Challis Family Butchers

Pies from over the border again this week: from Challis Family Butchers on Sizewell Road, Leiston, Established 1895. Before we could sample these new pies, we had 4 churches and a pub to visit. Our starting point and pie munching location, was the Village hall of Buxton. We crossed the road to the church of St. Andrew, examining the exterior for scratch dials, of which we found none. Then a quick look inside before heading north, over the Bure Valley Railway line to Oxnead. Passing over a stream we had a game of Poohsticks, the Walk Master and Josie being joint winners - the Pie Master coming last. Passing large gates to our left, to Oxnead Hall, we then admired the front of the hall before visiting Oxnead church, tucked away behind the hall, dedicated to St. Michael, also without a scratch dial. After a little confusion, we continued north, our walk all the more interesting when the footpath passed through a rapeseed field – the plants engulfing us. Arriving at All Saints church, Skeyton, we spotted a prominent scratch dial on the porch. Here we had lunch, we then left the locked church and headed south down a lane to the Skeyton Goat, for pints of Timothy Taylor's "Landlord". Visiting our fourth church: St. Andrew's, Lamas, with a single scratch dial on a buttress. This church was locked, so we took the opportunity to sit on the seat by the river, and while taking in the view, a swan visited. A barn owl was spotted hunting in the distance then a brace of ducks flew by. We then had a very picturesque walk back to the car, passing by Buxton mill. No King Canape today, so no canapés and straight into the pork pies. Cutting them released no aroma. The interior was dark pink and had good texture; there was a very small amount of jelly tucked around the edge. The crust was crisp and tasty but the filling somewhat of a disappointment, lacking flavour. Perhaps they were served too cold, as I had a slice of pie the previous day in Leiston and I was impressed with the flavour then. Well on this occasion they scored 7.16666 with a standard deviation of 0.81650. Just as we were to tuck into our Scottish Shortbreads, the rain came. We hastily packed up and took our cups of tea to the shelter under the veranda of the pavilion, and had our shortbreads there. So Challis butchers have a normalised score of 7.

Wm. Morrison Large Melton Mowbray pork pies

The delicatessen at Wm. Morrison provided the last pie of the month – large Melton Mowbray pies. We hadn’t tried these before – Melton Mowbray, hmmm... they didn’t look like Melton Mowbray’s, appearing to have been baked in fluted moulds, rather than free standing as tradition dictates. But before we could sample these, we had one of the Walk Master's interesting walks – you cant say he doesn’t have stile – this walk had at least ten! (A rupture of stiles?) Setting off from the car park at New Buckenham Common, we headed for St. Martin's church to look for scratch dials, of which we found none. We then headed east to Old Buckenham, skirting round the rampart and moat of the New Buckenham castle. Heading north as we walked around Warren Plantation, we eventually came to the 1818 Old Buckenham mill – the widest tower mill in the country. Onwards to sandwiches in the porch of All Saints, Old Buckenham. This church had been extensively rendered so no scratch dials were visible. We then visited the “ Ox and Plough” for a pint of their very acceptable “Ox Ale” at £2.20 a pint, brewed by Worthington’s. We also enjoyed the company of Barkley, a playful 5-month old Labrador puppy. Picking up footpaths on the Tas Valley Way, we headed back to New Buckenham and a return visit to St. Martin’s, then on to the cars and the pies. The two dubious looking Melton Mowbray pies were cut, revealing a pale coarse filling, with a bit of jelly. A pleasant meaty aroma was present though not abundant. The pies tasted good too, “porky and peppery” and were good both with and without mustard, this was reflected in the score with a 8.25 and a standard deviation of 0.75593. Don’s pâté was again passed over, Ricky’s Shortcake offering made a welcome return, followed by a “Quality Street” finale. So Wm. Morrison scored a normalised 8.5 for its large Melton Mowbray pies.