Traveller's Tale

From the hermitage, a walk down a neighbouring cul de sac is the quickest route to the nearest proper pub..

...not a long walk, in fact Ordnance Survey say it’s a mere 0.5km, taking all of 6 minutes

At the end of the cul de sac, a path leads through woodland full of dappled sunlight...

...and out through the gates which were once part of an old long lost country mansion...

...just in time to wonder why the local peacock crossed the road.  Could it be because it’s too posh for chickens round here...?

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Not far now...just the quaint little time tunnel to pre-covid Britain path....

...and there it is...The Travellers Rest... fitting after such a tough walk.
The sanitiser bottle on the table by the side gate was empty but not to worry, I pushed open the door and went inside where there was another table with sanitiser, instructions for social distancing and a laptop for entering track and trace details.
The landlord must have spotted my puzzled expression as I looked at the laptop screen and came over to help me enter my details...
“Are you going to sit outside?“
“Yes”
“You don’t need this then...”
So I was in...(or out as the case may be) and I couldn’t help thinking of the line in the Monty Python Secret Service sketch...
Can you keep a secret?
Yes.
Good...well you’re in then.

I asked if there was any real ale so I didn’t have to go round the bar where I would have been at an anti-socially close distance to another bloke.  “Hobgoblin” the landlord said, so I had a pint of that (not Jail Ale). 

Behind the pub, in the beer garden, the view across the fields and woodland is lovely...

The quintessential English countryside is no Jamaica beach scene but still not a bad view at all for Stevie T while he is rustling up his BBQ fare.  It looks like there’ll be good BBQ business with the forecast for decent weather this weekend...

The well travelled pub bloggers will have no trouble in naming this island...unless it’s just a blob of paint on a sheet...or a stingray...

There were a few people at the garden tables, and with the couple of blokes inside ...custom wasn’t bad for 4pm on a Thursday.  

The pint of Hobgoblin was good and initially the lacings seemed to be pushing for promotion to the 'Midlands Lacings Premiership’, but faded late in the game as the sun dried them up... 

As I left to walk back home for tea, I noticed that the blackboard near the pub entrance promised live music in the beer garden for Saturday and Sunday afternoon, which should bring more much needed customers.  Though for a small single room pub like this it’s a perilous balance between much needed custom and lack of covid secure space.

Tapping Into Post-Lockdown Vibrancy....

Finally, on a sunny July Sunday, I emerged from the hermitage, to make a first post lockdown sortie to the pub....well ok not quite a pub....a brewery tap.

At the Vibrant Forest Brewery Tap, it was nice to see that there was a good turnout and a regular flow of people arriving, during the time I was there between 1:30 and 3pm.  The usual spectrum of humankind was present from the guy who could have come straight from the Tour De Yorkshire in full logo'ed lycra, to families with kids, and crinklies like me.

The tap indoor area isn't open because of Covid precautions (except to get to the toilet) and the main roller shutter door entrance is being used as a giant serving hatch with a bar made of temporary tables.

It doesn't really matter being outdoors on a day like this, and the Vibrant Forest's beer garden is huge, comprising the concrete forecourt of the five industrial units occupied by the brewery.  Tables at 2m spacing not an issue here, and there are enough to accommodate 130 people in covid security (bring raincoat and umbrella if rain expected).

Sanitizer was on tap on the tables and was crisp, sharp, clean and cool and bursting with alcohol (and would undoubtedly give Doom beer a run for its money if it wasn't for hand cleaning only).

Anyhow - fear not - there's no need to be a prophet of Doom today.  Behind those grey monolithic walls vibrant beers are being born...and as usual there was a great selection on offer today..

First up...a half of Summerlands, super-citrus hopped IPA in a modest 3.5% alcohol package...bursting with taste, cooling and refreshing. The Americans might call it a 'lawnmower beer' (- or is that the Australians)....

...there was no lawn - or lawnmower - but it was just as welcome on a hot day on a giant concrete forecourt reflecting the sun's heat like a desert. Only the camels and scuttling scorpions were missing...

...though by way of consolation a plague of flying ants were scuttling across the table most of the afternoon.

The cool halves were slipping down well in the heat and, after a half of Aira (4.5%) a citra/mosaic/HBC431 triple hop pale ale , I then went for a half of Misty Woods (6%)., which is a hazy American IPA.  It's an interesting name for a 'Vibrant Forest' beer, but was actually brewed here in collaboration with Clapton Craft.  A casual perusal of the glass above shows a proper half pint...no short measures here...

The gentle buzz of conversation and flying ants drifted across the vast concrete expanses as chewy, murky, hoptastic beers were sipped from stemmed glasses...

A stack of large wall cladding panels and the ubiquitous builders skip suggested that something was afoot at the Vibrant Forest.  The bar man explained that an enlarged chiller room was being built in one of their units and the brewery's own canning line was being installed in another.  No shortage of post-pandemic optimism at Vibrant Forest Brewery....

...and the builders merchants next door will probably come in handy for the work....

Two hours quickly slipped by, and so a final beer then...this time a half of Grizzly Pear (4.3%) a gooseberry and pear gose.  A big blast of pear drops and ear ringing sherbet.   Lovely....

It's great to see the Vibrant Forest Brewery Tap open again and as vibrant as ever (did I mention how vibrant their beers really are...?).  From what I saw at this visit the faithful followers of craft are out in force to support them...
I grabbed my (un-needed) emergency pandemic decontamination man bag (in urban camo design) and went home feeling...well....VIBRANT!

Lyndhurst Through the Beer Glass Pt 7 - The Stag Hotel

Just when you thought the September 2019 Lyndhurst Through the Beer Glass series was going to be as long as the proverbial 'one that got away'...we reached the final pub, just next door to the one we started at in Lyndhurst High Street....

The Stag Hotel is 'a pub with rooms' type of hotel and it is another very fine historic building...  

...with an interior to match, all wood panelling, aged cream walls (possibly tobacco staining from the smoking heyday...who knows), enough historic knick-knacks to compete with the local museum (above and top photo)...

...posh chandeliers...

...and bar stools for the most discerning posterior...

Being shoulder to shoulder with The Mailmans Arms next door, it stands to reason that, in the interests of maximum customer choice,  both would be Greene King houses with a reliably similar range of beers....

...yes Old Speckled Hen, that old Moreland favourite, which was ok but definitely not a contender for the BB’s lacings premier league...

...though another quiet and sheltered rear beer garden was a nice way to finish off the day's travels around Lyndhurst's generous selection of hostelries...

...now I'll have to get back to the real post-lockdown summer 2020 world and see whether Doom Bar now really is the cask pint of choice....

Lyndhurst Through the Beer Glass Pt 6 - The Fox and Hounds

Of course post-covid there’s never been a better time to go to the pub now that VAT on food and soft drinks (but not real ale) has been temporarily reduced....except that it might not apply to pubs apparently...(don't drink the Atlantic White Flash)

...but this post is still pre-covid September 2019 when you could still help yourself to cutlery, and condiments from the bottle.

So after the disappointment of The Swan and the enchantment of the church, we arrived, halfway down Lyndhurst High Street, at the next pub, The Fox and Hounds.  

This is a beautiful old coaching house pub, with a symphony of aged woodwork inside....

...and a nice beer garden in the large rear yard with the old stabling buildings etc.

As a Fullers pub the usual culprits were on the bar, as well as Romsey Gold from Romsey microbrewer, Flack Manor....

...so it had to be that top Asahi beer, Tokyo  London Pride.  Still a very fine beer, still brewed in London and most important of all, still in one of the most ornately decorated beer glasses ever.  

The enclosed rear stabling yard was a lovely place, sunny and isolated from the constant traffic noise of Lyndhurst High Street out front.  Time enough to savour a beer, and appreciate a historic advertising sign for that old staple - Liebig soup...

...and something once made in Britain (apparently...)

Lyndhurst Through the Beer Glass Pt 5 - The Swan

As excitement reaches fever pitch on other pub blogs following the 'unlocking' of pubs, I'm still opting for the Covid free past with last September's pub walk.   If I make it last I might just get to the end of the second wave....  Anyway in the previous post we had left the New Forest Inn and now headed back on the short walk to Lyndhurst...

...which soon hove into view, and there without further ado, was the next pub, The Swan....

...hardly far enough to walk off the last pint.

Despite the temptations of the Ferrari/Maserati garage just down the road in Lyndhurst town centre, the pub car park boasted one of Elon's chariots (space trip on a Space X Falcon Heavy rocket not included).

Inside the pub, there was a strange, even eerie, feeling of the emptiness of space.  We stood at the bar, and waited...no member of staff appeared....a couple of other tourists wandered in....still no bar staff appeared.  So after a few minutes in the Heart of space the New Forest, we decided to forego the wait for the solitary Ringwood Razorback cask, and we wandered out again....

As we headed down Lyndhurst High Street there was the famous church of St Michael and All Angels, a beautiful brickwork design by that prolific church architect, William White and completed in 1869. 

Other well known designers such as William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones were responsible for the stained glass windows....  

..and of course its other claim to fame is that it is the last resting place of Alice in Wonderland,...

...aka Mrs Reginald Hargreaves.