Bedfordshire Pubs

Two more animal pubs collected while travelling... The Black Horse in Ireland, and the Hare and Hounds from Old Warden.

How's your week going? Britain is steadily heading into Autumn. The days are getting shorter and there are pumpkins in the shops, a chill is in the air now that the last summer heatwave has been and gone.

I got my Life in Britain handbook yesterday, for studying towards sitting the Life in Britain test.

We're still planning our move into our new home next month, but the house buying process is going quite slowly!

Godshill

The village of Godshill was a bit of a surprise as we pootled through the Isle of Wight. We were meandering down the road and had to stop to admire the 'chocolate box pretty' thatched cottages. It's a bit of a tourist trap for this reason - most of the cottages are now souvenir shops and tearooms - but still has a lot of charm. We found lots of surprises here including a model village, Gypsy Ronald McDonald in drag, a hippy pigeon welcoming us to the House of Om, and some scooter enthusiasts enjoying a cup of tea.

We also found another animal pub, the Griffin; and I indulged in some Enid Blyton fantasy pretending to own one of the thatched cottages....

Goat Tavern, High Street Kensington

Have a wonderful weekend! We are off to the Isle of Wight tomorrow inspired by the adventures of this lovely couple, who seem to have the most charming camping style. So charming that to Dave's delight I've agreed to give camping another go (German campsites put me off while we were touring Europe in 2009). I'm looking forward to trying out our new paraffin lamp, crab pasties, coastal walks and visiting the Royal Osbourne. It's my last few days off before I start my new job next week.

Fields of Gold

We've been enjoying being back in England and taking some walks in the country to enjoy high summer. Last weekend Jon and Sarah joined us for a ramble around Turville. We saw lots of poppies and wheat fields, sloes in the hedgerows (they are little purple fruits that are too sour to use for anything much apart from sloe gin) and even a car that might pass for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang parked next to our car in the Bull and Butcher car park. We had a delicious pub dinner seated outside.





Perhaps Dave has come here before, but he denies any knowledge of carving this tree in 1990.

More Pubs and a (not so) Painful Experience

Here are two animal pubs from our earlier expedition to Woodstock. Today I went out to Westfield London to exchange some £s for travel money, while Dave did some more hard time out in the garden, getting it ready for the grand event getting ever closer.

I decided to be brave and got my eyebrows professionally threaded at the mall, finally being persuaded to give it a go after watching Sali Hughes. Superdrug, one of the big chains of pharmacies in Britain has started up some in-store beauty treatments at an everyday price. After watching another girl (victim?) having it done, I thought that the beautician did a great job and decided to have mine shaped myself.

And now I have.... the best shaped eyebrows I've ever had. I think that it has achieved a cleaner and neater result than plucking and definitely a more polished look than I've ever managed to DIY. Pain factor? Not painful as it was being done (though I have a fairly high pain threshold and I'm glad I didn't try an upper lip threading), however feels like a mild sunburn afterwards for a short time. I think it is a good investment of £10 as I'll be able to maintain the shape myself now with the trusty tweezers. Sorry, no 'before and after' shots as I went on a whim and I'm a bit shy!

The Squirrel, Booker

We're off on our 'Hag Do' (Hen and stAG do) in Wales tomorrow after work. Eeek!

Ominous Pubs

I think the names of the Bull and Butcher (Turville, Bucks), and the Stag and Huntsmen (Hambleden, Oxon) are a bit threatening! But the White Hart (Chalfont St Peter) is quite a common name. The Chalfont Phoenix is a bit clever as it was renamed after a renovation due to a fire; it used to be the Poachers. We also passed through a cute little village called Skirmett and found a pub called the Frog, which we though was very punny - we like the Muppet Show, but sadly didn't have an animal sign so it couldn't be collected as an animal pub.

More Adventures to Come

We've just returned from a quick tour around the UK, so we are still sorting out the pictures. Here's two animal pubs from the Lake District in the meantime. Dave has started work as a UK locum vet today. Job hunting for me!

Holiday Snaps

It's been a lovely holiday season, despite the cold weather! We've been keeping busy.
From top left, clockwise: Anthropologie's Christmas window, the Pig and Whistle pub (on the way to Dave's friend Emily's house), a cosy fire to curl up next to, and the Christmas lunch table.




Reading out the Christmas cracker jokes on Christmas Day.



Meeting up with Jamie at My Old Dutch and eating giant pancakes.



A bracing walk by the canal on New Year's Day - frozen bulrushes.



Another icy walk on Coombe Hill on Jan 2nd with Becky and Chas. We had a meal beforehand at the Royal Standard of England, the oldest pub in England and we all ate game. It was the first time I tried pheasant and partridge! Loved the atmosphere.

Ye Old White Horse

Stella in London

My friend from San Francisco is here in London with us at the moment. She and I are taking the Eurostar to Paris tomorrow, then after a few days it's off to Amsterdam before returning to town. It's been fun showing her around the city - today it was Oxford Street and Carnaby Street, where we went hunting for Mod stuff for her Mod-mad boy back home.



She loves trying out British food...



Some Mod stuff from The Face on Carnaby Street.



Yay! Some more animal pubs.

The Fox & Grapes

Dave says grapes might be toxic to foxes the way they are to dogs; maybe the name of the pub refers to the Aesop's fable? We found this pub when we were wandering towards Wimbledon Village. I guess it would be our local animal pub!

The Pig & Fiddle, Bath

Just to keep the animal pubs going...