We have just had a lovely week in Cornwall, the weather was fine for late October (Cornish fine, windy and the odd heavy shower) so we managed to get out and about a bit.
A very dear friend had a massive stroke some years ago and is totally wheelchair bound now so I booked a wheelchair friendly cottage through our Holiday Propery Bond at Duloe Manor for half term week and the friend and wife joined us. Unfortunately, they had to be back in Bath after three days so some other friends came to take their place, the second set of friends are not nearly so restricted but did enjoy the accommodation being so user friendly.
We drove down on the Tuesday morning and stopped at the big Morrisons superstore at Liskeard to do some shopping. I do not often have access to Morrisons but have to say that I was most impressed with this store. It was very busy indeed and a case of queuing for a car parking space which took about ten minutes. We had lunch at the store in the cafe, I had a child's portion of fish fingers with chips and peas which included a drink of apple juice, a small bag of mixed apple slices with grapes and a little chocolate bar: all for £2.95. Incredibly good value and quite adequate.
The cottage itself was lovely, a very large kitchen/dining/sitting room complete with flat screen television, radio, DVD player and the kitchen part had a dishwasher and washing machine. There was a downstairs twin bedroom and an upstairs double; both ensuite. There was also a separate shower room upstairs because the sofa in the sitting area converted to a double bed so had we had another couple they would have had a private bathroom. The Duloe Manor complex had an indoor swimming pool so I was able to continue my daily swim habit and most of the time had the pool to myself.
The first evening I cooked supper for all of us; we started with some celeriac remoulade with salami and chorizo followed by pork chops in a mustard and cider sauce with new potatoes and tomato and onion salad. Pudding was caramel oranges and then a cheese board. Accompanied by a couple of bottles of wine and much reminiscing. The friends are the parents of our godchildren and their daughter is getting married next April so there was quite a bit of chat about that.
Wednesday dawned and fortified by toast and marmalade we set off for the Minions Heritage Centre which proved very elusive. There are absolutely no signs at all in the area of how to find the actual main building so we gave up and went to the pub for lunch. I had a really good ham and cheese toastie which was accompanied by a pile of chips and a salad - all for £3.50. A nice local Cornish cider on the side was absolutely perfect. We then went off to St Neot church to see if it lived up to my happy memories of some of the best stained glass I have ever seen - it did. I had forgotten the magnificent rood screen and the angels attaching the walls to the roof so they were like a totally new discovery.
HPB Duloe offers a bondholders' supper on site on Wednesday so we signed up for that. They do not have a licence so it is a BYO for the wine and there are large jugs of iced water on the table. It was a very large table to encourage people to talk to each other and there were sixteen of us there. The two courses of chicken breast cooked in marsala and mushrooms with vegetables followed by apple pie (with raisins and cinnamon and the most incredible short pastry) with clotted cream were excellent value at £13.50 per person. We had a lovely evening chatting to fellow holidaymakers and the excellent and unobtrusive service added to our enjoyment. The catering is done by a local company who come on the site to finish the cooking and serve.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Orford and Thorpeness
We had a couple of days of pretty glum weather so simply stayed put in our accommodation and lounged about doing not very much and conserving energy. One of my less known vices is the ability to turn into a compulsive gambler at the sight of a seaside arcade of those machines which shove twopence pieces backwards and forward with the faint promise of riches beyond dreams of avarice when the coins come tumbling out. I always allow myself a pound a day in twopence pieces and never really expect to win, the game is rather in how long it takes me to lose the lot. Our accommodation is right by Claremont Pier and one of these dens of iniquity was visible from our bedroom so I gave in to temptation and went across for a bit. I had saved my allowance for five days so had a whole fiver to spend and spent a wonderful two and a bit hours losing the money. At the end my hands were absolutely filthy, totally engrained with dirt and it took a nail brush and five minutes at the washbasin to restore them to anything like their usual condition. I happen to think that a fiver for two hours entertainment is exceedingly good value - when I think of the forty quid it costs for a theatre seat these days I think two hours with the shove tuppenies is an absolute bargain.
The weather changed for the better so we got the car out and drove down to Orford, a lovely drive following the road via Blythburgh going and Aldeburgh returning. Neither Blythburgh nor Aldeburgh were visited this trip, but we have booked back at Lowestoft for a fortnight next year so will see them then.
Orford was in some ways a bit of a disappointment, and in others far exceeded my expectations. I have been a Ruth Watson far for years and was very dissappointed with The Crown and Castle, big notices saying that parking was for residents of the hotel only and mere diners could b*****r off and find somewhere else to leave their cars, not in quite those words but the intention was clear. Since she preaches the art of hospitality on television I think she needs to look a bit closer to home and sort out the parking because this was one of the most inhospitable signs I have ever come across.
There was no indication anywhere that there would be a proper car park and we drove round the small square several times because this was Sunday late morning and we were being lulled into a false sense of security by people returning to their cars with newspapers - they just put the papers on the seats and locked the cars again. So we drove back up the hill and noticed some clear ground without yellow lines near the school where we parked legally and then had a good ten minute walk back down to the Quay. On the way was a big pay and display car park which we now know about and will use in future. I don't mind paying for parking - but I rather like the odd sign to advise me that it will be available at some point and give me directions to it.
The Quay was lovely, a proper working Quay and we were just in time to board a boat for a trip around the Ness. We did not see much wildlife - I think we were a bit late - but there were avocets. The skipper had recorded a guide and we learned what all the disused WW2 and Cold War buildings had been used for. Most interesting. The big eye opener for me on the boat trip was the sky. I had heard of the famous Suffolk skies but until then had not seen anything very special - the view from the boat changed my mind completely. The sky was absolutely vast, the clouds were playing "catch" and chasing each other all over the place and there must have been a hundred shades of white up there. I will look at Constable with a little more respect in future - in order to capture something so ephemeral for posterity is truly the mark of a great landscape paper.
We then went in search of lunch and found (purely by accident you understand - I had not spent hours trawling the internet beforehand) Butleys Oysterage which is absolutely brilliant. The oysters were massive Natives, rich and creamy with that astonishing burst of the sea as you bite into the ice cold flesh. Onslow had a dozen followed by a plate of grilled squid and I had half a dozen followed by a mixed grill of sardines, squid and mussels. I think the mussels were the New Zealand green lipped ones so they must have been frozen and the sardines were a bit short on flesh but it was quite satisfactory. We had a litre of sparkling water and a glass of a rather indifferent Sauvignon Blanc from Chile and the whole bill (including a generous tip for the excellent service) was only £65. We would have paid more than that for just the oysters in London, and I can think of very few places in the provinces where you can get oysters of that quality. Next year I shall have a dozen oysters and no main, unless I have room for another half dozen.
Thorpeness was bright and sunny and showing itself off magnificently. Unfortunately far too many people had come to see it so it was very crowded. There was a wedding at the golf club which adjoins the sea and there were dozens of men in morning dress accompanied by women in fascinators clogging up the beach. I felt it unfair to spoil the photographs with a couple of slobs like us pushing in so a proper inspection of Thorpeness will have to wait for next year too. There were hundreds of swans on the lake, the House in the Clouds rose above everything and a cursory glance revealed much architecture of interest.
On the way home we got a windscreen chip which turned overnight into a crack so had to have a new windscreen fitted. I cannot recommend Autoglass too highly, they were absolutely wonderful from the first telephone call to the windscreen replacement. I am such an idiot I did not even know that we had a moisture sensor in the windscreen and if the wipers are in a certain position they will start automatically when it rains. Because of my ignorance they brought the wrong screen the first time but never complained about my stupidity and remained polite, efficient and very professional.
So that is the end of this year's Suffolk holiday. A lovely relaxing break with wonderful food. I even went in the sea for a swim once, but at 17C water temperature that was not repeated.
The weather changed for the better so we got the car out and drove down to Orford, a lovely drive following the road via Blythburgh going and Aldeburgh returning. Neither Blythburgh nor Aldeburgh were visited this trip, but we have booked back at Lowestoft for a fortnight next year so will see them then.
Orford was in some ways a bit of a disappointment, and in others far exceeded my expectations. I have been a Ruth Watson far for years and was very dissappointed with The Crown and Castle, big notices saying that parking was for residents of the hotel only and mere diners could b*****r off and find somewhere else to leave their cars, not in quite those words but the intention was clear. Since she preaches the art of hospitality on television I think she needs to look a bit closer to home and sort out the parking because this was one of the most inhospitable signs I have ever come across.
There was no indication anywhere that there would be a proper car park and we drove round the small square several times because this was Sunday late morning and we were being lulled into a false sense of security by people returning to their cars with newspapers - they just put the papers on the seats and locked the cars again. So we drove back up the hill and noticed some clear ground without yellow lines near the school where we parked legally and then had a good ten minute walk back down to the Quay. On the way was a big pay and display car park which we now know about and will use in future. I don't mind paying for parking - but I rather like the odd sign to advise me that it will be available at some point and give me directions to it.
The Quay was lovely, a proper working Quay and we were just in time to board a boat for a trip around the Ness. We did not see much wildlife - I think we were a bit late - but there were avocets. The skipper had recorded a guide and we learned what all the disused WW2 and Cold War buildings had been used for. Most interesting. The big eye opener for me on the boat trip was the sky. I had heard of the famous Suffolk skies but until then had not seen anything very special - the view from the boat changed my mind completely. The sky was absolutely vast, the clouds were playing "catch" and chasing each other all over the place and there must have been a hundred shades of white up there. I will look at Constable with a little more respect in future - in order to capture something so ephemeral for posterity is truly the mark of a great landscape paper.
We then went in search of lunch and found (purely by accident you understand - I had not spent hours trawling the internet beforehand) Butleys Oysterage which is absolutely brilliant. The oysters were massive Natives, rich and creamy with that astonishing burst of the sea as you bite into the ice cold flesh. Onslow had a dozen followed by a plate of grilled squid and I had half a dozen followed by a mixed grill of sardines, squid and mussels. I think the mussels were the New Zealand green lipped ones so they must have been frozen and the sardines were a bit short on flesh but it was quite satisfactory. We had a litre of sparkling water and a glass of a rather indifferent Sauvignon Blanc from Chile and the whole bill (including a generous tip for the excellent service) was only £65. We would have paid more than that for just the oysters in London, and I can think of very few places in the provinces where you can get oysters of that quality. Next year I shall have a dozen oysters and no main, unless I have room for another half dozen.
Thorpeness was bright and sunny and showing itself off magnificently. Unfortunately far too many people had come to see it so it was very crowded. There was a wedding at the golf club which adjoins the sea and there were dozens of men in morning dress accompanied by women in fascinators clogging up the beach. I felt it unfair to spoil the photographs with a couple of slobs like us pushing in so a proper inspection of Thorpeness will have to wait for next year too. There were hundreds of swans on the lake, the House in the Clouds rose above everything and a cursory glance revealed much architecture of interest.
On the way home we got a windscreen chip which turned overnight into a crack so had to have a new windscreen fitted. I cannot recommend Autoglass too highly, they were absolutely wonderful from the first telephone call to the windscreen replacement. I am such an idiot I did not even know that we had a moisture sensor in the windscreen and if the wipers are in a certain position they will start automatically when it rains. Because of my ignorance they brought the wrong screen the first time but never complained about my stupidity and remained polite, efficient and very professional.
So that is the end of this year's Suffolk holiday. A lovely relaxing break with wonderful food. I even went in the sea for a swim once, but at 17C water temperature that was not repeated.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Southwold, Great Yarmouth and Norwich
We have been far too busy for the last few days so I have neglected to post anything. However, today is a free day so I shall attempt to make up for my tardiness.
We had a lovely day out in Southwold, the sun shone brightly and even though I was wearing factor 25 sunscreen I still picked up a bit of a tan. We went in by bus and arrived there just after 1030 and headed straight for the church. Simon Jenkins gives it four stars and I can quite see why - outside the flint is used to make lovely patterns and inside it is very beautiful and painted in parts. The ceiling is amazing - there are wooden angels supporting the trusses and some fantastic carved heads on the next level down at the tops of the columns. The general impression is of light and air and there is a truly stunning pulpit which looks as though it could float away such is the fenestration in the carving. Whilst we were having a good look around a piano got moved and a chap and woman started rehearsing bits of songs - it seemed there was to be a lunch time concert called "with a little help from my friends" given by the woman who was called Sidi Scott so we decided to return for it. I am so glad I heard the concert, the woman's voice was a bit thin and never really seemed to occupy the whole space. But the chap (no idea of his name, think he might be Paul someone) had one of those voices that send shivers down my spine. Deep and resonant and in total command of everything he sang - "Bring Him Home" was the very best delivery I have heard and since I have seen Les Mis at least a dozen times that is saying something. A truly joyful experience.
We had a nice wander around the rest of Southwold in between, the Sailors' Reading Room was delightful, the pier with the lovely clock with the waterworks was as enchanting as ever and the shops were as remembered. We had a really good coffee at the Adnams Brewery and survived the day nicely on that. I have lost track of what we have been eating for supper over the days but everything has been fabulous. Starters have been soups, one day half a dozen little fried scampi and another day some chicken goujons. Mains have included a full roast pork dinner with all the trimmings, braised steak and a steak and kidney pie. The puddings have been a pear helene, a peach melba, an apple pie and a rhubarb crumble. Every single mouthful absolutely gorgeous.
We spent a day in Great Yarmouth (known locally as Yarmouth) and that was the day the rains came. The Elizabethan museum (some fantastic stained glass) and the Nelson museum were both well worth visiting but my (old) guide book was wrong about the visiting times for the church and it was locked. That will have to wait until next year now since we cannot fit in another trip to Yarmouth this visit.
Yesterday we returned to Norwich to visit the castle and art gallery and I have to say that even though it is very expensive it is well worth the money. We spent five hours in there and did not even visit the Royal Norfolk Regimental museum. The art gallery has some lovely stuff, one or two very nice Gainsboroughs and totally unexpectedly Lucian Freud and David Hockney showed off their stuff. Some fabulous contemporary glass held my attention for a good half hour and the Victorian room had a lovely Sandys I have only ever seen in illustration before. There is an amazing collection of teapots beautifully displayed and some excellent paste jewellery. All in all I think Norwich will move into my top ten provincial galleries - which means, of course, that somewhere else will have to move out!
I noticed in yesterday's newspaper an advert from Marks about having a 20% off sale for the next few days and a couple of days before we came away I had intended to order a new bed from them so we called in at the Norwich shop to see if the 20% off applied to furniture to discover that there was 30% off furniture so the bed was ordered yesterday for delivery to home on 1st October and I saved almost £400 on the price I would have paid had I ordered it a fortnight ago. So I am well pleased with myself at the moment!
We had a lovely day out in Southwold, the sun shone brightly and even though I was wearing factor 25 sunscreen I still picked up a bit of a tan. We went in by bus and arrived there just after 1030 and headed straight for the church. Simon Jenkins gives it four stars and I can quite see why - outside the flint is used to make lovely patterns and inside it is very beautiful and painted in parts. The ceiling is amazing - there are wooden angels supporting the trusses and some fantastic carved heads on the next level down at the tops of the columns. The general impression is of light and air and there is a truly stunning pulpit which looks as though it could float away such is the fenestration in the carving. Whilst we were having a good look around a piano got moved and a chap and woman started rehearsing bits of songs - it seemed there was to be a lunch time concert called "with a little help from my friends" given by the woman who was called Sidi Scott so we decided to return for it. I am so glad I heard the concert, the woman's voice was a bit thin and never really seemed to occupy the whole space. But the chap (no idea of his name, think he might be Paul someone) had one of those voices that send shivers down my spine. Deep and resonant and in total command of everything he sang - "Bring Him Home" was the very best delivery I have heard and since I have seen Les Mis at least a dozen times that is saying something. A truly joyful experience.
We had a nice wander around the rest of Southwold in between, the Sailors' Reading Room was delightful, the pier with the lovely clock with the waterworks was as enchanting as ever and the shops were as remembered. We had a really good coffee at the Adnams Brewery and survived the day nicely on that. I have lost track of what we have been eating for supper over the days but everything has been fabulous. Starters have been soups, one day half a dozen little fried scampi and another day some chicken goujons. Mains have included a full roast pork dinner with all the trimmings, braised steak and a steak and kidney pie. The puddings have been a pear helene, a peach melba, an apple pie and a rhubarb crumble. Every single mouthful absolutely gorgeous.
We spent a day in Great Yarmouth (known locally as Yarmouth) and that was the day the rains came. The Elizabethan museum (some fantastic stained glass) and the Nelson museum were both well worth visiting but my (old) guide book was wrong about the visiting times for the church and it was locked. That will have to wait until next year now since we cannot fit in another trip to Yarmouth this visit.
Yesterday we returned to Norwich to visit the castle and art gallery and I have to say that even though it is very expensive it is well worth the money. We spent five hours in there and did not even visit the Royal Norfolk Regimental museum. The art gallery has some lovely stuff, one or two very nice Gainsboroughs and totally unexpectedly Lucian Freud and David Hockney showed off their stuff. Some fabulous contemporary glass held my attention for a good half hour and the Victorian room had a lovely Sandys I have only ever seen in illustration before. There is an amazing collection of teapots beautifully displayed and some excellent paste jewellery. All in all I think Norwich will move into my top ten provincial galleries - which means, of course, that somewhere else will have to move out!
I noticed in yesterday's newspaper an advert from Marks about having a 20% off sale for the next few days and a couple of days before we came away I had intended to order a new bed from them so we called in at the Norwich shop to see if the 20% off applied to furniture to discover that there was 30% off furniture so the bed was ordered yesterday for delivery to home on 1st October and I saved almost £400 on the price I would have paid had I ordered it a fortnight ago. So I am well pleased with myself at the moment!
Friday, 19 August 2011
Lowestoft
We have comfortably settled in at Lowestoft and although the weather has been a bit cool for the first couple of days (too cool to consider sea bathing) it has warmed up today and I may pluck up my courage and go for a swim this afternoon.
The food at Lord Kitchener's is as good as remembered from last time, on Wednesday evening we had a lovely salmon tagliatelle - almost like the Fettucini Alfredo we used to make in the 70's - creamy and herby but with chunks of salmon instead of the bacon. The main course was chicken thighs which had been boned and then wrapped in thinly sliced bacon then roasted until crispy served with an assortment of vegetables and pudding was vanilla icecream with hot cherries poured over the top. Delicious.
Yesterday we got adventurous and crossed the county border by bus - we caught the X2 to Norwich and it took almost two hours to get there. I cannot remember the last time I saw such a full double decker bus - it was as bad as the 65 in Malta - and the driver had to stop at every single place en route to collect more people. Quite a few disembarked at Beccles but more climbed on so we were still just as crowded. We had intended to visit Norwich Castle and the Museum but there were large queues - posters were advertising a special activity day for children - so we just walked around the perimeter and then went for a wander. We found the fish section of Norwich Market and bought (not so) little trays of mixed seafood and shellfish as lunch. With all the food we eat at Lord Kitchener's a little bit at lunchtime is enough. We then had an ice cream and wandered over to St Peter Mancroft Church which is truly lovely. The carvings are magnificent and there is a Comper reredos screen which I have always wanted to see. Unfortunately I had not taken my binoculars so the stained glass windows received only a cursory inspection. The return bus took only 65 minutes and was half empty so I think the morning problem was caused by people like us - OAP's with free bus passes which cannot be used until 0930 - catching the first available bus.
Supper last night was tomato soup followed by a pork casserole with four different vegetables - lovely runner beans. The pudding was a banana split which I have not had for years but did enjoy.
The food at Lord Kitchener's is as good as remembered from last time, on Wednesday evening we had a lovely salmon tagliatelle - almost like the Fettucini Alfredo we used to make in the 70's - creamy and herby but with chunks of salmon instead of the bacon. The main course was chicken thighs which had been boned and then wrapped in thinly sliced bacon then roasted until crispy served with an assortment of vegetables and pudding was vanilla icecream with hot cherries poured over the top. Delicious.
Yesterday we got adventurous and crossed the county border by bus - we caught the X2 to Norwich and it took almost two hours to get there. I cannot remember the last time I saw such a full double decker bus - it was as bad as the 65 in Malta - and the driver had to stop at every single place en route to collect more people. Quite a few disembarked at Beccles but more climbed on so we were still just as crowded. We had intended to visit Norwich Castle and the Museum but there were large queues - posters were advertising a special activity day for children - so we just walked around the perimeter and then went for a wander. We found the fish section of Norwich Market and bought (not so) little trays of mixed seafood and shellfish as lunch. With all the food we eat at Lord Kitchener's a little bit at lunchtime is enough. We then had an ice cream and wandered over to St Peter Mancroft Church which is truly lovely. The carvings are magnificent and there is a Comper reredos screen which I have always wanted to see. Unfortunately I had not taken my binoculars so the stained glass windows received only a cursory inspection. The return bus took only 65 minutes and was half empty so I think the morning problem was caused by people like us - OAP's with free bus passes which cannot be used until 0930 - catching the first available bus.
Supper last night was tomato soup followed by a pork casserole with four different vegetables - lovely runner beans. The pudding was a banana split which I have not had for years but did enjoy.
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Suffolk
Onslow and I are both old soldiers and therefore have access to a fabulous holiday facility in Lowestoft. The place we can go to is called Lord Kitchener's Holiday Centre for ex Service Men and Women and situated on the seaf front at Kirkley Cliff just south of Claremont Pier. There are only eleven en suite twin rooms and we are provided with dinner, bed and breakfast. The food is absolutely fabulous and we are free every day to go on cultural pursuits knowing we will be returning to a delicious dinner.
We drove down yesterday in two stages, home to Burghley House near Stamford and then from Burghley to Lowestoft. I have wanted to visit Burghley for years but never really had an opportunity until now and built a two hour stop there for lunch and a look around into the itinerary. It was one of the biggest disappointments of my life - the visitor experience was not very good at all. The route for cars and parking effectively prevents a decent view of the house itself and visitors have to go through a "tradesman's entrance" via the back doors. The experience of even buying a ticket was not very nice - the only signs displayed in the entrance hall show the gift aid prices and the request for two senior tickets was met with "you are happy to pay the gift aid rate" - without an accompanying lift in tone to indicate it was a question and not a statement. Normally I do pay the gift aid rate but being irritated by the failure to see the best views of the house on the way in I simply said "no". All the rooms had loads of paintings but there were no guides as to who had painted them, or who was being painted in the case of portraits. When I questioned one of the room guides she said I should have bouight a guide book or audio tour. Not a pleasant experience at all - Burghley could learn a lot from the National Trust and English Heritage.
We landed at Lowestoft around four which gave me time for a nice long shower before supper. We were served carrot soup followed by an old fashioned English beef salad. Plent of beetroot and half a hard boiled egg present and correct on the plate - along with grated cheese as is de rigeur on such occasions. We then had a fabulous strawberry tart with custard, the tart was deliciously crisp sweet pastry with a half inch layer of a strawberry preserve topped with a frangipani mixture and was served hot with custard.
This morning's breakfast was the full English with porridge or cereal plus grapefruit, prunes and juices and as much toast as we could eat.
We drove down yesterday in two stages, home to Burghley House near Stamford and then from Burghley to Lowestoft. I have wanted to visit Burghley for years but never really had an opportunity until now and built a two hour stop there for lunch and a look around into the itinerary. It was one of the biggest disappointments of my life - the visitor experience was not very good at all. The route for cars and parking effectively prevents a decent view of the house itself and visitors have to go through a "tradesman's entrance" via the back doors. The experience of even buying a ticket was not very nice - the only signs displayed in the entrance hall show the gift aid prices and the request for two senior tickets was met with "you are happy to pay the gift aid rate" - without an accompanying lift in tone to indicate it was a question and not a statement. Normally I do pay the gift aid rate but being irritated by the failure to see the best views of the house on the way in I simply said "no". All the rooms had loads of paintings but there were no guides as to who had painted them, or who was being painted in the case of portraits. When I questioned one of the room guides she said I should have bouight a guide book or audio tour. Not a pleasant experience at all - Burghley could learn a lot from the National Trust and English Heritage.
We landed at Lowestoft around four which gave me time for a nice long shower before supper. We were served carrot soup followed by an old fashioned English beef salad. Plent of beetroot and half a hard boiled egg present and correct on the plate - along with grated cheese as is de rigeur on such occasions. We then had a fabulous strawberry tart with custard, the tart was deliciously crisp sweet pastry with a half inch layer of a strawberry preserve topped with a frangipani mixture and was served hot with custard.
This morning's breakfast was the full English with porridge or cereal plus grapefruit, prunes and juices and as much toast as we could eat.
Sunday, 24 July 2011
In Bruges
Last year I saw the film In Bruges which made me think it was time to revisit. We were there first back in the early 1970's and visited again in the mid 1990's but some of the scenes from the film made me think it would be worth returning for a short break. We have used a company called Riviera Travel for continental breaks several times and they offered a four day short holiday which ticked all the boxes so I booked for July thinking the weather would be about right for us. Luckily we have the philosophy "there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing" so were undaunted by the constant rain and drizzle. We had waterproofs, brollies and watertight footwear which we made good use of. The linen slacks and sandals remained unused.
Day One saw us catching the early train down to London in order to connect with the Eurostar. This is the first time we have gone from St Pancras, all our former dealings with Eurostar have been via Waterloo. St Pancras is like a mini shopping mall and we spent an interesting hour sorting out provisions for the journey. The Marks Simply Food is much cheaper than onboard food and the choice much better. We had an uneventful trip to Lille where we were met by a coach and the Riviera Travel courier Max. Max was already known to us, he took us through Andalusia a few years ago and was incredibly good when I got a touch of Spanish Tummy in the middle of the night. He is a former language teacher with a love of history and absolutely brilliant at his job. Nothing ever fazes him, all requests are dealt with efficiently and courteously and he is an absolute mine of information.
Our hotel in Bruges was right by The Belfort - the carillions rang regularly but stopped at around ten each evening and did not start again until around eight the following morning so our sleep was undisturbed. The hotel was excellent, a shade better than Novotel standards with extremely comfortable beds and really good power showers. There was even a minifridge in the bathroom which was rapidly filled with gin and tonic water. Martin's Brugge was the name, one of a chain owned by a chap called John Martin who went to Belgium from England to learn the brewing trade, stayed and built a hotel empire. The hotel only served breakfast but the breakfasts were banquets. A cold table of fruits and yoghurts, another cold table with cheeses and cold meats, a table with French pastries (fantastic croissants), a hotplate with bacon, sausages, eggs, baked beans and tomatoes and a further bar with a dozen different cereals. There was a dispensing machine (with half pint glasses) for grapefruit, orange, tropical and apple juices and a coffee machine. A Dualit toaster proved to be enough for everyone and I never had to wait to put my toast on.
On the first afternoon we went for a bit of a mooch around, admiring the stepped gables, the cobbled streets and the general ambience. We went out for supper and had some deep fried cheese croquettes as a starter, mussels and chips for a main course and a creme caramel for pudding. With a glass of wine and a bottle of sparkling water it came to seventy four Euros - Bruges is hideously expensive and the practical parity with the pound does not help either. The food was OK, but nothing special and the service was absolutely dire.
Day two found us ready to go off on a walking tour at 9am - having breakfasted like kings. One of the things I really rate about Riviera is that they do important things early in the day when it is quieter and the customers get a much better experience. I remember being at The Alhambra as it opened and having a wonderful peaceful tour - by the time we left it was noisy and full of people. Anyway, back to the walking tour of Bruges with Max. It took about two hours and was a very leisurely stroll around (as befits old people like us) starting in the market place, going to the Burg and seeing all the municipal buildings and statues and being given lots of information. It was actually 21st July which is Independence Day in Belgium so all the flags were flying, and they have lots of flags. We went to the two major churches and walked through the fishmarket (now full of "craft" stalls) and saw the wonderful old stone slabs and waterways. There was a brewery tour arranged for 11.30 but we bowed out, Max warned us that there were a lot of steps and Onslow has dodgy knees so caution was the order of the day so that we would enjoy the rest of the holiday. We walked slowly back to our hotel and went into the bar and ordered a coffee and a hot chocolate to warm up (the rain was bouncing by this time) and what a chocolate it was. A large glass mug filled with steaming hot milk with a wooden stick with a chunk of chocolate a good inch cube on the end. I put the chocolate in the milk and stirred holding on to the stick and the chocolate melted making a dense, rich drink. Quite the nicest hot chocolate I can remember, and I have had a lot of hot chocolate in my time.
We then went off on our own going down back alleys and side streets - uncovering treasures every step of the way. Bruges is not big enough to get lost in and the three high buildings, two churches and The Belfort, enable you to find your bearings very easily. We found a military chapel which had the rolls of honour from both World Wars inscribed on slabs of marble on the outside and an amazing pulpit which was "liberated" from somewhere in Antwerp. We found a bike hire shop which had metal sheets in the shape of working parts of bikes covering the outside, right up to the gables. The metal had rusted so it was a bright orange house - it looked great. We found lots of wonderful statuary, too numerous to mention but my personal favourite was Papengeo outside the theatre. There are some very naughty four horses of the apocalypse too. The cake and chocolate shops were amazing and I could have stood looking into the window of one particular bakers for hours.
Bruges has a nice trade in horses and carriages and the clip clop of hooves on the cobbles was a constant background to all our wanderings. The horses all weat a sort of leather chute attached to the leads which is neatly fixed under their rear ends, this means that the evacuations go straight into the sort of nappy it makes and the streets remain clean. I was most impressed by the Belgian pragmatism in solving what could be a problem - someone should tell Valletta about this! Most of the carriage drivers were female, something I have not noticed elsewhere. They were all very smartly dressed and wore straw hats, a sort of uniform I suppose. It seems the horses are only permitted to work two days in every seven so they do get plenty of rest between shifts.
We went out to supper that evening and had one of the very best meals I have had in years. Nothing nouvelle about it, just fabulous food beautifully presented and with excellent services. We ordered the thirty euro menu and both started with prosciutto - what we got was a large ten inch plate which had a tablespoon of celeriac remoulade, a tablespoon of finely diced beetroot and a tablespoon of finely grated carrot juxtaposed in a triangular arrangement. In one of the spaces between was a salad of thinly sliced cucumber sprinkled with dill, sweet luscious tomato slices sprinkled with chives and raw sweet onion rings. The middle was filled with an assortment of lettuce leaves which had been made into a chiffonade with red and green strips dressed in a delicious mustardy vinaigrette and then on the top were draped four slices of prosciutto. We were also given a basket of oat bread and some of that lovely pale continental lactic butter. It was truly exquisite. For mains we both ordered the steak with a pepper sauce and chips, I like my steak rare and Onslow likes his well done - we both thought our steaks absolutely perfect. The pepper sauce was unlike any I have previously encountered, it was like a Hollandaise and rich and buttery with a couple of tablespoons of soft green peppercorns stirred in at the last minute. The chips were long, thin, crispy and in a large bowl. I thought the big bowl of chips and the half pint of pepper sauce in a separate bowl would be beyond us and would go back to the kitchen. Wrong. We ate every single scrap because it was all so gorgeous. We faltered at the pudding choice but one of the options was Irish coffee so we went for that. It was one of those perfect meals, eaten out of doors (it stopped raining in the evenings) to the clip clop of hooves and just thoroughly enjoyed. We had a half litre of rose wine and a beer and the total cost was seventy six Euros - an absolute bargain. Two Euro more than the previous night's indifferent offering. If anyone is visiting Bruges it is highly recommended, - the restaurant is called 't Fonteintje and on the corner of Simon Stevinplein and Oude Burg.
Day three found us up and going on a boat trip at 9am. We were the only two boats on the water at that time, obviously something negotiated by Riviera, but an hour later all the boats were out. There are only four companies licensed to carry traffic on the canals and they each have four boats. So at any one time there can be up to sixteen boats on the waters - no private boats are allowed. It was lovely to see the backs of some of the properties we had seen from the street and a good way to spend an hour.
We then went off by coach to Ypres which is atruly remarkable place. It was razed to the ground during the First World War and totally rebuilt in the original style during the early 1920's as German reparation. The municipal buildings and cathedral look totally authentic. The cathedral has some wonderful modern stained glass and is well worth visiting. We also went to the Museum of Flanders Fields which is an interactive display of how dreadful war was. The highlight for me was the visit to The Menin Gate, something I have wanted to do for a very long time. I cried. We then went to a military cemetary and I cried again looking at some of the headstones and realising how young the men were. Boys.
We were rather tired after such a long day so went across the road on Oude Burg to a restaurant called Venice for a simple supper. Some parma ham (not nearly as nice as the previous evening) on a plate dusted with smoked paprika (why?) followed by mussels and chips again and then chocolate mousse. A glass of wine and a coke brought the total to forty six Euros - quite respectable but nothing special.
Saturday morning had a visit to a chocolate maker on the itinerary but since I am a world expert on Valrhona because of my previous work and Onslow has no interest we elected to not do that either. Instead we went for a liesurely final walk around. In the rain.
Conclusions? Bruges is lovely, it has been restored from when I was last there - I certainly don't remember quite so many cobbles - but in a sympathetic way rather than being turned into a theme park. It is very expensive though, about 25% more than either Brussels or Ypres in restaurants and there are no cheap street food type places. I remember buying bags of chips with a blob of mayonnaise back in the 70's and 90's - but found no evidence of such a choice this time. All the museums charge for entrance and the only way to get a multi ticket to see everything I wanted to was to buy a three day pass - the one day pass limits the buildings you can enter. So I got sales resistence and went to none of them and enjoyed all the free art in the streets - of which there is plenty.
Day One saw us catching the early train down to London in order to connect with the Eurostar. This is the first time we have gone from St Pancras, all our former dealings with Eurostar have been via Waterloo. St Pancras is like a mini shopping mall and we spent an interesting hour sorting out provisions for the journey. The Marks Simply Food is much cheaper than onboard food and the choice much better. We had an uneventful trip to Lille where we were met by a coach and the Riviera Travel courier Max. Max was already known to us, he took us through Andalusia a few years ago and was incredibly good when I got a touch of Spanish Tummy in the middle of the night. He is a former language teacher with a love of history and absolutely brilliant at his job. Nothing ever fazes him, all requests are dealt with efficiently and courteously and he is an absolute mine of information.
Our hotel in Bruges was right by The Belfort - the carillions rang regularly but stopped at around ten each evening and did not start again until around eight the following morning so our sleep was undisturbed. The hotel was excellent, a shade better than Novotel standards with extremely comfortable beds and really good power showers. There was even a minifridge in the bathroom which was rapidly filled with gin and tonic water. Martin's Brugge was the name, one of a chain owned by a chap called John Martin who went to Belgium from England to learn the brewing trade, stayed and built a hotel empire. The hotel only served breakfast but the breakfasts were banquets. A cold table of fruits and yoghurts, another cold table with cheeses and cold meats, a table with French pastries (fantastic croissants), a hotplate with bacon, sausages, eggs, baked beans and tomatoes and a further bar with a dozen different cereals. There was a dispensing machine (with half pint glasses) for grapefruit, orange, tropical and apple juices and a coffee machine. A Dualit toaster proved to be enough for everyone and I never had to wait to put my toast on.
On the first afternoon we went for a bit of a mooch around, admiring the stepped gables, the cobbled streets and the general ambience. We went out for supper and had some deep fried cheese croquettes as a starter, mussels and chips for a main course and a creme caramel for pudding. With a glass of wine and a bottle of sparkling water it came to seventy four Euros - Bruges is hideously expensive and the practical parity with the pound does not help either. The food was OK, but nothing special and the service was absolutely dire.
Day two found us ready to go off on a walking tour at 9am - having breakfasted like kings. One of the things I really rate about Riviera is that they do important things early in the day when it is quieter and the customers get a much better experience. I remember being at The Alhambra as it opened and having a wonderful peaceful tour - by the time we left it was noisy and full of people. Anyway, back to the walking tour of Bruges with Max. It took about two hours and was a very leisurely stroll around (as befits old people like us) starting in the market place, going to the Burg and seeing all the municipal buildings and statues and being given lots of information. It was actually 21st July which is Independence Day in Belgium so all the flags were flying, and they have lots of flags. We went to the two major churches and walked through the fishmarket (now full of "craft" stalls) and saw the wonderful old stone slabs and waterways. There was a brewery tour arranged for 11.30 but we bowed out, Max warned us that there were a lot of steps and Onslow has dodgy knees so caution was the order of the day so that we would enjoy the rest of the holiday. We walked slowly back to our hotel and went into the bar and ordered a coffee and a hot chocolate to warm up (the rain was bouncing by this time) and what a chocolate it was. A large glass mug filled with steaming hot milk with a wooden stick with a chunk of chocolate a good inch cube on the end. I put the chocolate in the milk and stirred holding on to the stick and the chocolate melted making a dense, rich drink. Quite the nicest hot chocolate I can remember, and I have had a lot of hot chocolate in my time.
We then went off on our own going down back alleys and side streets - uncovering treasures every step of the way. Bruges is not big enough to get lost in and the three high buildings, two churches and The Belfort, enable you to find your bearings very easily. We found a military chapel which had the rolls of honour from both World Wars inscribed on slabs of marble on the outside and an amazing pulpit which was "liberated" from somewhere in Antwerp. We found a bike hire shop which had metal sheets in the shape of working parts of bikes covering the outside, right up to the gables. The metal had rusted so it was a bright orange house - it looked great. We found lots of wonderful statuary, too numerous to mention but my personal favourite was Papengeo outside the theatre. There are some very naughty four horses of the apocalypse too. The cake and chocolate shops were amazing and I could have stood looking into the window of one particular bakers for hours.
Bruges has a nice trade in horses and carriages and the clip clop of hooves on the cobbles was a constant background to all our wanderings. The horses all weat a sort of leather chute attached to the leads which is neatly fixed under their rear ends, this means that the evacuations go straight into the sort of nappy it makes and the streets remain clean. I was most impressed by the Belgian pragmatism in solving what could be a problem - someone should tell Valletta about this! Most of the carriage drivers were female, something I have not noticed elsewhere. They were all very smartly dressed and wore straw hats, a sort of uniform I suppose. It seems the horses are only permitted to work two days in every seven so they do get plenty of rest between shifts.
We went out to supper that evening and had one of the very best meals I have had in years. Nothing nouvelle about it, just fabulous food beautifully presented and with excellent services. We ordered the thirty euro menu and both started with prosciutto - what we got was a large ten inch plate which had a tablespoon of celeriac remoulade, a tablespoon of finely diced beetroot and a tablespoon of finely grated carrot juxtaposed in a triangular arrangement. In one of the spaces between was a salad of thinly sliced cucumber sprinkled with dill, sweet luscious tomato slices sprinkled with chives and raw sweet onion rings. The middle was filled with an assortment of lettuce leaves which had been made into a chiffonade with red and green strips dressed in a delicious mustardy vinaigrette and then on the top were draped four slices of prosciutto. We were also given a basket of oat bread and some of that lovely pale continental lactic butter. It was truly exquisite. For mains we both ordered the steak with a pepper sauce and chips, I like my steak rare and Onslow likes his well done - we both thought our steaks absolutely perfect. The pepper sauce was unlike any I have previously encountered, it was like a Hollandaise and rich and buttery with a couple of tablespoons of soft green peppercorns stirred in at the last minute. The chips were long, thin, crispy and in a large bowl. I thought the big bowl of chips and the half pint of pepper sauce in a separate bowl would be beyond us and would go back to the kitchen. Wrong. We ate every single scrap because it was all so gorgeous. We faltered at the pudding choice but one of the options was Irish coffee so we went for that. It was one of those perfect meals, eaten out of doors (it stopped raining in the evenings) to the clip clop of hooves and just thoroughly enjoyed. We had a half litre of rose wine and a beer and the total cost was seventy six Euros - an absolute bargain. Two Euro more than the previous night's indifferent offering. If anyone is visiting Bruges it is highly recommended, - the restaurant is called 't Fonteintje and on the corner of Simon Stevinplein and Oude Burg.
Day three found us up and going on a boat trip at 9am. We were the only two boats on the water at that time, obviously something negotiated by Riviera, but an hour later all the boats were out. There are only four companies licensed to carry traffic on the canals and they each have four boats. So at any one time there can be up to sixteen boats on the waters - no private boats are allowed. It was lovely to see the backs of some of the properties we had seen from the street and a good way to spend an hour.
We then went off by coach to Ypres which is atruly remarkable place. It was razed to the ground during the First World War and totally rebuilt in the original style during the early 1920's as German reparation. The municipal buildings and cathedral look totally authentic. The cathedral has some wonderful modern stained glass and is well worth visiting. We also went to the Museum of Flanders Fields which is an interactive display of how dreadful war was. The highlight for me was the visit to The Menin Gate, something I have wanted to do for a very long time. I cried. We then went to a military cemetary and I cried again looking at some of the headstones and realising how young the men were. Boys.
We were rather tired after such a long day so went across the road on Oude Burg to a restaurant called Venice for a simple supper. Some parma ham (not nearly as nice as the previous evening) on a plate dusted with smoked paprika (why?) followed by mussels and chips again and then chocolate mousse. A glass of wine and a coke brought the total to forty six Euros - quite respectable but nothing special.
Saturday morning had a visit to a chocolate maker on the itinerary but since I am a world expert on Valrhona because of my previous work and Onslow has no interest we elected to not do that either. Instead we went for a liesurely final walk around. In the rain.
Conclusions? Bruges is lovely, it has been restored from when I was last there - I certainly don't remember quite so many cobbles - but in a sympathetic way rather than being turned into a theme park. It is very expensive though, about 25% more than either Brussels or Ypres in restaurants and there are no cheap street food type places. I remember buying bags of chips with a blob of mayonnaise back in the 70's and 90's - but found no evidence of such a choice this time. All the museums charge for entrance and the only way to get a multi ticket to see everything I wanted to was to buy a three day pass - the one day pass limits the buildings you can enter. So I got sales resistence and went to none of them and enjoyed all the free art in the streets - of which there is plenty.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Lunch and the Afternoon
Lunch was Kathari Deftera - Clean Monday Lunch. It was devised by Aglaia Kremezi and cooked by Tim Kelsey and the staff of Catz. The first meal I think that does not credit other chefs on the menu. The centrepiece of the banquet was the bread - it was amazing, not quite a flatbread but not quite a proper loaf either. A sort of focaccia type with oregano and visible salt crystals. Delicious. It was more or less a mezze - we had green and black olives from various parts of Greece dressed with oregano, thyme and lemon, taramosalata (absolutely incredible, pure white and since I profess not to like taramosalata much I was amazed) and a lovely smoked herring spread called Rengosalata. The main course was a wonderful salad made from romaine lettuce, rocket, spring onions and grilled red florina peppers dressed with a lemony olive oil sauce. A big dish of what I think were butter beans - but might have been very pale broad beans - had been baked in a garlicky tomato sauce and were fabulous. But for me the absolute star was the marinated octopus with potatoes. The octopus was pure white and purple and so tender it just dissolved in my mouth, the potatoes were tiny new ones which had been boiled and quartered and then the octopus and the potatoes were dressed with lemon juice, olive oil and thyme. How such simple ingredients could produce such amazing texture and flavour effects is totally beyond me. I missed pudding which was halva with lemon marmalade because everything was running late and my soldier background makes me unable to turn up late for anything. So I reported back to the lecture theatre and sat there alone and palely loitering for half an hour waiting for the rest of them to turn up.
The afternoon session began (late) with a paper by Mark McWilliams who is a professor at the United States Naval Academy specialising in food and literature. I think that the American Navy is in safe hands. His paper was titled "The Unavoidable Ham Biscuit" and all about ham rolls basically. He had brought with him what is called American Country Ham - a sort of proscuitto - and we will not enquire too closely into how it got through Customs. He gave a long and extremely interesting talk about why keeping the trotters on is good (it keeps the fibres of the meat long and lean) when curing and how a ham can lose over 30% of its initial weight whilst being air dried. American domestic cured ham like this is much cheaper than that we can get here - about a third of the price. Why? He also talked about beaten biscuits which apparently were made by slaves in the South before emancipation and the dough was bashed with a rolling pin to produce the right sort of texture. That is one of my projects to research (about the fiftieth) as a result of attending The Symposium.
The second paper was presented by Kimberly Sorenson and the subject was "Prints Charming:19thC New York Cake Boards and New Year's Cake" which was a bit weird. She was a young girl, very pretty and frighteningly earnest. I felt at the end of the lecture what she had shown was Scottish Shortbread moulds which would be used to make shortbread to be taken as a gift and presented on New Year's Day when first footing but she totally dismissed that suggestion. Gave no credence at all to the thought that perhaps the same idea could have come from different sources (she was determined that it was a Dutch American custom and had done all her research to prove that) so I felt a bit intimidated by her insistence that I knew nothing and she knew everything.
The final paper of the afternoon was delivered by Marietta Rusinek, a Polish student of the history of food and her theme was "Cake as the Centrepiece of Celebrations: on the intrinsic continuity between cake and celebrating. She demonstated how important cake is, from birth to grave. I really enjoyed her slides but found her English a bit difficult to follow. Her English is a lot better than my Polis (which is nil) so I was grateful that she was attempting to explain things.
We all went and had a cup of tea then and returned for the summing up, another fast moving video show with loud music and the closing session to decide the theme for 2014. Which will be markets.
My conclusions? A fabulous, fantastic, wonderful, awesome time. What have I learned? That just because people are famous and expert they can still be very nice. And that academia uses an awful lot of colons and semi colons. And drinks a lot.
I went home with my head spinning, exhausted, full of food and really thrilled that I had finally managed to do it.
I do hope they let me go again.
The afternoon session began (late) with a paper by Mark McWilliams who is a professor at the United States Naval Academy specialising in food and literature. I think that the American Navy is in safe hands. His paper was titled "The Unavoidable Ham Biscuit" and all about ham rolls basically. He had brought with him what is called American Country Ham - a sort of proscuitto - and we will not enquire too closely into how it got through Customs. He gave a long and extremely interesting talk about why keeping the trotters on is good (it keeps the fibres of the meat long and lean) when curing and how a ham can lose over 30% of its initial weight whilst being air dried. American domestic cured ham like this is much cheaper than that we can get here - about a third of the price. Why? He also talked about beaten biscuits which apparently were made by slaves in the South before emancipation and the dough was bashed with a rolling pin to produce the right sort of texture. That is one of my projects to research (about the fiftieth) as a result of attending The Symposium.
The second paper was presented by Kimberly Sorenson and the subject was "Prints Charming:19thC New York Cake Boards and New Year's Cake" which was a bit weird. She was a young girl, very pretty and frighteningly earnest. I felt at the end of the lecture what she had shown was Scottish Shortbread moulds which would be used to make shortbread to be taken as a gift and presented on New Year's Day when first footing but she totally dismissed that suggestion. Gave no credence at all to the thought that perhaps the same idea could have come from different sources (she was determined that it was a Dutch American custom and had done all her research to prove that) so I felt a bit intimidated by her insistence that I knew nothing and she knew everything.
The final paper of the afternoon was delivered by Marietta Rusinek, a Polish student of the history of food and her theme was "Cake as the Centrepiece of Celebrations: on the intrinsic continuity between cake and celebrating. She demonstated how important cake is, from birth to grave. I really enjoyed her slides but found her English a bit difficult to follow. Her English is a lot better than my Polis (which is nil) so I was grateful that she was attempting to explain things.
We all went and had a cup of tea then and returned for the summing up, another fast moving video show with loud music and the closing session to decide the theme for 2014. Which will be markets.
My conclusions? A fabulous, fantastic, wonderful, awesome time. What have I learned? That just because people are famous and expert they can still be very nice. And that academia uses an awful lot of colons and semi colons. And drinks a lot.
I went home with my head spinning, exhausted, full of food and really thrilled that I had finally managed to do it.
I do hope they let me go again.
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