And the centrepiece of the National Trust’s focus at this historic site, their cafe which was full of decadently priced things to appeal to decadent people. Namely Richard in our case. There was a fine selection of scones and a ridiculously priced sausage roll at £6.75.
To calm my nerves at the high pricing, Richard treated me to a plum & ginger cider.
Richard quickly transferring some money to his current account to fund his purchases. He was delighted by his scone I’m pleased to say, he went for the monthly special of the cheese and marmite one.
Anyway, as cafes go it was certainly quite extensive as well as being the busiest part of the site. It did seem to be the case that some members had driven out to the venue just so that they could visit the cafe, which I suppose is why there’s such a focus on it…..
This is the manor house at Lyveden, a site which is perhaps best known for the incomplete Lyveden New Bield. The National Trust have owned the latter for over a century, but in 2013, they also acquired this manor house. Not much is known about the manor house that Sir Thomas Tresham lived in, this one dates to after 1615 and after his death.
In my radical view, that no-one will care about as I complain about many things, I think that the National Trust has rather botched this. They’ve acquired, at significant expense, this entire property and they’ve done pretty much nothing of note to it that explains the history of the site.
They’ve got one room painted in bright colours which is a very potted history of the estate, but it seems that they’ve primarily taken the opportunity to build themselves a substantial cafe, numerous offices for their own usage and some empty rooms. There is so much potential for more imagery, deeper histories, maps and just information about the site.
I got free access as I’m a National Trust member, but this site costs around £13 per person to get in and that gives access to the exterior only of the unfinished building, along with entry into this former manor house. If a family came here because a child was interested to see the former manor house, I’d suspect they might feel conned by the cost of entry. It’s £33 for a family and although I know the National Trust price entry highly to get people to join, this feels like they’ve taking advantage at this point.
“Very little to see for the money, only 3 rooms open in the manor house, one used to sell books, one for the cafe and the other painted a garish magenta colour had a few info boards on”
I don’t disagree with this review….
What appears to have actually happened is that the National Trust has acquired this property to operate as a cafe. Lovely as that is, it would be nice if they gave some sort of priority to the telling of history and explaining what is happening at the site.
Absolutely interesting, but does this have to be shoved at the bottom of the stairs?
Anyway, in fairness, I’m not entirely grumpy and I liked this exhibit. Although I wasn’t overwhelmed with things to look at in the house, other than the fine selection of scones.
They had some books for sale in a room that I felt was really being used as an overflow area for the cafe.
No expense has been spared with the television that they’ve put in the fireplace.
Anyway, the next post is about the cafe, as I think that’s what the National Trust would like visitors to focus on.
My friend Richard loves scones and I love historic properties, so that meant we decided to go to a National Trust property for the day in mid-January. We opted for Lyveden New Bield, which is located near to Oundle, so roughly it’s somewhere inbetween Corby and Peterborough.
Lyveden New Bield was conceived in the late sixteenth century by Sir Thomas Tresham, a wealthy Northamptonshire landowner and devout Catholic. Tresham designed the building during a period of intense religious persecution under Queen Elizabeth I, intending for it to serve as a secret oratory and a powerful symbolic expression of his faith. Tresham’s vision was partly for a nice summer house when not as his main manor house just down the road, but it was also for a physical manifestation of his religious devotion at a time when taking part in Catholic services was a criminal act punishable by imprisonment or even death.
Full credit to the builders of this structure, it’s still in really quite decent condition centuries on, despite never having had a roof. Unfortunately, there’s no public access to the interior now, the National Trust have decided that it’s too risky.
The planned main entrance to the house. Construction on the New Bield began around 1595, but the project was never brought to completion as the work came to an abrupt halt following Sir Thomas Tresham’s death in September 1605.
Just months after Thomas’s death, his son and heir, Francis Tresham, became embroiled in the Gunpowder Plot, the failed Catholic conspiracy to blow up King James I and the Houses of Parliament. Francis died in the Tower of London on 23 December 1605, just before he could be executed, and the family’s estates were subsequently heavily fined or confiscated. Deprived of the funds and the leadership necessary to finish the intricate stonework and roofing, the house was left as an empty shell, preserved exactly as the builders had left it over four hundred years ago.
The site remained a ruin for centuries, eventually passing into the care of the National Trust in 1922. The survival is something of some note as it would have been easy for the building to be demolished at any time, or for it to be repurposed into a cattle shed or something.
I had to take this photo through the hole in the locked gate, but I did want to go and explore inside…… It’s not clear if the National Trust will ever allow entry again, they say that the closure is temporary but they don’t seem to be rushing to resolve the problems of what they claim is falling masonry.
Back to mid-January, when Richard and I decided that we needed a little adventure and we opted for Burton upon Trent and the Ibis Styles there.
The corridor arrangement is clever, as if someone stains it then it’s not really evident. I’m fairly confident that this was the actual reason for this design as I can’t see anyone picking this by choice.
Richard was very excited that the room he had booked came with a kitchenette. I was pleased that mine did too, but solely as I didn’t want him having a better room than me (I’m not petty). As an aside, I personally don’t like these kitchens in rooms, they’re a nightmare to clean properly for the staff and require substantial maintenance for something that many guests aren’t going to want. Keeping a microwave and every piece of cutlery and crockery clean isn’t an easy thing to do, I can’t really see why they want to burden themselves with this.
Someone rather unkindly used AI to put a bottle of wine in the fridge and pretended that it was a welcome gift. Actually, on that point, there was no welcome gift, but I won’t labour that matter. Anyway, Richard was stomping about the place as he didn’t get a gift of wine but luckily I was able to reassure him before the manager was called. It would be helpful for Richard’s stress levels if people didn’t do this, but at least I calmed the matter down before there was a diplomatic incident. It was a good job that I was there to be honest.
There was a modern looking bar area, all rather comfortable.
It’s quite a clever mix of retro and modern, although it hadn’t exactly inspired hundreds of people to come in.
I would have preferred a wider range of beers, but in fairness, they have Pedigree which is an important beer locally so at least they’ve made an effort to have a local option.
As for the hotel in general, it was all clean, welcoming and well maintained. Richard didn’t end up having an argument with the manager and there were no noise issues either internally or externally. It’s a relatively new hotel and it faces competition from an IHG hotel literally next door, but it all seemed well managed.
This is the final bar billiards table in the Norwich league that I haven’t played on, with the exception of the table out in South Walsham. It’s the table at the Rose and since Zak was planning to practice and Nick had a game from the singles competition at the pub, this felt the ideal time to try it.
Before Nick’s match, we had time for one game, and it transpired that neither of us had ever played at the table. He won, but not by many.
I did have a couple of victories in the evening and here’s Nick after beating his opponent 3-0. He now gets to play Oscar, who annoyingly beat me a few days ago…. Sub-optimal, I could have beaten Nick and I might have mentioned that to him 🙂
This was the second singles tournament game I’ve refereed in a week, I’m hoping that some of the talent will come to me via some form of osmosis.
Anyway, back to the table, it’s a robust arrangement and it’s quite fast off the back cushion. The pockets aren’t very forgiving, it requires some accuracy to get them in. It feels like a relatively low scoring table, I think it’s hard to build big breaks, but it’s nicely looked after. It’s the only table that’s £1 a play in the league, although I suspect the others will catch up at some point.
And, the Rose is a really lovely pub, a suitable range of cask and keg beers, friendly staff and it was also good to see my friend Emma over there, now back brewing Boudicca again.
This is a court case from 21 July 1886, when John Gayford, a 19-year old labourer, was tried in the Guildhall in Norwich with the judge being Baron Pollock.
The crime was sexually assaulting a six year old girl for which he was found guilty and sentenced to six months hard labour for his offences. This seems unduly lenient to me from today’s standards, but one substantial change is that they were merrily naming the poor girl who had been assaulted. To give some context, and although it was a repeat offender, the court the same week gave a criminal twelve months hard labour for stealing 14lbs of plums.
The victim was Nellie Baldwin and in an earlier hearing it was decided that although the only witness to the crime was a five year old boy, the courts accepted that they would take his evidence into account. Nellie, aged six, her five year old friend and a baby in a pram all went out together for the day. When the group returned home, Nellie explained what had happened and a police doctor was called. Some of the case relied upon it must have happened as she was physically hurt and how else would a little girl be able to describe what had happened.
John Gayford went on to become a self-employed gardener, he married Rosanna and they had two children, Rosa and Florence. Someone guilty of his crime today would have likely left the area after they were released, but at the 1921 census he was living at 20 Northumberland Street in Norwich, just a short walk from where the crime took place. He lived there until his death in 1942 and I imagine that just about everyone not directly impacted by the crime had forgotten about it, in those days when searching for information was somewhat harder.
Richard and I were walking down the road whilst he was busy gossiping on the phone and I saw this Indian and Nepali restaurant, quickly taking the positive action that we should go in it. I might have also got myself seated inside before he even got off the phone, but he was very pleased with my decision.
Incidentally, I wasn’t sure whether it was Nepalese or Nepali, but it seems that the latter is now preferred but the restaurant uses the former.
The restaurant has only opened relatively recently and it’s got some very positive reviews. And here’s the menu, which looked interesting with numerous tempting options.
I opted for the Gurkha beer, which was actually about as good as a lager like this was going to be.
The poppadoms were brought over two short, but that was soon rectified, with the dips and chutneys being suitably tasty but they were quite hard to get out of the very flat plate they’d used.
And here’s my little arrangement of Bhuteko Kukhra, pilau rice and a peshwari naan. The curry was Nepalese fried chicken in a sauce with aromatic ginger, garlic and a robust masala sauce, with a chunk of carrot to act as a decoration. The curry had a depth of flavour, a certain amount of spice and the chicken was tender. The naan and rice both added positively to the main dish, all being filling and Richard was happy with the butter paneer that he had ordered.
The service was always polite and attentive, with a welcoming atmosphere and personable staff members. I liked that they placed us at a table for four rather than fitting us on a table for two, which ensured that we had plenty of space. It’s clearly a popular venue as well, they were getting quite full by the time we left and they had a steady stream of delivery and collection orders.
Another another article from 200 years ago this week in the Norwich Mercury from 1826.
“Sir, In no part of the kingdom is careless driving carried on to so great an extent as in the neighbourhood of this city—and permit me (through the medium of your widely circulating paper) to caution the public against such dangerous practices, as I am determined, as far as lies in my power, to put a stop to them. As a single proof of the extent to which careless driving is carried to, I can assure you, Mr. Editor, that in the short distance of one mile and a half, in the parish of Wymondham, I saw no less than five men riding in their waggons, out of which number four were at full trot. I am determined to lay informations against every person I find offending.
Your most obedient Servant, W. WILSON.
Bank Place, Norwich.”
Some things never change, whether men have access to carts or cars, some will speed…..
After the vibrant excitement of the JD Wetherspoon pub in the town, Richard and I meandered to a rather calmer micropub. This one also has the advantage of being in the Good Beer Guide, so that’s another one ticked off.
The bar set-up, with the beer list being displayed on the screen and also on Untappd. There was a friendly and immediate welcome, with the staff member trying to find a beer that Richard would like.
The beer fridge had more delights.
The Patrons Project from Northern Monk, a very hoppy, grape flavoured, hazy delight. Quite a punchy little arrangement.
The Raspberry Ripple from Fierce Beer, this has nice chocolate flavours, it was a bit boozy and was like a decadent chocolate liqueur.
The Le Bleu from Fierce & Noble, a quite tart beer with lots of blueberry and lingering smooth flavours.
The surroundings were clean, comfortable and welcoming. It all had an on-trend feel, but with a traditional air to it as well.
I always like a bit of Titanic.
Richard decided we had to stand right outside the shop before calling an Uber rather than sit on the other side of the window. We always have to wait a while as his Uber score is so low there aren’t many drivers that will pick him up. But I didn’t say anything.
Anyway, this was a delightful pub, a friendly welcome, decent choice of cask and keg, along with some bottles to add to the mix. The pricing was reasonable, the surroundings were comfortable and it very much deserves to be in the Good Beer Guide in my humble view.
A few years ago, my friend Nathan and I tried to get into this JD Wetherspoon but it was too full, so we visited most of the other pubs in the town instead. Last month, Richard and I were in the town and we decided to make a quick visit.
Using the pub’s own history to explain the name:
“This pub is named after the first Lord Burton, Michael Arthur Bass, a member of the famous brewing family whose company has its headquarters in Burton.”
I think it would be a fair comment to say that the venue was struggling just a little to maintain order and the door staff were certainly challenged. It probably wouldn’t be much of a stretch to suggest that the door staff couldn’t really take control, there was smoking inside and drug use, which isn’t really where JD Wetherspoon would probably want to be. And, at the same time, on a Saturday night, the delivery turns up.
But, I like a pub with a bit of vibrancy, it all adds to the excitement and I don’t think any customers were ever in danger in the sense of a pub that is unsafe, there were just a few licensing issues for the venue to deal with.
Most of the rear of the pub’s carpet looked like this, with menus, glasses, napkins and food lying on the floor. The team members didn’t get chance to clear it during our visit.
This was the cleanest piece of carpet that I could find for my obligatory carpet photo.
We were initially seated at the rear, but it was quite loud (and as someone who has run a venue that was effectively a nightclub, I set the bar at a reasonable level here) so we decided to move when our drinks arrived.
After fifteen minutes our drinks hadn’t arrived, so I went to recover them from the bar. The team members here were doing a really decent job, they were friendly, working hard and I think just short-staffed. I didn’t query the wait, but a helpful team member said they had a lot of away fans in after football.
The beer is the Auld Acquaintance from Loch Lomond Brewery, hoppy, light and inoffensive.
This is the home of brewing after all…. (the town, not the pub).
The front of the pub was quieter and after a while we got a seat. We had decided that there was a micro-pub nearby that needed our attention, but it was much calmer down this end. Although they didn’t have any tables where everyone was downing wine from the bottle at this end of the pub, so I was tempted to go back.
Anyway, back to reviews as I like reading them, with this venue towards the lower end of the scale for the chain.
“Absolutely awful 😖 asked 4 times to get the table cleaned!!!! When the food arrived I asked again for it to be cleaned before they put the food down….he wiped half of it and slammed the plates down…won’t be going back”
There are tens of reviews like this, but I like a bit of staff attitude to add to the mix.
“Awful experience, had a great time until Nicola left us with a very bitter taste in our mouths (and not just from the mushy peas). Two groups of our friends sat on separate tables and ordered each other food. When the waiter came out she asked us to “stop prating about” and that we were “messing up their orders” however we all ate the food and caused no trouble. We sent it to celebrate our lovely friends birthday to treat him and were told that they will take both tables away from us if we carry on, how dare we treat our friends? This is awful customer service and completely unacceptable from Nicola. She then took the cutlery away from us when we had payed for the food, ordered it to a table when we couldn’t even eat it. We had to go and ask at the bar for some. I think this is appalling customer service and shall be going to the crossing or the prince of brewers from now on.”
Let me guess, they were sending each other milk and peas….. No excuse to treat team members like this by ordering food to each other’s tables and then confusion when the team members are annoyed.
“Because we put our hands up (next to be served) the young girl clearly didn’t like it and made us walk to her.”
Seems reasonable to me.
The pub is on the chain’s cheapest price band and I remember from the choice of venues in the town that they must have a lot of competition which would explain that. I suspect it would have been a rather more relaxed visit if we had popped in earlier, but I do like a bit of drama. We were pleased that we had gone to an Indian to eat though before, it was all much busier than I had expected.
