Visits to far west of Norfolk never fail to interest and entertain
In his weekly The Bar Man column, Jeff Hoyle discusses pub visits to the west of the county…
When people talk about the beauties of Norfolk and maybe coming up for a holiday or buying a second home, the fen area rarely features in the conversation. Look through the colour supplements to see the best pubs and they tend to be in the north, on the Broads or in Norwich.
The far west of the county is the great unknown, and yet our periodic visits never fail to interest and entertain us. That’s our patch to distribute the quarterly issue of Norfolk Nips, the county-wide CAMRA magazine, and just before Christmas we were off on our travels with the winter edition.
Our first stop proved to be the exception to the rule. The Angel at Watlington is carving out a regional if not national reputation for the quality of its food which is demonstrated by the wall adorned with the various awards facing the bar. Too often pubs that take a great deal of care over their food neglect their beer, but it was heartening to see that there are two handpumps now on the bar, one with the excellent Purity Mad Goose and the other waiting for the landlord to condition in the cellar.
On to the Cock just over the river in Magdalene, a rarity in that it is a village local that relies on beer sales and does not serve food. Black Sheep has been a fixture here for many years. We met the new landlady Alex and her very pleasant staff at the newly reopened Crown and Anchor at St Germans where an agreement with Woodforde’s sees Wherry and a rotating guest beer from their range on the bar.
The refurbishment looks great with a comfortable seating area in what was the pool room and food promised when kitchen refurbishments are complete. Another pub recently taken over is the Gaultree at Emneth, when we received a fine welcome from Lewis, the new landlord. He may be young but has the pub in good shape with Batemans XB as the cask beer of choice.
We had a good value meal at the Woolpack at Terrington St John washed down with some Greene King IPA while marvelling at the Christmas costumes of those turning up for the for the music bingo.
Round the corner at the Buck in Tilney St Lawrence, it was bright and lively. We have not yet made it out to one of their regular Indian nights, but the beer, Rockin’ Robin, was about the best I drank on our tour. I hope that their plans to make the pub a real centre of the village are not compromised by the repeated problems in obtaining permission for extended opening hours and more use of the outdoor space.
So, why not take a trip across the cut bridges? Take a good map or sat nav with you, for despite a geography degree and half a lifetime’s experience, the roads on the fen remain a mystery to me. You won’t find upmarket gastro pubs, other than the Angel (which is east of the river) but you will find welcoming local pubs with good beer.
The historic distrust between Linnets and those from the west of the river should be set aside. Everywhere we went were made very welcome. One more trip awaits. If we time it right, we may be able to make lunch at the ever-popular Brothers in Arms at Walpole St Andrew while topping up on the food shopping. The Wildfowler at Terrington is also on the list, and I guess it is a choice between there and the Nelson at Clenchwarton for a pint and meal on the way home.