A day trip to buy a pie

Tuesday 6th July 2021

The morning weather looked promising after a very wet night but the weather forecast suggests that it wouldn’t live up to the promise.

We ascended the two locks to Loughborough and made our way to the basin. Although there were only two boats moored there, we were unable to find anywhere to safely moor Jannock so we winded, returned to the junction, winded again and reversed to the visitor moorings just before and tied up. Then it started to rain so once again our timing was perfect.

 

Then off for a jolly, a visit to Melton Mowbray to buy a pork pie! What a lovely little town. There is so much interesting architecture to see as you walk around the town. The Anne of Cleves pub is 14th century, built for monastic priests, it was owned by Thomas Cromwell. Henry VIII had him executed and then gave it to Anne of Cleves as a divorce settlement – happy days!

 

There is a ‘Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe’ where the eponymous pies were invented to provide portable snacks for the huntsmen and their retinue as Melton Mowbray ‘hosted’ three hunts – Belvoir, Cottesmore and Quorn (fancy hunting Quorn?) A good town for a mooch thanks to our bus passes ;^)

We lunched at St Mary’s centre and on the stairs to the …. loos were some paintings of huntsmen painting the town red. The saying originates from a night in 1837 when the 3rd Marquis of Waterford and his fox hunting chums were asked to pay a toll, we suspect they could well afford it but instead, stole some red paint and painted the toll keeper, a constable and much of the town red. He was perhaps the first ‘hooray henry’ – a yob!

 

On our way back to the bus stop, we noticed another old building sign written as Manchester and Sons, outfitters and clothiers. On closer inspection it was a micro-pub known as Beerheadz. The landlord has only been there 6 weeks and is still working to get it right. We decided that the rooms to the back of the building were much older than the shop part at the front. The young landlord informed us that it was built mid 1300s – perhaps Anne of Cleves popped in for a pint. The ladies loo was upstairs so Brenda had a good mooch around the upstairs rooms – doors all open. It’s gorgeously old and deserves to be preserved. Mine host appreciates it’s age and hopes to care for the building appropriately. Brenda is pleased to say that it is the oldest loo she’s ever been in.

 

Back on the bus to Loughborough where Brenda fell in love with the ceramic benches dotted around the market place. Back to Jannock for tea rounding the evening off with a couple of pints in the Swan and Rushes – a Castle Rock pub opposite the basin.

G&B