03-Aug-2026
Our England odyssey continues!
My rambly post of 31 July had got us as far as Ripley, where the usual pleasant walks continued:
Look! New duck on the block
Butterley Reservoir, looking cool and appealing on another hot day
We also did a trip to Belper, feeling that really it had been an awfully long time since we'd been. The little town was looking very pretty, but its valley location made it terribly HOT:
Admittedly, we don't usually spend time in England in summer, so we don't have much of a comparative frame of reference. But this blond dryness looks very unusual to us
There's hardly any water in the weir in front of Belper Mill
But look! A brother duck!
Meanwhile, we'd remembered The Bottle Kiln from a previous stay in West Hallam, and we particularly recalled their cool, shady garden... So that's where we rounded off the day:
Cool garden, cool frappes...
Cool Buddha...
And proof it was originally a bottle kiln...
The 88th birthday lunches were continuing, too. The second was at Santo's Higham Farm Hotel. It was our second visit to this resto (the first was back in 2023), and both times it has been excellent: Great food, and a very pleasant, airy, uncrowded setting.
This is their exquisite steamed honey pudding, with clotted cream, honey tuile, and pollen (somehow...)
The last of the birthday lunches took place at The Robin Hood in Droitwich, an establishment that apparently dates back to the Victorian era, and used to be frequented by salt workers from Droitwich Spa and Stoke Prior, all wanting to tank up after a day's labour on the salt vats. As you would.
This was another very enjoyable meal, with a kind little surprise at the end:
It's pleasant country round here, with lots of black-and-white houses from various eras
Dry again, though... Crying out for a drop of rain...
After this, we headed south, and overnighted at The Grange in Winterbourne. Third time... We're becoming such creatures of habit...
After a longish drive, there's nothing nicer than a glass of chilled white wine...
So we're faring very well. Tomorrow: Somerset.