It was the annual beer and pie festival at the Elephant and Castle in Thurlaston last weekend, always a favourite event. The landlord served about a dozen real ales poured straight from the cask, together with a couple of ciders and a couple of perrys, and there is a choice of six different homemade pies to choose from. Not surprisingly it is always an excellent evening, and once the first few ales have been sampled it is very entertaining. We just sample half a pint at a time, but with beers of up to 6% and one Perry, favoured by Chantal at 7.5%, the atmosphere becomes very relaxed and jovial. Seven of us gathered this year, arriving early on Saturday evening just in time to get the last table – the villagers must have been queuing at the door before opening.
On some years we have walked the couple of miles or so across the fields to the pub, and on at least one memorable occasion we walked in the snow of a clear and cold frosty night with sharp stars overhead. Not this year though. I had “surveyed” the route earlier in the day with Tia, and confirmed that it was distinctly soggy in places, with an inch of liquid mud along one unavoidable track. Fortunately some of our friends live too far away to walk or cycle, and so we were offered a lift and both able to enjoy a drink or two…
Richard and Chris kindly invited us back for coffee, and it was nice to continue chatting around their wood burner. We are lucky to have so many local friends to share such events with.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
