22 September 2022

Washout

Weather-wise it has been a pretty good week up here on the southern edge of  The Lake District. However, it was always predicted that Thursday September 22nd would be a washout as a moisture-laden front moved in from the North Atlantic.

We decided to just stay home, mooching about, reading, knitting or editing photographs. Our apartment at Summer Hill is spacious, clean and well-equipped with no expense spared on fixtures and fittings. Because of this we could easily bear our self-imposed confinement  We had also planned to venture out in the evening for our dinner (Yorkshire: tea).

We drove north for a couple of miles to the village of Lowick and parked Clint opposite "The Red Lion" It is an old-fashioned public house - warm and clean with no television  sets glaring or music blaring. I had a couple of pints of "Flat Cap" bitter and Shirley had two glasses of golden ale. For my main course I ordered beer-battered cod with chips (American: fries) and mushy peas. Shirley had mushroom stroganoff with rice. 

We followed up with homemade desserts - me sticky toffee pudding with cream and Mrs Pudding chose  chocolate pudding with custard.

It was a good meal and a nice trip out at the end of a grim day. We are heading home tomorrow but we plan to stop off at Grange-over-Sands  and maybe Cartmel too. The weather should be much improved.

"The Red Lion", Lowick in 2013 (©Tom Richardson Geograph)

34 comments:

  1. Ah, the Yorkshire High Tea. Cod & Chips with Mushy Peas.
    How can a body not long for Fish & Chips, when he's at the seaside, and it's raining a small rain on the green choppy ocean?

    Last Fish Tea I had was Lunch in a cafe in Gloucester.
    It was raining buckets that day and I walked down to the docks for coffee in Costa.
    When the Nationalists take over Scotland I am heading for the English coast.
    Or I'll settle in rainy Gloucester to be near the Cotswolds.
    Haggerty

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    1. You will need elocution lessons if you are driven to live in England. I imagine you talking like Albert Finney in "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning".

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    2. A Calvinist maiden lady age 92 sternly reproved me with the words :
      *You don't have a Glasgow accent, do you ?*
      I find it easier to sound like Christopher Hitchens than William McIlvanney (YouTube) - Willie had a voice like God in the cloud.
      .
      Albert Finney has a cameo in David Storey's elegiac memoir,
      *A Stinging Delight* : Finney did a read-through of Storey's play.

      I don't have a death wish but I get a sleep wish when I watch Finney in the Manchester Hilton scene of *Charlie Bubbles*, Georgie Best's favourite movie.
      While Lisa Minnelli is ordering breakfast of kippers, coffee, orange juice & iced water, Charlie just wants to roll up in bed and sleep for England.
      *Seal the hushed Casket of my Soul,* wrote Keats.
      H.

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  2. Although I would gladly eat both dinners, if I were choosing, I would choose the one of Mrs. Pudding.

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  3. What does "Free House" mean???

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    1. It means that the pub is not operated by a brewery. It is probably owned by the landlord/landlady and makes its own decisions. By the way Bob, I have recently had trouble accessing your blog. It appears to have some sort protective barrier around it. I guess it could just be Blogger playing up again. I will keep trying.

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  4. Really? Having a couple of pints and still driving?

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    1. I would have still been within the legal limit P.C. Jeating!

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  5. Perhaps I should not say this but I wish you would post some pictures of your meals at times. We in the far-away land of the US have no real idea what some of these dishes look like. Sheep and castles and seascapes are lovely but...what exactly is chocolate pudding with custard?
    May the rest of your get-away be sweet.

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  6. Anonymous12:50 am

    You had good weather otherwise by your photos. A slow and relaxed day in great comfort was not a bad thing. I don't understand the economics of how British pubs survive but they are the absolute best for simple food.

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    1. It is tragic that so many pubs have had to cloze in recent years. Only the strong survive.

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  7. The mushy peas are something I hear that goes with fries and fish. What are mushy peas?

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    1. They are peas that have been cooked till mushy. Surely Jean remembers them.

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  8. I didn't know that tea could be dinner. Is there actual tea involved too? Your rain plans sound great to me. I love to relax, read and do whatever I want. (but not knit)

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    1. In the north of England, parents have often yelled, "Margaret! Come in now, your tea is ready!" We are talking about the evening meal and usually there are no cups of tea involved!

      By the way, it was Shirley doing the knitting, not me!

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  9. What does the "Free House" sign mean? Is it covid free? Or is the food and beer free?

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    1. Ha-ha! You made me laugh River! It is free from brewery control.

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  10. Cartmel priory is worth a visit if you have time.

    We have tea, not dinner around 5:30. Dinner, if taken is at 12:30.

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    1. Thanks Christina. I know your are as religious as a Mother Superior so we did indeed visit Cartmel Priory on Friday.

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  11. Fish and chips. Food of the Gods.

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    1. Add mushy peas and cups of tea and it is the food of the supergods!

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  12. I miss English pubs and English bitter. Sounds a great place to dine and drink.

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    Replies
    1. Never mind. One of my pints of "Flat Cap" was for you!

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  13. The Red Lion looks like a lovely traditional pub, and the fish and chips (but not the mushy peas) sound very tasty - perfect followed by sticky toffee pudding - and a long walk!
    Did you know that years ago, there was a restaurant which specialised in puddings? It may still be there for all I know, but I'm talking of nearly 30 years ago! The main courses were fairly simple, but the pudding (dessert) trolley came round several times for diners to indulge in a selection of the day's high calorie offerings. Sticky Toffee Pudding was one of the chef's signature dishes.
    The restaurant was somewhere in the Cotswolds, but I can't remember where, though we went on several occasions with friends.










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    1. The Cotswolds are Down South Carol! We try to avoid Down South because of possible contagion.

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  14. Our weather is quite damp today so I hope it's better up where you are. Sounds like a nice pub. It's great to get away from televisions, isn't it?! Sounds like you've had a nice break.

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    1. You and Dave might like that area with a hire car!

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  15. A quiet day is sometimes just what the world needs

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  16. I googled your desserts and they sure look yummy! So are puddings sometimes little cakes with sweet sauces on them? Fancy!

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    1. You have got the idea Ellen. To most ordinary English folk the idea of finishing an evening meal with a sweet pudding is quite traditional and common.

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  17. The Yorkshire caviar.

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    1. I suppose I am an acquired taste - just like caviar.

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