Food trail…Yattendon

This morning after breakfast we wandered down to Bachelors Acre. The Windsor Festival is on at the moment and we thought that maybe we could spend some time at the Family Fun day. Unfortunately we were too early and things weren’t starting to happen until 11.30am. So we placated James with a quick play at the playground.

Our plan was to take Darren and Gill to one of our favourite places, Goring, on the river Thames between here and Oxford. On the way, we passed a sign to the village of Yattendon. A good friend of Darren and Gill’s grew up here and we took a detour to visit her childhood home. After chatting to the lady in the village shop for a bit we walked across the road to the Royal Oak for lunch. This was no ordinary pub! Highly recommended by several food publications, and noted in the Domesday book, this lovely, traditional old place was steeped in history and we all had a good look around inside and out before settling down to order.

Martin, Darren and Gill all enjoyed the local ale, “Good Old Boys”, while James consumed 3 types of bread – walnut, rosemary and baguette, with olive tapenade. Martin commented that this was the best “pub” meal he’s had. He and Darren ordered the chicken roulade, Gill the French Onion and Bacon Soup, and James and I shared a broccoli risotto. Very filling and most delicious!

Leaving Yattendon we drove through true English countryside to Goring. The weather was a little unpredictable but we were well prepared. James had fallen asleep in the car but we woke him to see the boats entering the lock and the doors closing. After a couple of boatloads through the lock we headed back to the car.

We wanted to get to Greys Court, near Henley on Thames, for afternoon tea. It’s a little cross-country but we soon got there only to find the gates shut and the castle closed. This is the place some of you will remember as one of our stops here in the UK. There are photos in our album of our picnic in the bluebell woods when the weather was a little more summery!

So on down the hill on to Henley. We knew there was a Starbucks so we parked and went there for a coffee. Yay! On the way we passed a fresh produce stall and bought some fruit and veg. Martin, Darren and Gill then walked down to the Thames.

We got home just before 6pm. We cooked the beautiful fresh sweet corn from Henley which was as good as it looked. James loves corn and ate nearly 2 cobs! He is asleep now, no doubt dreaming of more adventures tomorrow…

Photos from Yattendon are here.