London Stories

I was wondering around Hampstead Village a few weeks back filling time while waiting for my Son to finish work (he lives nearby) it was late in the afternoon and the rain was starting to set in so I looked for somewhere to take cover and maybe have a coffee or something. I turned down a side street off of Heath St. and low and behold stumbled across a little craft beer bar (The Tipsy Dog). Never one to pass up an opportunity for an interesting half of something I wondered in, it was empty and so I ordered a half of a pale ale I'd never tried before and got chatting to the barman. 

The venue itself was really small, only 4 taps (keg only) and perhaps a dozen or so seats plus a couple of large beer fridges that were filled with cans and bottles (some good stuff), more of a "bottle shop" than a bar I suppose although it was a nice little space and the perfect refuge from a Summer downpour! I only had time for one and after that I headed on down the hill to where I was meeting my boy, however next time I'm up in Hampstead and have half an hour to kill I know exactly where I need to go!

Kernow Adventures - Part 2

While in Falmouth last week we popped into the Seafood bar in town (on one of the days) and had a spot of lunch (see above) This venue is owned by my favourite brewer Verdant and sells their beers and a range of interesting seafood dishes (tapas style) We had a fish-finger bun, crab loaded fries, fish tacos and scallops, my goodness it was delicious, strong flavours and great combinations of ingredients plus (of course) a lovely half of a delicious Verdant beer to go with it all, totally lush.

On a different day we hopped onto the St Mawes ferry and sailed across to that picture perfect little village for some lunch. The venue was a hotel called the "Idle Rocks" which has a very scenic veranda and restaurant. I opted for the fixed lunch menu which included chowder to start followed by sole (see above) with sides of fries and broccoli, then a dark chocolate cremeux to finish, all for £28 which I thought was great value considering the setting and the quality of food, great spot for lunch, thoroughly recommended!

The picture above shows the veranda of the restaurant and the view beyond to the harbour wall and on to Falmouth, a great place to have lunch (when the weather is good!)

One of the disadvantages of staying/living in a seaside town is the noise and waste products from the ample seagulls that also live there. The various families of gulls that inhabit the town centre seem to be screeching at each other for most of the day only stopping when it gets dark and then starting up again at first light. I suppose you get used to it after a while but I can imagine that it gets a bit much sometimes. One day we even saw a Greater Black-backed Gull eating a dead rat, swallowed in one go! It's easy to understand that you're looking at an evolved dinosaur when you see something like that!

Kernow Adventures - Part 1

As previously mentioned we were down in Cornwall last week and on the way down to Falmouth we always stop at the Waitrose in Truro to stock up on essentials for our stay. It's a great store, large and well stocked including a section that's dedicated to craft beer where they feature Verdant cans (Verdant is a brewery in Penryn, near Falmouth) the variety available is impressive and probably not replicated in any other supermarket in the world! This is probably my favourite supermarket ever!

On the subject of Cornish brewers I discovered a new one in Falmouth called "Dynamite Valley", they have a small taproom in the centre of town which we happened to walk past one day and (of course) had to pop in for a pint. It was a pale ale made with American hops and very nice it was too on a warm day (see above) We all agreed it was a good addition to the beer scene in the town and while there are several Falmouth venues that sell Verdant beer (my fav) it is always good to have choices!

While in Kernow we also visited the Eden Project just outside of St. Austell, I'd never been before and thought it might be a bit naff (I'm not massively into plants) but how wrong was I! It was a spectacular place, huge and with lot's to see and do, a really impressive collection of plant species, from all kinds of environments around the world. They even had a section for Madeira which we visited earlier this year, I even recognised some of the plants! The only downside was visiting the "Tropical Dome" on a rather warm day, much sweating followed, fortunately they have "cool spaces" with A/C units in them where you can recuperate for a few minutes before moving on.

The picture above shows what it's like inside one of the domes, this was the tropical zone..

Long day and missing views..

We just got back from a week in Falmouth (Cornwall) having been driving (A30/M5/M4) for around 6 hours (traffic!) It was a long tiring day but a great week of R&R and a welcome escape from the heatwave that has been gripping the rest of the UK this week. I'd booked a little airBnB house in the middle of town one that we'd used before so we knew it well, there were just the two of us from Sunday to Thursday (ah the peace and tranquility!) and then my Son and one of his mates from Uni came down on the train and joined us for the weekend, this obviously changed the vibe somewhat, beer and curry rather than civilised lunches and white wine! The picture above shows the view from our balcony, hard to get tired of it and we will certainly miss it now that we're back in "boiling" Berkshire..

January Memories

We were fortunate enough to have a long holiday in South Africa earlier this year, we spent most of January down there in the Southern Hemisphere soaking up the sun, escaping the Northern Hemisphere Winter and touring around the Eastern Cape. It was a fabulous holiday, one that we'll never forget! I was reminded of that trip this week as it's very warm in the UK at the moment, the heat down there is different though, less humid and altogether more aggregable, can't wait to return one day there's so much to see and do! 

Double Bubble

I found myself in Reading a couple of weeks ago waiting for a train home so I decided to have a quick beer in the Siren bar in town. I asked for 2/3rds of a pint of a particular beer and as the barman was pouring it the keg ran out. He was apologetic and I made another choice, he promptly poured me a pint of another beer. Once I'd paid for the drink he looked at the 3/4's full original beer and asked me if I wanted that as well, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I said yes and walked back from the bar with two drinks for the price of one! Must have been my lucky day, I should have bought a lottery ticket!

Choice of B's

I treated my Daughter and her new boyfriend to a slap up meal in Borough Market last Friday and for wine we narrowed our choice down to a red Bandol or a white Burgundy, both interesting wines and both good matches for what we were having to eat. In the end we couldn't decide and since there were three of us present I got both, well, you have to live a bit now and again!