We’ve not taken advantage of the summer enough. So last night, we headed out to sit in the pub garden just before eight and walked to Broomfield, just north of Chelmsford proper. Strolling through the fields of corn, with a gentle evening breeze and the reluctant setting sun glinting through the trees, it was all rather idyllic and reminded us that we should make hay while the sun shines (pardon the pun), and take any outside opportunities while we can. It could be a long winter.
Primarily as we’re there all week for work, we rarely want to journey into London at the weekend, but we made an exception on Saturday for Pippa’s birthday. Celebrating her 30th yet again, she’s back from a four-year long residency in Jersey, and though it perfect to celebrate her special day with friends, some who had visited her across the Channel and some of us who hadn’t.
It was a fun affair, with copious amounts of sparkly stuff to drink, lots of warm finger nibbles and dips, and as her living room filled up, lots of varied people and conversation. The journey to Island Gardens on the DLR was surprisingly easy, while a lack of engineering works on our line meant that we might not be quite so wary next time.
One of the many highlights of the afternoon was Poppi (above), the 10-month old Jack Russell, who can jump as high as a small child, and whose excitement knew no bounds. Another memorable moment came when the same young Nathan asked Steven if he had a girlfriend (clue: he doesn’t, and isn’t interested in females in the slightest). All in all, a fun way to spend an afternoon.
And quite different to the way we spent the latter half of yesterday. In the morning, we walked around a grassy field and took in the Battlesbridge VW Weekend Show at Battlesbridge Antiques Centre (full report at PoloDriver, picture above), while in the afternoon, we headed down to the shopping centre behemoth that is Lakeside, off the M25 at Thurrock.
The main reason for our impromptu visit was a mooch around IKEA, but on the way, we meandered around Decathlon, What! (exactly what we asked ourselves when we saw some the rubbish it sold) and Best Buy, which has only just opened at the Essex retail park. The US-based retailer isn’t as ground-breaking as you might have been led to believe from all the advertising, and we left the store disappointed. The only downside to both a social and busy weekend.
Being Mothering Sunday, we had lunch out today, once we had found a place to actually eat. Our first choice, The Alma was fully booked and while well-known places such as Pizza Express and Prezzo would have been nice, we wanted somewhere a little different, a little special.
Good reports had come back from The Saracen’s Head Hotel, and so we booked a table for five (Bart was conspicuous by his absence). It was only after the event that Nik told us that the hotel’s restaurant had been the subject of an episode of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares when it was in its previous incarnation, D-Place.
Mother’s Day at The Saracen’s Head Hotel: Ean, Nik, Rich, Vikki and mum
The foul-mouthed chef had clearly worked wonders and turned the place around, though. (But not before trade had reportedly gone down 50% and the place made bankrupt within two weeks of Ramsay’s departure.) With the exception of underdone but surprisingly tasty vegetables, the meal was very good. My roasted pepper soup was full of flavour and the addition of toasted white bread to accompany it made a nice change from a bread roll.
The beef served for the main course was beautifully tender, the roast potatoes cooked until just the right side of crispy and the Yorkshire Pudding was an equal of those cooked at home. Even the wine was good, and at £11.95 per head for two courses plus wine, it was excellent value, too. The only thing that could be criticised was the service, which could, at times, be a little slow. That wasn’t all bad, though, as it gave us time to digest one course before moving on to the next.
Not feeling blue: one of the new Rhode Island Ranger chickens meets Ean
The rest of the weekend was, as usual, equally as enjoyable. Family fun on Saturday night was had by playing cards after a three-courser consisting of tomato flan and a mezze starter, fish pie and spicy rice, and treacle tart to finish off. Yes, there were small computer matters to attend to, but they were dealt with swiftly and easily, leaving us more time to socialise, catch up, and for our visitors to meet the new additions to the back garden chicken coop.
An eggy breakfast on Sunday rolled into a stroll around the shops before the Mother’s Day lunch at Saracen’s and while we didn’t have coffee or dessert in the restaurant, it was much nicer to have a pre-journey portion of tea and cake before mum, Ean and Vikki whizzed the 88 miles north up the A12 to home. And for a change, mum did nothing. A Mother’s Day which was true to its word.
We wanted to continue our new walking regime last weekend, and as it was dry and bright for at least part of the day, we decided to drive out to Paper Mill Lock just north of Chelmsford. Apparently there’s a good walking route through the fields and by the Chelmsford and Blackwater Navigation Canal, which you can also follow all the 14 miles from Chelmsford to Heybridge. Admittedly, it was quite late (around 2pm) when we set off, but we weren’t aiming to trek the 5.5-mile distance we did a couple of weeks ago.
When we got to the lock itself, the steady stream of people strolling at the side of the road said it all; their boots were caked in mud. We hadn’t taken our dirty walking shoes, rather foolishly thinking that as the day dawned very frosty, there would be no mud and soggy ground. It was a silly mistake to make; everyone knows that walking + fields and tracks = mud (even on a fine day). So, we went and grabbed a coffee and cake in Sainsbury’s excellent value for money café, before driving the short distance home.
It was probably just as well. After a sore throat one day last week, I’m now in the midst of what I think is a full-blown cold. A runny nose has since developed after the weekend’s mild aches and although that seems to have gotten much better, the dry, cracked and slightly bleeding lips which have been caused through all the blowing, are I think, a worse thing to bear.
All very unpleasant, but, not wanting to speak too soon, I think I may have now turned the corner. The nose blowing has become much less frequent and I do feel a little brighter. Contracting a cold was inevitable in any case; with most of our families and work colleagues going through the sniffles at Christmas and the past month, it was only a matter of time before I picked something up. And, maybe winter isn’t properly winter without a cold after all.
At last! Blue skies heralded our first walk of 2010. We decided to take a 5.5 mile route closeby, just around Ingatestone. A small town south of Chelmsford, it sits within an area of green belt land, 20 miles north of London. It has some history; established in Saxon times on the then Great Essex Road (now major the A12 trunk road), it sits between the then goliath Roman towns of London and Colchester. The name originally meant ‘settlement at the stone’. It even has stones left by glacial action visible in the High Street.
Nik used to live and spent some of his formative years in the town (in two locations) and so knows the area well. I don’t have that much knowledge of Essex and perhaps the thing I knew Ingatestone for the most is that it’s the last stop before home on the train from London. And that it has good curry house. Our walk from the Walks Into History: Essex changed all that and to be honest, if it hadn’t, at least we managed to get out for a couple of hours, in the (all too limited) winter sunshine.
Our stroll took us around Ingatestone and also Fryerning, a village to the north of the small town. We tramped across empty fields, many deserted pastures with electric fences, over and under the A12 and round the back of the 16th century Ingatestone Hall. Open to the public at selected times and dates, the grand and majestic Tudor mansion that was once host to Queen Elizabeth I is probably most well-known for providing the exterior of Bleak House in the 2005 BBC adaption of the Charles Dickens’ novel of the same name.
After the prolonged cold snap that prevented almost everyone from going almost anywhere, it really felt good to be out and about in the sunshine again, after far too long. Mud (in the car park opposite The Cricketers pub and en route) notwithstanding, we really enjoyed tramping through the grass and hedgerows again, even sighting some deer common to the area. One thing that we had forgotten and was probably telling of the afternoon’s activities, was the aching of our legs. Maybe the moderately high mile count was to blame, maybe it was the lack of activity over the past few weeks. Whatever, it won’t stop us next time.
