A day in Nottingham

We had arranged to see Mike and Abbie in Nottingham today, and go out for lunch. After a bit of wrangling, this had been arranged at a pub in Beeston, where they live. We left home at 11:30am and made good time to their house, which is situated in a quiet residential area of the city. It felt strange to see them in Nottingham when he had got so used to travelling down to Southampton!

Both of their beautiful cats were in the house, so we had a lovely cuddle. Huge was a monster compared to our two!

We drove to Beeston, a suburb of Nottingham, and finally managed to park the car a short distance away from the pub that Mike and Abbie had chosen. It was already pleasantly busy, and people were making the most of the fine weather and sitting outside. I chose half a pint of Biscoff Stout, which was delicious!

We had a good chat and then returned to the car to park closer to the pub we had chosen for lunch, The Commercial. This was a large, busy pub with a beer garden where people were enjoying drinks and food. This time, I had a half pint of Plum Porter, which was good, but I did prefer the first stout I had! 

We'd already checked the menu online before arriving, and placed our orders with the barman after a great deal of dithering on Michael's part. He couldn't decide between the fish and chips and a burger! In the end, he chose a burger along with Sophie, while Keith, Abbie and I opted for the fish and chips. We shared a huge platter of nachos, chicken goujons, beef chilli and halloumi fries first, which filled me up! 

For once, Keith was delighted with the crispy batter on his fish, and he was glad he'd chosen it! Hooray! The food was very good, and there was a lot of it! None of us had any room for puds, Keith paid the bill, and we walked back to the car. Mike and Abbie wanted us to go to a shop called Essen, which specialised in wine and cheese, so we left Keith in the car and walked to Beeston High Street.

The High Street was busy and bustling with Saturday shoppers, and Sophie spotted a couple of charity shops! We went into Essen, and I had a good look at the eclectic mix of wines, all of which I had never seen before. On each bottle was a chalked figure, which I thought was the location of the bottle elsewhere in the shop. But, no, this was the price! One bottle of wine from Jura was £125! I was astounded! These are the sort of prices you'd pay at a wine merchant such as Berry Bros & Rudd in London. I didn't see one bottle under £14, and we certainly weren't interested in buying any after the wines we had brought back from France.

We made a hasty retreat, and Sophie eyed up the charity shops, unable to resist going into a couple to hunt for bargains. Mike suggested we move the car to a nearby road, but Sophie said she was finished, even though I knew she wanted to look at a couple more!

Our last stop was at a pub called "Somewhere", which served quirky craft beers. We left the Sainsbury's car park and drove the short distance to another parking space, just around the corner from the pub. We were lucky to grab an empty table, and everyone ordered a beer, except me. I was still full from lunch and couldn't face another drink!

The pub was very quirky and had row upon row of both soft drinks and craft beers with colourful designs.

We sat and chatted, but the time was getting on, so we left and drove back to Abbie and Mike's house before saying goodbye and having one last cuddle with the cats.

We had a good journey back and decided to stop at The Red Lion at Thornby for one last drink before going home. I pulled off the M1 at junction 20, and we wound our way through beautiful countryside to the charming pub on the main road. There was a jovial atmosphere inside, and we took our seats by the window after ordering drinks. Keith and I used to come here a lot when the landlord had a huge Great Dane dog called Lulu.

We sat and chatted, and the pub emptied out. It appeared that a lot of locals use the pub, which was good news. We only had one drink and left to go home, driving through our stunning countryside. In the distance, we could see Hollowell Reservoir and all the tents for the Hollowell Steam Rally that was taking place.

Back home, it was time to relax and watch a little television before bed!