Bakewell

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Until Lucas, Matt and I took a drive through the countryside around Nottingham I thought that a ‘Bakewell tart’ was made by a company called ‘Bakewell’ because really, that would be an appropriate name for a company that makes pastries. Turns out it’s a place from which the eponymous delicacy originates. Lucas and I had one each and weren’t enormously impressed, but I’d certainly recommend the village as somewhere to visit if you want to see one of those perfectly picturesque English villages.

‘Lashings’ of cream were promised but not delivered. A veritable teaspoon, I say!

Having a Bakewell tart in Bakewell was something of a consolation after driving an hour through the rain to the enormous Chatsworth House in the hope of seeing something interesting that was out of the miserable weather and then finding it was nearly 20 pounds to get in. It was a real shame as there was a sculpture exhibition on in the gardens that would’ve been great to see if the weather has been better or we’d had golf umbrellas and gumboots. Still, the drive through the Derbyshire countryside was pretty (when the driving rain subsided) with the trees starting to show their Autumn colours.

I found a craft shop in Bakewell and bought some wool and needles to knit myself a Winter hat and successfully resisted buying a cross stitch kit or some beads (it was a mighty effort –  I’m addicted to craft supplies) then returned to Matt’s place where he cooked us a delicious roast dinner. The boys went to the pub and I stayed home and watched stuff on youtube and knitted for several hours. It was so nice to be by myself for the first time in a long time. Solitude is such a luxury!

Nottingham (again) and a Beer Festival (again).

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For someone who can’t stand beer I spend a lot of time at beer festivals. Although if you take away the beer there’s nothing about beer festivals I don’t like. The people are great – they’re down to earth, span all ages and wear silly hats. The atmosphere is laid back, there’s delicious food, new things to try and everything’s cheap. The only way they could be improved is a liberal application of sunshine.

Cheers!

Luke and I drove up yesterday and met Matt and Lucas at the festival. The Cambridge beer festival was the only one I’d known anything about and I’d been impressed by its scope. However the Nottingham beer festival was even more extensive. Approximately 1100 different beers. Lucas pointed out that about a mouthful of each would still equal 33 litres of beer to drink. I don’t think there’s that many individual beers produced in the southern hemisphere. On top of that there’s over 200 ciders and perries.  There was also a fantastic range of food options, from cheese platters to zebra burgers.

Just part of the cider selection.

We stayed for about four hours then headed to England’s oldest pub, ‘The Trip To Jerusalem’, which was almost under the beer festival, as it is partially built into the hill on which sits Nottingham Castle, where the festival was held. We had a drink there then moved on to the Canalhouse, which is a pub with a section of canal in the middle and bridges to walk across. After that we stopped at the Vat and Fiddle, which is attached to the Castle Rock Brewery. After that we wove our way back to Matt’s  (some weaving more than others).

Friday we took a break from the festival in order to drive out into the countryside and… drink more beer. We stopped at a pub called The Unicorn for lunch and then visited a farm shop. Farm shops in the UK are big sheds full of local, top-shelf produce. They almost always have venison, fancy sausages, pheasant and whatever is in season plus jams and chutneys and posh shortbread etc. They, foolishly, had an untended bowl of chocolate covered almonds out for people to try and I ate quite a few before Luke’s frowns shamed me away from them.

It was a rather miserable day so we ditched our plans to visit the extensive Clumber Park and went to see a cathedral that, fortuitously, was filled with the sounds of an army band (although they sounded more like an orchestra to me) rehearsing for a performance that evening. They were very good.

Cathedral interior, right before I was told ‘no photos without a permit’. AGAIN. Bah.

The boys decided to do their own beer tasting at home that night and bought a range of beers to share. We watched more Archer, ate a roast chicken and then went to bed early (well, earlier than we’ve been going to bed lately). ready to face another day of festival on Saturday.

Researching New York

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Everyone researches their holidays but how much research you do depends on you. I have friends who swear by the ‘buy a flight then land and explore’ method of travel but the longer this year goes on the more I realise that I am much happier to know that my accommodation and all forms of travel are booked well in advance and I have a list of activities I’d like to do in each place already written down. Which is not to say that my plans are set in stone but it is undoubtedly cheaper the earlier one buys train and plane tickets and options for hotels etc are far greater if things aren’t left til the last moment. Plus I enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing nothing needs to be organised in a hurry.

Of course where you’re going can dictate how early everything needs to be organised and our next stop after the UK is New York. We found some cheap airbnb rooms (one for a week in Greenwich and one for a week in Brooklyn Heights) ages ago. Now we’re making a list of what to do while we’re there.

Seems we’ve struck gold in terms of our Greenwich booking – the Halloween parade is on the second night we’re there. Apart from that we’ve started a list of food we want to try and a few galleries but otherwise I’d love some advice. So recommendations please!

Here Comes The Planet 39 – Iceland 04

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We go back to Jökulsárlón to see the nearby black sand beach, and then continue our travels across Iceland’s stunning landscape.

Also, here are the promised 80’s-hair-metal-band Iceland horses; none, unfortunately, which are fighting. 🙂

Music: Rafstraumur by Sigur Rós

Cambridge

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We’re back in England and happy to be, once again, at Andrew’s. Ensconced in our Bar Hill home-away-from-home. There’s not really much to report – England now looks very Autumn-y. There’s conkers and acorns and blackberries. So many blackberries! Andrew has some in his backyard.

Today Luke and I went for a walk up the road with a pail and picked about half a kilo and if Andrew doesn’t eat them all when he gets home I might even make a pie.

We’ve been watching tv (apparently I’d somehow missed the complete first series of The IT Crowd! Quelle horreur!)  and just generally slothing about and getting laundry done. Oh, and immediately messing up Andrew’s spare room. Poor guy. On the plus side, I have had a chance to do some cooking, from which I hope he feels he’s benefited, and he was kind enough to buy me this as a surprise. Click on the link, it’s wonderful. Both parental types and teacher friends will enjoy it, I think.

Today Luke and I mapped out our plan for the rest of our time in the UK, which I am very sad to see the end of. Still, we’re packing stuff into our last three weeks, with Nottingham, Birmingham, an ale festival (with cider, thank goodness), a friend’s band to see, Jimmy Carr (a comedian), a big night out in London, the Isle of Wight and hopefully Dorset on the agenda. Most of this hinges on Van Failen still being registered and operable but we’ll cross that bridge when Matt (the owner of our van) gets back to us.

 

Then I did make pie!

Delicious!