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| 'ookesbury Park - didn't quite get the R in... |
Rookesbury Park is a private estate near Wickham in Hampshire, and on it, hidden away in the woods, is Rookesbury Park Caravan & Motorhome Club site, which is where I and Mrs GH spent a long weekend for our second trip out in 'Hector'...
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| Hector with his top - popped |
...our recently acquired Eriba Troll caravan. Technically owners of Eriba caravans don't go caravanning, they go 'Eriba-ing'.. It's a niche thing... If you are compelled to know more about Eribas - this blog is a very informative and amusing read.
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| Sunset over Rookesbury Park |
Rookesbury Park is a really nice woodland site with excellent facilities (toilest/showers etc) and the reception area sports a nice display of tyre planters...
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| Hippie Minion? |
...and other garden art....
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| Not an Eriba |
Even the dog walk area had some garden art...
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| Brambil - sit! |
Another nice little touch (attached to the front of the toilet/shower block), was a collection of 'pick your own' herbs - great for your caravan culinary adventures...
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| Vertical herb gardening |
Having arrived on the Thursday afternoon and pitched our little 'des res' comprising Hector and his awning, we relaxed for the rest of the day, beer and wine etc. On the Friday morning, we ventured out to the small hamlet of Southwick, which, you may recall, I have blogged before - covering the village's two 'lion' pubs.
No pub visits there this time though, just a wander round the village and a chat with a friendly group of Dutch motorcyclists who had been on a touring holiday of the Sout/Southwest.
However I did need to visit the Southwick Brewhouse.
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| Southwick Brewhouse |
The Southwick Brewhouse is situated in the back yard of the Golden Lion pub. It is an old Victorian brewhouse, and upstairs there is now a museum, showing the old brewing equipment. The head brewer was called Dick Olden - he brewed at the brewhouse for some 50 years from the early 1900's to the 1950s, and is celebrated by 'Old Dick' bitter, one of a colelction of Suthwyck beers brewed at a local farm specially for the brewhouse.
On the lower floor of the brewhouse there is a beer shop selling a range of real ales from different breweries, some local, some further afield, as well as the range of Suthwyck Ales. This site has more on the history of the brewhouse...https://www.southwickbrewhouse.co.uk/history/
So having stocked up with beers it was back to the caravan to try some out...
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| Proper craft lager - al fresco |
...the Ammonite beer is a lager, and is part of the 'Jurassic Coast range' from Piddle Brewery in Dorset, 'a traditional European lager' they say, and as it is not 'brewed' at a factory in Wolverhampton - it is full of flavour and tastes really very good.
A 10p donation is made to the Jurassic Coast Trust (www.jurassiccoast.org) from every bottle of beer sold. I like a good beer with a good cause.
The following morning we went for a look around Wickham, a large village that looks like a mini-market town, with it's traditional square. Henry was first in the car as usual, not wanting to be left behind...
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| Dog loaded and ready to go... |
Wickham was once a centre of railway activity with it's own reasonable sized station and goods facilities on the Meon Valley Line. We parked in the car park on the site of the old station...
...the trackbed of some of the railway line still exists, and forms the picturesque Meon Valley walking trail out from Wickham over the River Meon and through the countryside to Meonstoke....
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| Trail - on the old railway bridge over the River Meon |
We, however, walked the other way into the centre of Wickham to have a look round the old square...
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| Wickham Square - it's more of a rectangle really - but I'm just splitting hairs |
After a bit of shopping for lunch at the butchers and bakery, we came to the far end of the square...
...wait a minute aren't those two guys sat outside a pub drinking beer?...(too shocked to take photo)....
...checks watch...
10:30am...and the pub is open (no it's not Weatherspoons).
Well, when in Rome Wickham...
... a pint of Bowman's Swift One please - lovely cask pint - most unexpected at that time of the morning and very good. The staff kindly gave Henry a drink too...
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| Little bowl/big dog - think he'll need another! |
So this wonderful pub, open at 10:30 on a Saturday morning was The Square Cow (I wonder if it was ever the 'The Cow in the Square'?).
A lovely old pub, and the building dates back to the 16th century, still with old stone flag floor. The staff explained that there is an original part of the 16th century wall decorations in the meeting room upstairs and kindly allowed me to go and have a look...
So, up the Mooseum of Fame stairs...
...pretty impressive eh?! (sorry for the glass reflections).
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| 16th century decor...not Laura Ashley... |
I'd definitely recommend a visit to Wickham, and to The Square Cow, but for us, back to the caravan for a nice cheese and ham roll and bit of pork pie for lunch...
...and more holiday relaxation...
Bye for now.
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