Thursday 15 July and a bit of a mooch...

Years ago, before the children came along, Keith and I would regularly go on a "mooch". We'd pick a local area on the map and drive around visiting the village pubs. It was a very enjoyable way of spending a summer evening (easier to spot pubs when it's light!) and we found some great pubs, and equally, some not so good pubs! When the children came along it was no longer so easy to take off for the evening so the mooches stopped and we seemed to get out of the habit, just visiting a few tried and tested ones on our precious evenings out. In our time we must have visted hundreds of pubs and once I amazed my mum, when we got lost coming off the A1, by navigating my way home by recognising the pubs we'd visited!

We're lucky that we're fairly central and have been to neighbouring counties on our search for the perfect pub...Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Buckinghamshire have all come within the confines of the mooch. Yesterday we drove over to the Leicestershire/Rutland borders as we hadn't been there for a while and pubs can (and do) change Landlords very frequently.

It was a bit of a wild and woolly day with scudding clouds and the occasional squally shower. We set off early, driving through Market Harborough and picking up an amazingly windey, up-and-downy road to Melton Mowbray. There were several signs warning motorcyclists of the dangers and I can understand why - it must be like being on a rollercoaster if you go very fast!

We became lost almost as soon as we turned off the B6047 as the signs were either hidden behind bushes or missing altogether. At one point we ended up on a gated road and poor Keith had to go and open the gate, which on first glance seemed to be leading into a farmyard! It was very hilly - gorgeous soft rolling hills and pastures with sheep and cows with lovely little villages nestled in between.

Our first stop was a village called Tilton on the Hill and The Rose and Crown pub. It looked open to me, but Keith wasn't so sure as it was just before 11.30am. The door was open and Keith walked in, almost colliding with a man coming out. He asked if they were open and received a bit of a grumpy reply that they weren't really but what did we want?

I almost walked straight back out again, but the woman hoovering the carpet was a lot friendlier and seemed happy to pull Keith a pint. The man looked and sounded very much like Michael Gambon who plays Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films and happily made himself scarce as we enjoyed a drink at the bar.

It was a pleasant enough pub but I'd seen a sign for the village of Braunston and suggested we go there next as I was sure I'd been to a lovely pub there when I was on a narrow boat years ago. It was a lovely drive of about 6 miles through more beautiful countryside and upon arriving in the village we saw a sign for a sixteenth century pub which I perked up at, being a fan of old buildings with, hopefully, beams and log fires!

The Blue Ball is lovely - a thatched pub with the beams I was after and a lingering smell of woodsmoke. All the tables were scrubbed oak and it was a bit on the posh side, with flowery descriptions of food and prices to match. The two female staff were very friendly but Keith's pint of Pedigree looked horrible and flat. He was a bit disappointed in this as the pub advertised itself as selling real ales. My orange juice was fine though!

We spent a very pleasant half hour chatting but there was only one other couple in so it was very quiet. I wouldn't mind going back, perhaps in the evening, as it really was my sort of pub and the menu did look interesting.

http://www.theblueballbraunston.co.uk/find.html

I was sure that there was another pub in the village so off we went again and found The Old Plough. However, I don't think it was the one I visited way back when I was a teenager so I must be confused somewhere...perhaps there are two Braunstons!

At The Old Plough we had a very filling lunch of ciabatta rolls (bacon, brie and cranberry sauce and sausage and onion) accompanied by salad, tortilla crisps and coleslaw. The pub has a huge conservatory on the back for dining and was very friendly and welcoming.

Looking at the time whizzing by, we drove home via Oakham and Uppingham (both ver posh) and encountered a huge rainstorm as we neared Kettering. It rained so hard we could barely see out of the windscreen and I couldn't help thinking about Mikey and his song and dance afternoon to celebrate the school's centenary!