Zooming in under the radar

Food & Drink Festivals are very much in vogue at the moment. Tonbridge’s event took place at the beginning of September, to be followed, three weeks later, by a similar event in Tunbridge Wells. In between, the Canterbury Food & Drink Festival was held, and had it not been for the combination of poor weather and disruption on the railways, this for me would have been the go-to event.

I’ve been to quite a few, the last one being in 2019, as one of the main attraction of Canterbury’s festival, is the launch of the Kent Green Hop Festival. I’ve written so much about Green Hop Ales (GHA's) in the past on this blog, that I’m not going to repeat myself here, but whilst the festival prides itself on having as many Kentish Green Hop beers available, as possible, there are several schools of thought whose opinion is this event is too soon to be serving these beers.

These opinions have more than a gain of truth, seeing as the hop harvest will only have taken place around three weeks previously. According to the pundits, this leaves insufficient time for the flavours and aromas of the freshly picked hops to develop properly and come to the fore. Instead, the event with largest selection of GHA’ s, and one of the best places to drink them at, is the Spa Valley Railway Beer Festival which took place last weekend, but if you want somewhere to enjoy a few of these GHA’s, then the Spa Valley bash is the one to aim for, although you will have to wait until next year now.

On Thursday evening, I caught up with friends from West Kent CAMRA, for the tasting of the Green Hop beer brewed by a local member. As mentioned in my previous post, keen home-brewer Keith produced the beer from hops grown in fellow member, Simon’s garden. The end result was a very quaffable pale ale, with a pleasant hop aroma and taste, from the hops, that were picked less than 24 hours prior to brewing. The actual hop variety is unknown, as Simon acquired the plants from a garden centre, several years ago.

As well as enjoying this unique beer, which was shared with the full permission of the pub’s landlord, my CAMRA friends reported that the SVR Beer Festival was still a hugely successful event, in spite of the organisers having to scale back the beer order, because of the national rail strike that affected train services on the Saturday. I didn’t discover which Green Hop Ale came top in the judging, and I also failed in my quest to sample some GHA’s for myself, as there was only one on tap at the Nelson that evening, and the 6.0% Green Giant IPA, from Kent Brewery didn’t really take my fancy.

What I did enjoy though, on top of the home-brewed GHA, were three of the other beers on sale that evening. Starting off with the excellent Collusion, a 5.2% IPA from Surrey Hills Brewery, I then moved on to a rarely seen seasonal ale from Harvey’s, in the form of the 5.5% Star of Eastbourne. Like Collusion, Star of Eastbourne is another well-hopped IPA. Star of the evening, if you’ll excuse the “stellar” pun, was Larkin’s Porter, one of the best porters around, and a personal favourite.

I must confess to my surprise at seeing this rich, dark 5.2% ale on sale so early in the season, as the brewery’s normal practice was to hold back the release of this beer until Bonfire Night. Now, according to some of those present that evening, Larkin’s are making the beer much more widely available, and there was even talk of it being on sale all year round. Personally, I can’t see much of this beer being sold during the summer months, as whilst it is undoubtedly good, it really is a brew that is far more suited to late autumn and winter drinking. Perhaps there has been a change at Larkin’s, seeing as founder and owner Bob Dockerty is now in his 80’s.

Returning to the start of this article, and the Tonbridge Food & Drink Festival, whilst there, back at the start of September, I sampled a few beers, and bought a couple of bottles from a stall operated by The Godstone Brewers. Founded by old university friends, Anne Jackson & Steve Taylor, The Godstone Brewers operate from a barn at Flower Farm, near Godstone. The pair were keen brewers during their student days, and after bumping into each other again in 2014, discovered they both still had a passion for brewing. They decided to ditch their respective careers and set up a brewery together.

Since starting out they have developed scores of different beer recipes, attended hundreds of beer festivals, and braved the rain and cold in countless farmers markets, so it was nice to make their acquaintance at the Tonbridge Food & Drink Festival.  I enjoyed the two beers I bought that day - Forever 4.3%, a zesty, hoppy, citrus pale ale and Bitter Entropy 5.3%, a full bodied, and rather malty, fashion in the likeness of an ESB. Despite this I have never come across the couple’s beers on journeys through the Kent-Surrey border country, and neither have I seen any of the brightly decorated bottles on sale in local shops. It's surprising in this day and age to find breweries, such as Godstone, operating virtually under the radar, so I may need to visit the brewery Taproom, attached to the brewery at Flower Farm, particularly if I wish to sample one or two of the company’s cask beers. 

The Taproom is only open on Friday evenings 5-8pm, for what is described as a social pint or two including take-aways. It does prove though, that there’s a number of brewers out there keeping a rather low profile, either through choice, or due to straightened financial circumstances, but whatever the reason, you have to admire their dedication. Together, the pair form another example of the multi-faceted world of brewing in the UK today, and this is what makes the life of a beer enthusiast, so interesting.

It's the little things that cause the most frustration

It’s been a rather frustrating week since completing my walk along the final section of the North Downs Way. My elation at completing this long-distance footpath, was tempered somewhat, by an issue with our recently upgraded central heating system – teething issues, with any luck, plus a recent internet outage at home. The heating engineer is due a return visit today, and as far as the internet issue is concerned, BT Openreach, or whatever they call themselves these days, are due to upgrade our connection, and router, to full-fibre broadband next Thursday.

The latter, sounds like a breakfast cereal, but the new system broadband connection should offer faster speeds and more reliability. To be fair, we haven’t suffered too much with connectivity issues, and as none of us are avid film buffs, we do very little in the way of streaming, so we shall see how the upgrade affects us, but whilst on the subject of upgrades and boosters, Mrs PBT’s and I had our second Covid booster (4^th vaccine dose) last Saturday, along with the latest flu vaccine.

It was literally a shot in each arm, and whilst we both felt OK on the day, Sunday ended up as a total washout, as far as doing anything constructive was concerned. I’m not sure which of the vaccines produced the headaches, aching limbs and associated cold and flu symptoms, but I suspect it was a combination of the two, but fortunately I at least felt alright to return to work, as usual, on Monday morning. Still, no gain without the pain, as the saying goes, but I don’t like having to waste a day, as what happened that Sunday.

I did manage to complete that lengthy article on Oktoberfest for the blog, and there are another few articles still in my head that I need to write up, but it’s amazing how relatively minor technology problems can have such a disruptive effect on everyday activities. First world problems, of course, so what’s coming up next in the world of beer and travel?

Thursday evening (tonight) should see a group of us meeting up at the Nelson Arms in Tonbridge, for an informal sampling of the Green Hop Ales that are on sale at the pub. There will also be the opportunity to sample a green hop ale, brewed by a local CAMRA member who is a keen and very prolific home-brewer. The beer will be brewed using hops freshly harvested, from another member’s garden. The latter has a very healthy-looking hop-bine growing up the side of the house, and having seen the photos, it was laden with plenty of attractive looking hops cones. To my shame, I have yet to sample any of this year’s crop of green hop ales, so am looking forward to getting stuck into a few on Thursday evening, including the home-grown and home-brewed example!

On the walking/hiking front, I’ve still to complete the two short sections of the North Downs Way – the ones I described in some detail, in the previous article. As explained, for reasons of expediency, I deviated slightly from the official trail with these sections, and took a slightly different, and less strenuous route. Today, Matthew and I were due to complete the stretch of downland above Folkestone – the one with the delightful view overlooking the Channel Tunnel Terminal, but with rain forecast, and the heating engineer expected, that’s had to be postponed.

There’s no rush of course, to complete such things, although it would be nice to have then out of the way by the end of the year. This leads on to what waking trail should I complete next? I’m tempted to stay local and give the Tunbridge Wells Circular Walk a try. On my visit to Cranbrook back in February, I picked up a guide from Larkin’s Alehouse to this 27.5-mile trail which, as its name suggests, is a route around the rural periphery of Tunbridge Wells.

The route passes through the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and allows walkers to enjoy the undulating countryside of the High Weald, a landscape of patchwork fields, broad-leaved woodland, and parkland. On its way, it takes in the villages of Southborough, Pembury, Frant, Groombridge and Speldhurst. Although I seem to have mislaid it, the book I purchased, describes four shorter circular walks, using fully waymarked link routes. These walks are stand alone, but they do intersect with the main route at certain points along the way. Each walk starts in the centre of Tunbridge Wells within easy reach of the railway station and local bus services, and for those who are familiar with the area, they are the Southborough Circular, the Pembury Circular, the Sussex Circular and the Speldhurst Circular, each highlighting distinctive areas of the attractive Wealden countryside.

I haven’t looked at any of these walks in detail (I need to find the book first), but I know from past experience that I have already walked several sections of the main route. Coupled with the aforementioned “bolt-ons” there should be plenty of opportunity for heading out into the countryside, during the winter months, without straying too far from home. I am also sure there will be ample opportunities for pub visits, along the way!

The other walking project is more suited to spring or summer, especially as it involves quite a bit of planning. It is also much further away, in the Cotswold Hills of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. “The Donnington Way” is a series of walks between all 15 inns belonging to the Donnington Brewery, covering a total distance of 62 miles. I have legendary pub man, Stafford Paul to thank, for alerting me to this one, as Paul undertook the walk several years ago, and recorded his enjoyment of it, in the form of comments on several blogs. I duly sent off for the book which acts as a guide to both the 15 pubs, and how to get from one to another, all on foot. The book was written, researched, and photographed by Colin Handy, with maps and illustrations by Peter T Reardon. The first edition was published in 1991, but with a 4^th edition appearing in 2012, the guide has been re-walked and fully revised.

The book lists 15 pubs, although the Donnington website states that there are 19, so presumably under its current owners, Peter and James Arkell, the brewery must have expanded. Peter and James inherited the brewery, following the death of their cousin Claude Arkell, in 2007. The company passed to them, as Claude Arkell had no children, and I’m pretty certain he had no spouse either. Peter and James of course have their own family-owned brewery, Arkells Ltd of Swindon, a reasonably sized concern owning around 100 pubs.

So far as practicalities are concerned, several of the pubs are quite close together, but then there are others where the distances between them are far greater. The planning for even attempting this trail hasn’t even approached the serious stage yet, but the sensible approach would be to incorporate any overnight stops at those pubs which offer accommodation. As might be expected, the pubs offering B&B don’t always tie in nicely with some of those at the end of the next stretch, and when that happens to be a lengthy one, then that particular option falls to pieces.

There are others of course, but they will probably involve pitching up at a non-Donnington owned establishment that does offer a bed for the night. So not an insurmountable problem, but one that still needs careful thought and proper investigation. Regardless of what happens, walking the “Donnington Way,” would not be my first attempt to visit every Donnington owned and run pub. In June 1983, I embarked on a cycling holiday in the Cotswolds. The idea was to cycle around visiting all the pubs belonging to Donnington brewery, and there were 17 of them at the time.

You can read about my adventures by clicking on to my now virtually defunct blog page, Paul’s Beer Travels. This is not the same site as the website I set up nearly 30 months ago, and the one I eventually allowed to lapse. Without giving too much away, the cycling and camping trip was undertaken by myself and the previous Mrs Bailey, and despite our best endeavours, we only managed 8 out of the 17 pubs.

This was over a five-and-a-half-day period, and was before the days of all day opening, and the internet. We had trouble locating suitable campsites, relying in the end on word of mouth – often, the most reliable. Despite visiting in June, the weather was at times, quite cold and miserable. Strong headwinds often made cycling difficult, so with that in mind, and the fact that 40 years have elapsed since then, I’m more than content to complete the task on foot.

I shall of course, start from scratch, rather than carrying on from where I finished before. The experience is more complete that way, and besides it will be interesting to see whether re-visiting those 8 pubs from 1983, will bring back a few memories, or will some have been altered out of all recognition?

Footnote: Unfortunately, there are few photos from that 1983 cycling trip. I probably have some old prints, or transparencies, tucked away somewhere, but even if I do lay my hands on them, they will require scanning in order to convert then to a digital format. Instead, I’m afraid, you will either have to use your imagination, or take a look on the Donnington website.

Unfortunately, my heating is still playing up, despite two call-outs that were supposed to have fixed the problem, - hence the title of this post!