Looking back on a traditional Fenland brewery, Pt. Two

You left our party departing the GBG-listed Rose and heading along to Elgoods brewery for the commencement of the tour. Elgood’s brewery overlooks the river Nene and has an imposing Georgian façade. The building started life as a granary and a mill before being converted into a brewery in the late 1700s. The brewery was acquired by the Elgood family in 1878, and the company is still controlled by the same family today. We assembled in the courtyard at the rear of the brewery where we met by our host for the visit, Belinda Elgood, daughter of then chairman, Nigel Elgood.

We we're led to a recently constructed, purpose-built visitor centre, equipped with its own bar and decorated with numerous exhibits connected with the company and it's 120 years of existence. After a brief run through of the history of the brewery, we were conducted around the plant by the Head Brewer, who we met earlier. Amongst objects of particular interest were a cast iron mash tun – most are constructed from wood, and copper, plus a very rare open cooler, known as a “cool ship”.

This in effect is a large, flat, open, copper tray, which creates a large surface area to allow the hot wort to cool as quickly as possible. In the days before modern, “counter-flow” chillers, cool ships were a common feature of Victorian breweries, but despite being a fairly common sight in Belgium (Flanders, in particular), the one at Elgoods, remains as the only example I have witnessed in the UK.  It is situated at the very top level of the brewery where a number of vertical wooden slats can be opened, when necessary, allowing the cold easterly winds that have blown straight across the Fens, all the way from Siberia, to cool the wort. Such open coolers were once commonplace, certainly in the days before refrigeration and heat exchangers.

Most breweries have long abandoned this method, owing to the risk of exposing the cooling wort to airborne contamination, but the sight of the wort gushing out of a row of brightly polished copper pipes, and into the cool ship, - a process that also helps aerate the wort, was certainly one well worth seeing. The clouds of steam rising from the surface of the cooling worked completed the picture, and I was left wishing that I’d brought my camera with me. Don’t forget though, this was in the days before mobile phones, and digital cameras! We were then shown the recently installed microbrewery which enabled Elgoods to produce a series of seasonal and one-off, special brews, including low-volume beers, such as Black Dog Mild, Golden Newt,  and Pageant. At the end of the tour, we were ushered back to the visitor centre where we were able to try the company’s strong GSB Bitter, their Pageant Ale as well as  more Cambridge Bitter.

It was a hot day, so I decided to take my pint outside, and at the far end of the yard were some steps leading down to a large and well laid out garden. It seemed so peaceful and cool there, with plenty of mature trees and shrubs providing some welcome shade. I soon became totally divorced from the fact that I was actually visiting a brewery. The entire garden was an oasis of calm that seemed light years away from the 20^th century, indeed the whole affair was in complete contrast to the bleak and somewhat windswept scene at the front of the brewery. On that hot and sultry July day, the garden seemed just the right place to enjoy a refreshing glass of beer whilst wandering around admiring the plants.

Whilst ambling around the garden, I bumped into someone who turned out to be the head gardener.  I explained I was visiting the brewery and asked if he minded me looking around. Seeing that I was interested in plants and gardens, this fine fellow offered to show me around himself, explaining that the garden was originally laid out in Georgian times, as part of the house that was the home, initially of the mill owner, and later the Elgood family. After being neglected for many years, the garden was slowly being restored.

 It had taken several years of hard work to get the garden into its present pristine condition, and the ultimate aim was to restore the grounds as closely as possible to their original Georgian layout. He claimed this would involve several more years of hard work, but on the plus side the glass houses had already been restored, as had an ornamental pond. In addition, many of the trees planted a century and a half ago were only now starting to show their full glory, including a spectacular and rare Tulip tree. Also being planted was a series of hedges that would constitute a maze, when fully grown.

As we wandered back towards the house at the rear of the brewery, we were joined by several members of our party who, like me, had wandered out for some fresh air before falling under the garden's spell. Realising that the gardener had other duties to attend to, I thanked him for his time, and for making my brief visit to these gardens, so memorable. Three decades on, the gardens at Elgoods have been restored to something resembling their former glory, I say that because all gardens are, in effect, works in progress. They are open to the public, as certain times of the year, so check on the website for further details, including dates and times.

It was soon time to depart, and we boarded our minibus for the ride back to Kent. Our, driver made a brief stop in Ely, primarily to allow many of us to syphon off the excess beer!  We ended up visiting the Prince of Wales, a Ridley's pub, situated just off the M25, at Mountnessing. There we enjoyed a glass or two of Ridley’s PA and ESX. We also partook of a meal, although no record of what we ate exists. The pub made a welcome break in our journey, even if it did mean almost missing the last train back from Maidstone to Tonbridge!