Beer and Pie

With Sam and Jem spending the weekend with us, another good reason to head out and see this most beautiful countryside.

The weekend started like many others.
“What do you want to do today Kathy?”
“I don’t know, what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know, what do you think?”
“Not sure, what ever you want”.

So out came the map and after a few random twirls of the finger it landed on Beaminster. The real benefit of living here is that every weekend is an adventure and every weekend you have the chance to wonder off and explore little villages, hidden churches and narrow country lanes.

Lying in the folding hills of West Dorset, Beaminster is a cute little market town with some lovely picturesque 17th century cottages. The village butcher was selling local lamb, rare pork breeds and fresh game and the greengrocer had a great range of fresh organic fruit and veg. Wanting to add to the local economy we forced ourselves to consume large quantities of Dorset Apple Cake, clotted cream, scones, and numerous other sweets to keep our sugar levels high for the rest of the week. Somehow, in the hour we were there, Sam also managed to replace her wardrobe from one of the clothes shops. I noticed the shop owner put up a sign the minute she left saying “gone on holidays” so I gather they got their income for the rest of the year.

From there we headed to Montacute House, one of the finest Elizabethan country houses in the United Kingdom. The three floored mansion was built in 1598. I read that during wet weather, the Phelips children would lead their ponies up the three flights of stairs to ride in the long gallery that spans the entire top floor of the house. Today, it is used by the National Portrait Gallery where there is a large collection of paintings of kings, queens and nobleman of the past.

What better way to finish off the day than a visit to the ‘Smugglers Inn’ for a classic meal of pork sausages and mash, and Steak Pie in Tanglefoot beer gravy, washed down with more Tanglefoot.

Sunday and we woke to the patter of unfamiliar rain. With the April rains finally decided to arrive late, it was agreed that there would be no adventure today.

O Well, there is always next weekend……

Bath anybody?

Another weekend and another chance to get out and see the country. This time I jumped on the train and headed to Bath. While the City itself is lovely, one of its main attractions are the Roman Baths. The Bath springs are the only hot springs found in the UK. Water rises here at the rate of over a million litres a day within the courtyard of the Temple of Sulis Minerva and water from it feeds the Roman baths which were built in 43 AD (along bloody time ago!)


Since the roman times the baths have undergone lots of changes as people continued to use them for healing and relaxation but it is amazing to think that you are walking on the original paving slabs around the Baths. Exhibits and Roman artifacts include a famous stone relief of the Gorgon's Head, mosaics, stone coffins, and a gilded head from a statue of Sulis Minerva.


Amazingly it is not just 1 pool but a series of rooms each with its own purpose. Roman bathing was based around the practice of moving through a series of heated rooms, saunas, and baths culminating in a cold plunge at the end.

So here endeth another history lesson.