boldre Oral History Listening Station'...

Listen to local history with a pint!

 Whilst the pub is well used by tourists and people outside the village, this is clearly also a typical village community pub.

I was here with Mrs GH for lunch, but first a beer...

Hedge Hop, Double Drop and Scrumdown

 ... and there was a nice choice of 3 real ales on the pumps.  I went for the Greene King Scrumdown Golden Ale (4.1%), apparently 'perfect to enjoy with the rugby'.  A very pleasant ale, which certainly seemed to have a golden glow...

Glowing...

The pub food was excellent, but once again I forgot the 'before' photo, but here's the 'after' photo...

Guess the meals

 

The pint of Flack Manor Hedge Hop (4.9%) premium ale was also very good, with its strong malty taste.

Hedge Hop premium ale

This pub is full of character and oozes local history and on a weekday lunchtime, it was fairly busy, but it is still one of those fairly quiet, calm pubs where I could have sat for hours with a pint soaking up the atmosphere. 

Atmospheric history

 

Garden Hermit Goes ...North Pt III...To The Brown Cow.

 

 

The final pub visit on this short excursion north to Pontefract, was to The Brown Cow, Ackworth, West Yorkshire.

The Brown Cow. (Image - Google street view)

 

Ackworth, just happens to be the birth place of one of Yorkshire's great cricketing heroes, Yorkshire and England fast bowler Graham Stevenson.

This is a 'traditional pub and dining' establishment, and myself, son Andy and daughter-in-law, Leah, went along early on a Saturday evening for a meal.

The Brown Cow is a large pub with double gable frontage, and was once a hotel. Inside it is generally one large open space, with tables and chairs around the walls and plenty of standing space near the large bar.  

 It appears that this is a local community pub as well as pulling in diners from further away, and they have Quiz nights, and themed food nights, e.g steak nights, Italian menu nights, happy hour, England Euro matches on the TV, etc.

Tables and plenty of space for standing punters near the bar

 

 Staff were present to wait on the tables, though the first job was to go to the bar and have a look what real ales were available.

 

A fine pair...

 

Timmy Taylor's BoltMaker (4%) and Yorkshire Blonde (3.9%) by Ossett Brewery were on the pumps, and during the evening I tried them both (not at the same time).  Both beers were as excellent as they look in the photo.

Let's see those again...

Pale, delicate and crystal clear

 

 

Classic Yorkshire bitter

 

 Needless to say, early Saturday evening custom was building up with drinkers and especially diners steadily arriving.

The food was really good pub fare, but unfortunately I ate it without remembering to take a photo (must have been hungry).  Luckily I remembered to take photos of the puddings...

...the cheesecake and ice cream was just right...

Perfectly proportioned and delicious pudding

...Andy, never having been one to refuse a culinary challenge, had the towering Knickerbocker Glory (top photo), the biggest pudding on the menu, by far, and we could tell that the waitress was keen (nay...amused) to see whether he would be able to finish it all. We even had a sneaking suspicion that they had oversized it slightly on purpose.

Happily he did finish, with (apparently) a tad of gastronomic discomfort as the prize. 

The Brown Cow is a good, friendly pub, with real ale and good food at decent prices.

And so Garden Hermit goes south again...