A Saturday treat!

After our impromptu visit to Woburn last week, Keith had spotted two Greene King pubs, and as he loves their Abbot ale, he suggested we all go today and have a pub crawl around the pretty town. The weather was a little cloudy in the morning, but when we set off at 11am, the sun was peeping through the white fluffy clouds.

We called in to see George at Charity Recycling Milton Keynes first as we had a huge bagful of Pringles tubes (collected over many months, I have to say) and some unwanted cat food (one of his charities is a local cat rescue centre). Rather than take the M1 we went across country and then down the A5. After missing the exit we needed, I had to rely on Trish to get me back to his address and we were all surprised by the amount of traffic on the roads! 

After dropping our recycling off, we headed towards Woburn, via Wavendon and Woburn Sands. We parked easily in the car park and walked to the first pub, The Black Horse. We had a drink here, sitting in the pretty garden in the sunshine. Keith wasn't that inpressed by his beer, which was 5.2% but he was hoping for better things later in the day!

Sitting in the sun!

We were going to be eating at lunchtime today, so we looked at the menu to see what they had available and kept the pub in mind for later.

Our next pub was The Long Inn a bit further down the road and it was empty! Keith was not impressed with the beer selection but had to make do with the ales on offer! 

We sat in the garden and chatted about holidays next year… we wanted to go back to L’Escala again and drive down, staying for a couple of nights in Rocamadour. What bliss!

After one drink we left and walked to The Bell, which was a Greene King pub and where Keith was hoping for a good pint of Abbot. However, they didn’t have it available so we turned around and left!

We decided to try The Nook, which looked lovely but was empty! Why? We chose our drinks and sat inside on comfortable seats… in a little nook! Keith said his beer was the best of the ones he’d tried so far. It was a lovely little place and deserves to do well. The toilets were pristine!

We decided to return to The Black Horse for lunch and found a seat inside. I fancied something different, so I chose the noodle salad, bursting with vegetables and added crispy pork. We ordered courgettes in tempura batter, halloumi and buttermilk chicken to start to share between us. I also tried the Guinness 0% which was lovely and a little sweeter than the alcoholic version.

The meal was delicious and none of us had room for puds today. We paid the bill, a shade under £100, and waddled back to the car in the beautiful sunshine. Sophie wanted to see the deer before we left so we drove into the Woburn Abbey parkland and saw a herd of deer immediately! Two deer had enormous antlers covered in what looked like velvet. They were beautiful!

We drove home and relaxed by lying on the bed for a nap after our indulgences! Keith watched the football and Sophie and I tuned into Glastonbury before sitting in the garden with a drink for half an hour. The weather had turned a little cloudy and cool, so we didn't linger! Mooney came out with us and attacked the grass and a bamboo stick!