It’s Dad’s birthday on Tuesday – he will be 86, and I don’t think that he minds people knowing that. Being mid-week, a family birthday celebration on the day is not possible, well not without empty seats anyway, and so we celebrated on Friday night.
As usual, Dad wanted to celebrate at The Elms pub/restaurant in Lutterworth, and so Dad and his friend Edwina, were joined by Chantal and me, Matthew who travelled up from Bedford, my sister Pauline and her family from Kettering, and Edwina’s son Martin. Unfortunately Simon and Kate were away for the weekend, and my sister Ros was unable to travel down from West Yorkshire.
Dad kindly treated us all to a meal, some choosing from the carvery, and others from the menu. We all ate well, and some managed pudding, including me – I opted for giant profiteroles, a bad move since I was presented with two chocolate covered cream filled profiteroles, each the size of a large apple. I couldn’t manage both, and my niece Megan had to help me out.
The Elms is quite unique, attracting a wide variety of clientele. It is really just a chain pub/restaurant, although being a Marston’s brewery establishment, the food and the beer are excellent. It is quite modern, built on the farmyard of people I knew as a child through church. On most of our visits I either see people that I know from my schooldays, or, as was the case on Friday night, people that I know from somewhere, although I can’t quite remember from where. No-doubt there will be an increasing number of people in the latter category as my mind continues to age. I have at least two friends whose fathers favour the place, and there are also a lot of young people who eat there – with such a range of ages the atmosphere is really nice.
After quite a long, enjoyable and relaxed meal we all went back to Dad’s for a cup of tea and slice of birthday cake, baked by Pauline.
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.
