A Summery Summary...

Yes - with the last (Pontus Fractus...) post I’m bang up to date again...so like Hector one of our Leonbergers, I can relax...

He’s not dead - he’s sleeping....

...although to be honest Pontus Fractus was April 2019...So what I have been doing for the rest of the summer? You might ask (or you might not)...

Well - not visiting many pubs sadly - but nevertheless I did get out of the hermitage now and then to do a bit of carousing* (like you do...)

GH - preparing to emerge from the hermitage and carouse...

In a vain attempt to retain (or recover) any pub blogging kudos I had, here’s a quick summary...

Happy Vibrant Foresters...

First up, the Vibrant Forest had its final bash at its Lymington brewery before moving to new premises.  It was well attended, in fact they were bussing them in...

...and the sun shone and the excellent beer flowed (as always)...

April also saw the publication of my first book....courtesy of my son Andy...

...needless to say it’s not on the Sunday Times Best Seller list - but it is an epic...

After that I had a break with a beer in the greenhouse (no not a pub - the greenhouse in my garden)...

Of course it’s not all about beer (is it?) - so Mrs GH and I managed to fit in a cream tea at a posh hotel in Bournemouth...

Oooh cakes....look at his happy little face...

...not just any hotel mind...this one was the house that a certain member of royalty (Edward, Prince of Wales) bought for his mistress (one Lillie Langtry)...

Just a small pad for the mistress...

...and a beautiful place it was...

Forsaking the beer at Lillie’s old place (not sure if there was was any real ale anyway) the next item on the agenda was the Southampton Beer Festival, as usual in the ‘cave' under the stand at St Mary’s,  home of Southampton FC...

Naturally I would have taken more photographs if I had not been too busy sampling some of the 70 beers on offer.

Then a chance visit to Downton Brewery for one of their ‘Firsty Friday’ evening sessions, which was really good with an excellent range of their beers on cask and at around £3 a pint, extremely good value....

Beer brewing in action at Downton Brewery

Beer drinking in action at Downton Brewery

And then - to top it all - Vibrant Forest opened their new brewery at Hardley, near Southampton - only a mile away from my house (bliss)...

It goes without saying that this is now my 'go-to’ watering hole...

Hi-brow beer and reading material...

...and they had their first beer festival - the ‘Vibrant Forest Gathering’ in August...

...large and vibrant gathering ...

...and again - the sun shone, people turned up in their droves, and there were some cracking home and guest beers.... 

Look at all those beers....note murky glass of beer used as paperweight to stop  programme blowing away...

So that was it really - I suppose I better get down the pub now...

* see ‘About Garden Hermit' page for an explanation (sort of)

Pontus Fractus and all that...

Another visit to distant West Yorkshire...back to Pontefract in fact...

All that I see is mine - as Ilbert De Lacy must have said of the view from Pontefract Castle.

...not to tick the latest entry in the 2019 Good Beer Guide, but rather for a visit to my son, Andy and his fiancé Leah.

On Saturday the three of us had a wander around Pontefract in search of a good beer or two.

Originally fearsome but now a bit fallen down...

We had a look round the remains of what was reputedly England’s most fearsome castle.  Still a large and quite impressive ruin on a steep hill overlooking the town and miles of surrounding countryside.

...and what better after all that castle history stuff than to partake in a little Weatherspoons history at their town centre pub, The Broken Bridge.

Though the premises looks like it has all the history of a disused Poundland store, Weatherspoons have established that there was once an old historic house on the site.  They have also established that the name Pontefract comes from Pontus Fractus which is Latin for 'our bridge is broken' (or something like that).  Another triumph for Spoons' historic researchers....

Inside it looks like...

...well...

...a Weatherspoons...yes that same old successful formula...

...and even though Weatherspoons are expert purveyors of the ridiculously cheap pint of real ale,  the mind boggles as to how the Chinese manage to get their casks over here for the price  (unless there’s a secret pipeline)...

....no hang on...I’ve just read the pump clip 'small print' and it seems it was brewed in Wolverhampton (aren’t they all...?).

As this visit was also before the  'phone crash and factory-reset’ event (see last post) once again I cannot remember which beer I had (and alcohol induced memory loss had nothing to do with it).

But these are the only two pump clip photos I have - so it was probably one of them and Andy would have had the other.

I also have two 'beer in glass' photos...this looks like the ‘Chinese’ pale ale from Wolverhampton...

...and this must be the ‘Monkey Wrench’.  CAMRA experts may be able to tell whether either or both were good...

After this things could only get better and it wasn’t just the Pontefract architecture...

Tim would have preferred these premises for his Spoons (probably)...

...we also found a proper pub...

I had visited the Robin Hood on my last visit - and though it was still serving the same excellent beers from its own ‘Henry Smith’ brewery, it also had a bit of a cosmetic facelift inside.  There was a great atmosphere to the place, bar staff and landlord really friendly ...

The Henry Smiths bitter was excellent.  The landlord explained that since there were a number of other Smiths who had historically set up breweries in Yorkshire, there might as well be a Henry Smith’s as well - what better reason...!

Proper Yorkshire beer...

In fact it was so very good, I had to have another one...

There were other (perfectly good) beers too...

An absolutely top notch pub and beer - well worth a visit...

Cars possibly all just off shot - waiting to run me over when I cross the road...

...though expect to take your life in your hands crossing the busy road junction....(don’t ask me how I managed to get a photo of it with no cars - I’ve no idea...  :)