Simple Pleasures

Because of the recent resurgence of Covid-19, my partner and I have made a collective decision not to travel outside of Gloucestershire if we can help it. Instead we spent Saturday, enjoying our local surroundings and visiting a few pubs. We decided to walk to the Jolly Brewmaster, an excellent back street pub in Cheltenham. On our way, we stopped at a park and sat in the warm autumn sunshine, and chatted for a while. We spent several minutes watching the antics of a squirrel who was busy collecting nuts, gathering food for the winter no doubt.

We then continued our walk to the Jolly Brew, as we call it. When we arrived it was closed, but would be open in a couple of hours, so we walked in the direction of Bath Road to do a little shopping. On our way there we discovered an area called the Norwood Triangle, which was once a tram route. The area was improved in 2010, with the help of lottery funding. We also noticed a house with a plaque on the wall, on closer inspection we discovered that the house was once a pub called The Railway Inn. It has been converted into an HMO by the look of it, the original etched windows have been retained, which is a nice feature. The funny thing is, I have lived in and around Cheltenham for nigh on 40 odd years, and have only just discovered the existence of this former pub!

The former Railway Inn

We continued our walk to Bath Road, and stopped at The Exmouth Arms for an Arkells 3B, which was in excellent condition. After a little mooching around some charity shops, we headed towards The Jolly Brew. It was empty when we arrived, but by the time we left it was pretty busy. We sat in the beer garden which has been adapted for socially distanced drinking. The pub has won quite a few Camra local pub of the year awards over the years, and it is easy to see why. They always have an interesting selection of ales and ciders, served by friendly and knowledgeable people. It is good to see a back street pub that is still thriving in these difficult times.

The Jolly Brewmaster

Out and about in Oxfordshire

Back in September, I travelled to Oxfordshire using the recent addition to Stagecoach bus service the 835. I originally wanted to go to Swindon, but at the last minute I noticed a bus to Oxford appear on the horizon. Service 835, used to be operated by Pullhams coaches, which I used a couple of times to travel to Witney. There has been a lot of chopping and changing of bus services in my locality, over the last few years. Normally I would buy an Explorer ticket that covers the whole of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and parts of Wiltshire. The Oxford service has a different system, so I bought a Day gold, I'm glad I did because a day return would have been quite restricting. I decided to take my “proper camera” which has had little use this year. 

The Day gold ticket enables the passenger to travel to many areas of Oxfordshire. The 835 travels to Oxford Via the A40, it passes the Burford roundabout and travels through Witney to get to Oxford. On my first journey using this service, I stayed on the bus until it reached Oxford, the only downside of this service, is that it is infrequent.

As the bus arrived in Oxford, I noticed a picturesque looking pub in dappled sunlight, so I gingerly crossed the road to photograph it. I googled some information about the pub, which I frequently do to pass the time whilst on long bus journeys, and walking around seldom visited places. The Eagle and Child has a distinguished history, apparently C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien used to visit. The pub is closed at the moment, but with such a unique history, I'm sure it won't be long before it reopens. 

The Eagle and Child, Oxford

Walking further into the centre of Oxford, it soon became apparent that they take social distancing and mask wearing quite seriously. I guess they need to, with so many buildings in close proximity to each other! After attempting to photograph a few pubs, I decided that the centre of Oxford, might not be the safest place for a photographic expedition, so I limited the amount of time I was there. Quite a few of the pubs in Oxford have tables and chairs in the street, some of the streets are closed off at the moment. One of the pubs I managed to photograph was The Plough at 38, it has recently re-opened, after being closed for 95 years. For many years, the building was occupied by Austin Reed, until they went into administration. It really is heart-warming, to have some positive news about the hospitality industry in the current climate.

The Plough at 38, Oxford

Another pub that I photographed was The Red Lion, a rather splendid curved building, with a traditional pub exterior, I really enjoy photographing this type of pub. I ventured as far as the internal entrance, to have a swift half, but I was a little deterred because of the rigmarole you had to go through, just to buy a drink, so I decided against it. On reflection, they were probably right to take all these precautions. I tried to take some more photos of the pub, but the sun did a disappearing act. Normally, I try to take photographs of pubs without people in the foreground, but the best photo I took, had a lady wearing a mask. As this is an important historical time we are living in, the photo represents an interesting record of the events of 2020

The Red Lion, Oxford

It was quite a few hours to wait for the bus back to Gloucestershire, so I caught the S1 bus service to Witney. On the journey out of Oxford, I noticed a large pub called The Seacourt Bridge, which is in Botley. I googled it and discovered that It was the last remaining pub in Botley. At this point I didn't get off the bus to photograph it. The bus continued to Eynsham, passing a roadside pub called The Talbot Inn, which looked picturesque with the sun upon it. But I stayed on the bus, until it reached Eynsham village. I immediately got off, and caught the bus on the opposite side of the road, heading back to Oxford.

The Talbot Inn, Eynsham

It was a short journey, because I got off at the Talbot Inn to photograph it. I also went inside to have a much needed drink. The Talbot is an Arkells 3 star hotel and pub, with picturesque views of the River Thames. I sat outside and gazed at the river for quite some time, it was quite relaxing. I then caught the bus back to Oxford, to photograph The Seacort Bridge. From the photos I have seen of the interior of the pub, it looks quite impressive with it's traditional bar and stained glass embellishments above it. I didn't go in, because it is not really my kind of pub – it is family orientated, so it would have been a little shall we say, noisy! The photographs I took of the pub, had every element of clutter imaginable – including an electricity pylon in the background! I did manage to cut out the bus stop in front of the pub though.

The Seacourt Bridge, Botley

After this amusing interlude, I caught the S1 to Witney, but got off at Eynsham village again, to have a look around. It is quite a pleasant place, but like Oxford they were taking social distancing quite seriously. I took a few photos of The Red Lion (which was closed at that point) and The Jolly Sportsman, which has a traditional exterior. Unfortately the photos I took were not that good, so I have omitted them from this post. I would have liked to have called in for a drink, but I wanted to make the most of the time I had left, and the light that was available.

The Red Lion, Eynsham

Time was getting on, but there was still quite a long wait for the 835, so I travelled back to Witney and caught the bus to Woodstock. This is the beauty of purchasing such a versatile bus ticket, you can cover quite a lot of ground in one day, and you can plan another journey, whilst you're travelling on the bus, driving through yet to be discovered areas. On the journey to Woodstock, I passed a few interesting looking pubs – The Masons Arms in North Leigh, and The White House in Bladon. I stayed on the bus, had a brief glimpse of Woodstock, and travelled back to Witney again. A while later, I caught the bus back to Gloucestershire, whilst planning a return trip to Oxfordshire.

 

One step beyond

Last week I did something I have never done before, I cycled into another County –Worcestershire to be precise . As I have mentioned before, during the lockdown I became very unfit (I was unfit anyway). So recently, I have been gradually increasing the length of my cycling journeys. There are obvious benefits to cycling instead of using buses all the time, the main benefit is it is very good exercise. In recent times bus travel, has become a bit of a chore because of the wearing of face masks, as I have said before, it is not healthy to wear them for long periods of time.

I wanted to photograph the Teddington Hands, which is close to a very busy roundabout. As I have cycled here before, it wasn't too difficult, so I photographed it, but decided to see how far I could cycle afterwards. I cycled to The Beckford Inn, dismounted and took some photos, I have never been in this pub before, I have seen interior photos and it looks really nice but I decided to carry on with my journey. I cycled towards Ashton-Under-Hill, where there is a pub called The Star Inn, which we visited back in 2014. It felt so amazing cycling into another county, I let out a cheer when I saw the road sign for Worcestershire! At this point though, it was becoming quite nerve racking, cycling along such a busy road, there were huge lorries driving passed me. When I reached The Ashton-Under-Hill turn-off, I decided to go back the way I came, it was getting late and I didn't want to cycle in the dark. I decided to start much earlier in the day, for my next journey.

The Teddington Hands

The Beckford Inn

A few days later, I decided to cycle to Conderton and Kemerton, which are on the border of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. As I have mentioned in my previous post, village pubs need our support during these difficult times. I cycled into Conderton, and dismounted to photograph The Yew Tree. I first came across this pub, when I was travelling on the 540 bus service to Evesham. It used to be a Wadworth pub, but it has recently changed hands. The pub looked quite picturesque with the sun on it's facade, I photographed it and decided to call in after I had cycled to Kemerton. I continued with my journey, and arrived in Kemerton to photograph The Crown Inn. It was closed, and at this point the sun was playing hide and seek, so it was difficult to take a reasonable photo. After that, I cycled back to The Yew Tree.

The Yew Tree, Conderton

I was quite impressed with the safety precautions the pub had implemented, A hand wash dispenser was easily accessible as you walk in the front entrance. I was pleased that there had been a sympathetic refurbishment of the interior of the pub, it is much as I remembered it. The ales on offer, were Doom Bar and HPA. I ordered a drink, and went to sit in the rather pleasant beer garden, I stayed there for quite a while.

Afterwards, I cycled back towards the Beckford Inn junction, but instead of going home, I noticed a road sign for Great Washbourne. I had previously looked on a map, and noticed that Little Washbourne was not far away, there is a pub there called Ye Olde Hobnails Inn. It closed for a while back in 2019, but it has thankfully reopened again. I cycled towards Great Washborne, along a country road It seemed to be taking quite a while to cycle to the Hobnails, I wasn't quite sure where it was. I ended up in Alderton, where there is a pub called The Gardeners Arms, we have been here before. I didn't stop to photograph it though.

I remembered how to get to the Hobnails and cycled there, the sky was looking a little ominous by now. I only managed to take one or two photos of the pub, because the road was so busy, they seem to have built a new wall next to the pub since my last visit. I would have liked to stopped for a drink, but at some point, I would like to go there with my partner, it seems like a nice place to have a meal. Maybe we will go there in the not too distant future.

Ye Olde Hobnails Inn, Little Washbourne