Up North

Well everything is relative... There are those who believe "The North" starts at the Watford Gap, or York, or Manchester. The Gorse Fox believes the North starts at an imaginary East-West line that joins London and Bristol. By this reckoning he used to live "up North" when he lived in Hertfordshire, and when we lived in Bedfordshire. Today we were heading "up North".

Meeting with Denise and Dom, we had to find some point between us where we could have a leisurely lunch and a coffee and a long chinwag. We hadn't actually seen them since last November, so there was a great deal of gossip to catch up on. We had chosen to meet near Newbury. (Newbury itself is below the imaginary line but the Gorse Fox had found a gastro-pub in Peasemore which is just above the line - we were eating up north).

The journey was pretty uneventful even if the SatNav on the Qashqai decided to send us right through Newbury instead of round the outside. The Gorse Fox hates that SatNav.

We arrived at The Fox at Peasemore about 20 minute before they were due to open, but we were in need of the bathroom by the time we arrived and the chap opened up early for us.

We met the owner Laura who showed us to our table - clearly in the prime location in the bay window. We settled down for a coffee while waiting for D&D and chatted to Laura. It turns out that she knows our are well with contacts in Middleton-on-Sea and a friend in Chichester. She was absolutely charming and made us feel so welcome.

D&D turned up just after midday and we settled down with the menu. The Silver Vixen had lemon sole, Denise had baked hake, Dom had roast beef, and the Gorse Fox had roast turkey. The food was exquisite. It is quite clear why this pub is rated No.3 in the whole Newbury area.

We had a lovely few hours chatting over our meals and drinks before repairing outside and sitting on the rear patio for another hour. In the field next door, the village fete was in full swing, but we resisted. Soon after four the clouds had set in and it started to rain. We took this as an omen and bidding our goodbyes set off back to civilisation in the South.

This is a spot well worth visiting and certainly one to which we will return when we meet with D&D again.