Old haunts

 It was a bright day, but there was a cool wind. We were scheduled to go and see Betty and Barney Rubble so the Gorse Fox had to apologise to the cousins regarding his absence from the call. He explained: "opening the local fete down in the lower paddock, then off to a garden party with the Lord Lieutenant". He'll have to think of another excuse for next weekend.

We drove up through the countryside, crossing the Downs near the Hartings. It is always such a pretty drive... onwards round Petersfield, through Selborn and Alton, and on to Odiham.

We settled down with Betty and Barney over a coffee and caught up with all their news and, being the age we are, all of our various aches and pains! Time whistled by and before we knew it it was time to head off to lunch.

It was only a few minutes to The Mill House. The Gorse Fox always thinks of this as Blubeckers, but it has changed hands several times since it was our regular haunt in the 80s and 90s. It is still as picturesque as it always was and haas been well maintained across the various owners.

We settled down for our lunch. The menu provided a good selection of starters, entrees, puddings, snacks, sandwiches and drinks. The Gorse Fox enjoyed some chorizo sausages as a starter and then had their fish and chips. The Silver Vixen started with some roasted red pepper hummus then she and Betty enjoyed their fish cakes, and Barney had a steak burger. After all that, there was no room for a dessert. We paid the bill and pottered back to spend the afternoon drinking tea, chatting, and then finally having some tart with strawberries and cream. It was a lovely afternoon but we finally had to make a move home.