Met up with Christopher and Matthew in Colliers Wood and went out for the evening to a restaurant in Clapham called Gastro, which is a lovely french restaurant, with french-speaking staff and organic food on the menu. We were served by a dashing Australian waiter, who spoke French, and who was very friendly and physical. The oysters were fantastic, as were the foie gras, steak and scallops. Afterwards we went for cocktails at Kazbar in Clapham. It was a lovely evening so we stood outside to have our drinks. Christopher and I had to make a DIY gin martini from gin, vermouth and ice cubes. It turned out ok! This also saved the frantically overworked barmen a few seconds.
In the morning Christopher made a lovely breakfast and we spent a couple of hours in their fabulous garden admiring their Koi Carp (which is over a foot long now). I love this photo, with the carp surrounded by little black tadpoles (which it had been eating). Matthew spent a good 20 minutes trying to catch four little brown fish from their pond for us to take back to Cambridge. We brought them all the way back and they are now deep down somewhere in our water feature (which must be slumming it compared with the massive pond they came from.)
We picked up a lovely Civil Partnership present from Jan, Matthew and Christopher’s neighbour. She gave us a lovely card (of a red mountain scene, which looked Scottish) and two smart welded steel planters for the garden along with a pack of bulbs. We didn’t get to meet Jan on this trip—she’s away in Cornwall at the moment.
After we left Colliers Wood we tried to get to Adonis Art Gallery to look for Michael’s 40th birthday present from me (still not bought). On the bus on the way to Wimbledon Michael found out from the web site that the gallery was closed on a Sunday, so we diverted back to a direct route home.
On the spur of the moment we had lunch at the beer festival: it was quiet today, but the weather wasn’t great.
We had some cheese, bread and pork pie/scotch egg type stuff and a couple of 1/2 pints of beer.
Michael tried:
- A Rauch Bier from Germany, which was very smokey (beechwood-smoke flavoured
- A Sour Cherry Lambic Beer, which we had intended to share but it was just too sour for me.
Graham tried:
- Great Oakley (Great Oakley, Northants) Wot’s Occurring
- Elgood’s (Wisbech, Cambridgeshire) Golden Newt
Tonight was the last night at the Beer Festival, organised by Matt Stiles from ICT at work. Matt and Rob were at the BF when it opened at 5, but ended up in a pub to avoid the queue. It was pretty busy, and the weather was great after a day of dull rain. (Invitation below, designed by Matt Stiles.)
I got there about 7 and tried some lovely beers:
- Ufford Ales (White Hart Pub, Ufford, Cambridgeshire) Red Clover
- Iceni (Ickburough, Norfolk) Maris Lane Bitter (I had this on Monday night and it is so nice that I’m surprised that it lasted the 5 days!)
Matt and Rob also bought me a couple of pints, but couldn’t remember what they had bought. Whatever they were, I enjoyed them. Tim arrived a bit later and it was good to catch up with him.
A lovely evening and so we popped along to the Beer Festival for beer and dinner. Started of with Hog Roast rolls with apple sauce, then Michael had a curry plate and I had fish and chips (bit of a greedy night).
Met up with Susan, Colin, Helen, Ian, Claire, Graeme, Andrew and Dave, which was lovely.
Michael tried:
- Whitewater (Newry, Co. Down) Mayflower
- Oulton (Oulton Board, East Anglia) Sunrise
- Organic (Helston, Cornwall) Hazlenphron Gold
Graham tried:
- Breconshire (Brecon) Red Dragon
- Old Stables (Sir William Peel,Sandy, Bedfordshire) Palomino Pale Ale
- Rockingham (Blatherwycke, Northants) Golden Dragon
The festival site on Jesus Green was really busy when we left at 9.15. It was great to see it packed. I had intended to volunteer behind the bar tonight but I left work too late really!
Popped around to Jesus Green for a second night at the Beer Festival. It was pretty cold tonight 10°C, but warm in the tent from the number of bodies there.
Michael tried:
- Fine Ale Club (Oulton Brewery) Against the Grain. Brewed with no wheat and ‘naturally cloudy’
- Malvern Hills (Great Malvern, Worc) Priessnitz Pizen. Lager style.
Graham tried:
- Old Chimneys (Diss, Norfolk) Golden Pheasant. Golden and hoppy, from one of my favourite breweries (for their Winter Warmer).
- Loddon (Dunsden, Berks) Flight of Fancy. Beer made with 40% wheat malt, pale malt and gold hops. Really lovely, and my top beer for the night
Tonight was the first night of the 33rd Cambridge Beer Festival. We went along about 6 pm and it was pretty muddy and busy already. We had a nice meal of ham, bread and cheese, with a chilli-pickled egg, pork pie and a scotch egg on the side. We happened to sit near a stand giving away free Woodeforde’s beer, so we tried some of this for free!
Michael tried:
- Hereward, St Ethelreda’s Golden Bitter (Ely)
- Beartown Wheat Beer (Congleton, Cheshire)
- Woodeforde’s Wherry (Norfolk)
- Woodeforde’s Nelson’s Revenge (Norfolk)
- 1648 Bee Head (Kings Head, East Hoathly, East Sussex)
Graham tried
- Royal Ginger—ginger flavoured, which was good fun.
- Woodeforde’s Wherry (Norfolk)
- Iceni, Maris Lane Bitter (Ickburugh, Norfolk) Probably the best beer I tried this evening.
- Moling Red (Southern Ireland) — I like red beers, but this was awful, I took it back and Toby (the barman) agreed and I got a replacement second beer!
- Mayflower, Dandelion & Burdock (Royal Oak, Wigan) with Burdock syrup in it, tasted strongly of the favouring—quite medicinal.
The rain didn’t seem to dampen spirits and the first night of the festival was in full swing when we left around 8.45. Full beer list.
