A new pie for us this week, from The Butchers Shop, Swanton Morley. We had heard much praise of their pork pies, but it would be after 6-miles before we would know whether these pies were worthy of the praise.
Parking at Barford village hall, the Walk Master marched us around the village, then off to the parish church of St. Botolph. No scratch dials being found before,
we headed north to Colton, passing the village sign and a barn opposite proclaiming “1666” in large numerals on its side. The church of St. Andrew’s, Colton was our lunch stop. We had visited this church two years ago and found it also had no scratch dials. Heading west to Bickerston, where we then turned southeast, the footpath passing through gardens, one being a “Remedial, Herbal and Holistic Therapy and Wellness Centre B&B”! We then had to mind flying balls as we crossed Barnham Broom Golf Course. Here Charles spotted Saffron milk caps
“Lactarius deliciosus” - the first that he had found. These were gathered, as they are very good to eat. Returning to Barford, we headed for the Cock Inn.
Here we were served Dave Winter’s recreation of the Blue Moon Brewery’s “Easy Life” and “Sea of Tranquillity” in top condition. A short walk to the cars where we would sample a Moroccan style and a caramelised onion Houmous with celery. 
Sobrassada was then produced to compliment our starter. Next, the small, hand-raised pies from Swanton Morley looked good with a glossy crust. Cutting the pie released little aroma, revealing a dark filling with a trace of jelly. Tasting was OK, a medium texture filling lacking much flavour. The pastry tasted pleasant but probably had suffered from the “plastic bag treatment” and was rather soft. So not living up to expectations, the pie scored 7.04545 with a standard deviation of 0.75679 – so a normalised score of 7 for The Butchers Shop, Swanton Morley. Shortbread followed as the final course.
