It’s always a delight to spend the day with Roy and Jen, and on this occasion we decided to tour some pubs in West Norfolk. Jen, who promised to be on her best behaviour all day, offered to drive which was very helpful to Roy, who is always on his best behaviour, and myself, again also always impeccably behaved. I won’t comment whether she was on her best behaviour, as I’m not one for gossip, but I very much appreciated the excellent driving she provided.
The reason for the pub choice is that they’ve appeared in previous Woodforde’s pub trails and Roy and Jen are merrily ticking them off. I like these completionist type challenges so I was very engaged with the whole logic of their project. I did wonder whether or not the pubs would be ones which surprised and delighted me, but I’m delighted to say that they did. It was also a bonus to visit some Good Beer Guide pubs to tick off my own list, which is entirely unachievable in its scale.
It’s fair to say that there were some great publicans behind the pubs that we visited, it’s a very difficult time for pubs at the moment and country pubs in particular are finding this challenging. All of the pubs offered a friendly welcome and some were just exceptional, such as the beer choice in the White Hart at Ashill and the warmth from the staff and customers at the Chequers Inn in Thompson. It would also be wrong for me not to mention the landlord Barry from the White Horse in Longham, he’s clearly an institution in his own right and that was another highlight.
I’d note that Roy managed a pint in each venue, which shows just how tough he is. I went for half a pint in each venue, but I had snacks at just about every pub in order to compensate slightly. He’s very rufty tufty is that Roy.
The pubs we visited were:
Wretham, Dog & Partridge (permanently closed)
The Indian is in what was the Mill pub, it was very welcoming although excuse that I’ve written a bit at length about the food as I get excited visiting new Indian restaurants and feel the need to comment. We also visited the Artichoke in Norwich for a few post-event drinks, but I frequently write about that and will do so even more in the future.
Roy and Jen were once again great company and I’m looking forwards to the next little adventure.