We discovered another fantastic 'foodie' supplies place yesterday - the very stylish Daylesford Organics near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. (NB To my Southern friends - they also have outlets in London). Apart from a marvellous collection of fresh produce (including local mushrooms and hand-made (award winning) cheeses) (no, we couldn't resist spending alot of money in this bit) - there is also a cafe, 'garden' shop (no bags of compost to be found here I'm afraid - only top of the range linen and suede aprons (£95 each) and beautiful, designer garden 'accessories'), and also a clothes shop selling very nice quality cashmere jumpers and of course (no self-respecting social gardener should be without them) that essential pair of fashionable Hunter Wellies.




Turns out the whole place is slightly surreal - from the artificial outside bar area surrounded by topiary to the Polish staff serving wine tastings. The whole 1500 acre site is owned by the Bamford family (JCB) and this is the 'little hobby' which 'keeps the wife happy' (!) No expense has been spared and no wonder the locals have heavily criticised this 'footballer's wives' type of development. Flying celebrities in and out via helicopter and various Ferraris racing up and down the country lanes doesn't really fit well with the organic and slow food philospohy. But then I suppose we're all hypocrites to a certain extent...


It's a lovely location though, set in converted stone farm-buildings next to a completely unspoilt pretty Cotswold village, which is surrounded by good pubs including the one we went to for lunch - The oldy-worldy Michelin recommended Fox Inn at Lower Oddington (another one crossed off the list)They were very busy - so it was lucky we booked. J & C both had (predictably) the home-made steak and ale pie (which disappointingly to the CRAP (Campaign for Real Ale Pies) member who we know, was served with the unforgivable PUFF pastry rather than the traditional shortcrust version - pedantic I know - but these things are important to some people !!!) C went for the unusual rabbit casserole (very good) and I had the scallops (risky, I know, in view of our location and season -but also very good). The atmosphere was very relaxed and the service OK. My only criticism of the place would be they seem to need more staff, and I wished the chef had warmed the plates before he served the main courses - it really does make a difference - especially for my poor poached pear (which was barely poached) but the excellent chocolate sauce made up for these minor errors. Overall, it was a lovely long lunch and the staff really did try their best to keep up appearances, despite the challenge of keeping everyone in the 3 dining rooms happy.

Afterwards, we had a nice walk in the Autumnal sunshine around Bledington church and I spied a nearby opportunity (lottery win dependant) in the shape of an abandoned old Victorian, double-fronted cottage (with a bit of land attached). We had a peep through the dusty old (rotten) sash windows at the large brown printed wallpaper, falling off the walls in the corners where the damp had come through and the white hand rails where the elderly resident had (once) clung on to life. In the kitchen was the original old cooking range, with the red quarry-stone floor tiles surrounded by a hideous 70's kitchen unit. Ghostly. It is due to go to auction soon. Oooooh if only!

Next time we're down that way, we're going to try the other highly recommended pub nearby - the Kings Head Inn at Bledington. Which apparently is famously associated with the annual village Morris Dancing outside the pub on the village green (how quaint)...!

Have you ever seen a bunch of people on a hen weekend or corporate 'teambuilding' event or something similar - all walking around in the same colour, appropriately printed-up T-shirts and thought - "what a bunch of *$%^%$^%s!!"? Well, I confess, I have. But after last weekend, I'm afraid that I shouldn't really be critical anymore, as I was one of them....

There was about 350 of us in total (we were the red 'Thames' team) running around London trying to accumulate 'clues' from various touristy attractions and dressed-up characters along the way.

This was the Leaseplan Annual 'Eurogames' event - and takes place at a different European city every year apparently.

It was a glorious day (I would have prefered to have been in my garden - but hey ho, the sacrifices us corporate wives have to make;). But I have to admit to being quite proud of the city in the sunshine, when many of our 'guests' from all over Europe had never been here before. Trafalgar square looked particularly impressive, and I longed to lie down and relax on the grass when we got to St James' Park... but it was non-stop...









Each team was allocated a proper red old-fashioned London bus to transport us from one side of London to the other..

Before lunchtime we were already two valuable team members down as the Irish contingent went back to the hotel to sleep off the far-too-many-free-guinesses they had the night before at the 'English Pub' evening the hospitality team had arranged for us the night before (inevitably, some people never got to bed at all). With only 4 other team members who had enough English and enthusiasm to complete the 'challenge' we had our work cut-out for the afternoon. We decided to split into two teams - one was to get the obscure photos we needed (26 items in only 10 polaroids - and we had already wasted one)
And the others to get the remaining clues (last destination, Kensington). This was strictly against the rules - but heh, it was a near impossible task and by this time we just wanted to get what we needed and get back to the hotel bar for a glass of something cold...







There was a few street-painters along the way...









I saw the famous, controversial sculpure of Alison Lapper's torso (she was on Radio 4 tonight talking about it)...
.........The only disappointing thing was lunch. We ended up near to Swiss Cottage, but the pub that was arranged for us only had a room downstairs in a claustrophobic cellar and the food was....how shall I put this politely..worse than terrible. Fortunately, there was a little authentic sandwich-bar place just opposite, run by a friendly Italian guy, who it turns out can speak about four languages (that we witnessed) and made an excellent fresh ciabatta..



























Needless to say, some of the less experienced Europeans went round the corner to the nearest Mickey D's...(sad).

Patrick and Peter outside Charing Cross station...we're waiting for the rest to catch-up (those shop windows are so tempting)...























We collected most of the clues and challenges. The only one we struggled with for a while was the signature of a traffic warden (apparently they're not allowed to give them out)!! But we persuaded one in the end with a little white lie that it was for charity;)

J in Hyde Park - with the answer to our last clue (at last!!!) - Kensington palace "Which King is inside the gates?"
Afterwards it back to the hotel to get dressed-up in the Little Black Dress (not J you understand - although some of the French unsurprisingly obviously didn't really understand the wording on the invitation) for the evening do. Before long we were back on our (by now, beloved) old London Buses to travel over to Fulham to dine at the Georgian Hurlingham Club which is (amazingly) set in 42 arcres of private gardens....where they had arranged an excellent reception and dinner for us which included the marble sculpture people you see sometimes on street corners (although obviously alot more professional)! It was all very impressive, including the grounds, croquet lawn and the modern water features outside the dining room. You couldn't have hoped for more quintessentially British summer evening surroundings...

Can you spot where I am...?

With many thanks to Candy and all her team for being an excellent team-leader!

PS Hey, thank God for Blogging eh? What else would you do when you can't sleep???ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

There’s something quite special about sitting by a river watching the world go by (even if we did have to listen to Cliff Richard singing his heart out from a nearby tour guide)… I was really surprised last weekend when we stayed with friends in Chester (never been there before). It’s a really lovely Medieval walled city – reminiscent of Canterbury for the benefit of my Kentish friends – and what an excellent place to shop till you drop!! Sooo many wonderful (designer) shops – there’s no doubt you could do some serious damage to the plastic here.


Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately - as far as J was concerned) we were running too late to do anything other than window shop (even at the bears). Although we did stop at the Cheese Shop to buy some famous Colston Basset stilton (the best in the world). We called-in to see the Cathedral (dark and austere on the outside, but light and refreshing on the outside) while Evensong was just beginning. Very restful...



But dinner was calling us at the wonderful (one) Michelin-starred Arkle Restaurant at the Grosvenor Hotel in the centre of the cobbled Eastgate.








It was great to see that the chef (Simon Radley) has got a real sense of imagination and humour e.g. hats off to E who went for the ‘Pond Life’ for a starter (frogs legs and snails, of course) and amongst other interesting things on the mains was ‘carpetbagger’ (which J had) – ‘Welsh black fillet, studded with native oysters, Corned Ox with all things Carrot’ and ’24 hour mutton’. I think mine won (Turbot) but then I’m always biased towards that fish dish…Service was spot-on and the restaurant was ambient and busy without being chaotic. And the cheese selection meant we were very impressed (although it wasn’t quite as impressive as our experience at Winteringham Fields). The good thing about Michelin-starred places is that they have to have a place to sit down and enjoy a drink before (and after) dinner. The Arkle’s place is one of those relaxing warm, welcoming, comfortable, library-type rooms – the kind of place you could easily just sit down and talk with a glass of something for hours…

The next morning, we thought we’d never have room for that big BBQ breakfast - but somehow we managed it….

another Michelin-starred place crossed-off the list… with thanks to P & E for such wonderful company and an excellent 'foodie' weekend.