In order to try and halt the decline in pie standards, since the 8.5's of late September / early October, pies were sourced from the Sheringham
Shop of
J. & D. Papworth Farms (Butchers & Graziers) who were voted Norfolk's best butcher in 2002 & 2004! But before we could start munching on these promising pies, we had to hoss around
Holt: We eventually found parking at the
Holt Country Park visitors centre and set off east, towards Little Thornage via the ford on the Glaven. Then north on to Letheringsett and the church of
St. Andrew, taking (in) the piscenae, of which there were three, but no scratch dials. We passed
Letheringsett Hall with its five Doric columns, on our left, then passing
Letheringsett brewery mill on our right, as we headed back towards Holt. Pausing at the springs at
Spout hills, once the source of Holt’s water supply, for
lunch. We emerged from the hills passing one of the
taps for the poor, on route to the Victorian
Methodist church, but it was locked, so we were unable to admire its low false ceiling covered in polystyrene tiles! We headed into town via a convoluted route, passing the remains of the other surviving
tap for the poor, at the entrance to Weston Square. We mourned the loss of the 1855, 56ft high, red brick, 15,000 gallon
water tower in Shirehall Plain, demolished in 1957 two years after it went out of service. We drowned our sorrows with a freezing pint at the Feathers Hotel, before we concluded the walk, exploring another
St. Andrew's church. Heading east we saw the Walk Master’s former residence (yet to get its blue plaque) then south, across the bypass, and back through the country park for tea and pies. The good-looking hand raised pies revealed a reasonable amount of jelly when cut. A pleasant aroma preceded the tasting of the nicely seasoned meat filling contained within a very pleasant, non-lardy piecrust. These pies, surprisingly, only scored 7.664286 with a fairly high standard deviation of 0.80178. This may have been due to the absence of one of our core seasoned pie tasters and novice taster joining our ranks. So, that’s a normalised 7.5 for J. & D. Papworth Farms. No Canapés this week, but the shortbread made a welcome return to round off proceedings.
Methodist church, but it was locked, so we were unable to admire its low false ceiling covered in polystyrene tiles! We headed into town via a convoluted route, passing the remains of the other surviving tap for the poor, at the entrance to Weston Square. We mourned the loss of the 1855, 56ft high, red brick, 15,000 gallon water tower in Shirehall Plain, demolished in 1957 two years after it went out of service. We drowned our sorrows with a freezing pint at the Feathers Hotel, before we concluded the walk, exploring another St. Andrew's church. Heading east we saw the Walk Master’s former residence (yet to get its blue plaque) then south, across the bypass, and back through the country park for tea and pies. The good-looking hand raised pies revealed a reasonable amount of jelly when cut. A pleasant aroma preceded the tasting of the nicely seasoned meat filling contained within a very pleasant, non-lardy piecrust. These pies, surprisingly, only scored 7.664286 with a fairly high standard deviation of 0.80178. This may have been due to the absence of one of our core seasoned pie tasters and novice taster joining our ranks. So, that’s a normalised 7.5 for J. & D. Papworth Farms. No Canapés this week, but the shortbread made a welcome return to round off proceedings.
