Pies from Paul Reed & Simon Wade’s
butchers in Holt make a welcome return, since last being tasted on the
12th August 2007, when they scored a stonking 8.75. Our venue for today’s tasting was
St. Bartholomew’s church at Corton, near the cliff top in Suffolk.
We started our six-mile pre-pie warm up walk with a visit to the church, finding one
scratch dial in the porch. We then headed east to the cliff-top and walked north along the cliff passing a very
secure bungalow with barbed wire around the perimeter and machine gun posts! Obviously an ex MoD
site.
Heading inland across a pleasant grass field, we crossed the A12, dual carriageway and then via footpaths, we zigzagged in a southwesterly direction to Blunderston,
where we came across a
‘sleeping’ Red Wing. We then made for the church of
St. Mary the Virgin for our lunch stop. After refreshments, viewing the church and recording its
two scratch dials,
we headed to
The Plough. No Adnams was available on this visit, so a pint of London Pride refreshed us and got our palates ready for pie. We headed east along footpaths crossing the A12 again and then picking up the old railway line, followed it north back to the car. A Chorizo, potato & sweet pepper
tortilla was the starter course, prior to assessing the pies. The good-looking pies revealed a dark, smooth, meat filling when sliced, nicely jellied but had little aroma. Munching the pies revealed a strange tasting filling which some enjoyed but others didn’t, reflected in reasonably high standard deviation of 0.95743. The pies were disappointing, mustard not helping to lift the score and the pastry was unremarkable, resulting in a low score of a spot on 6.5. The customary Shortcake completed the munching.
We started our six-mile pre-pie warm up walk with a visit to the church, finding one scratch dial in the porch. We then headed east to the cliff-top and walked north along the cliff passing a very secure bungalow with barbed wire around the perimeter and machine gun posts! Obviously an ex MoD site.
Heading inland across a pleasant grass field, we crossed the A12, dual carriageway and then via footpaths, we zigzagged in a southwesterly direction to Blunderston, 
where we came across a ‘sleeping’ Red Wing. We then made for the church of St. Mary the Virgin for our lunch stop. After refreshments, viewing the church and recording its two scratch dials,
we headed to The Plough. No Adnams was available on this visit, so a pint of London Pride refreshed us and got our palates ready for pie. We headed east along footpaths crossing the A12 again and then picking up the old railway line, followed it north back to the car. A Chorizo, potato & sweet pepper tortilla was the starter course, prior to assessing the pies. The good-looking pies revealed a dark, smooth, meat filling when sliced, nicely jellied but had little aroma. Munching the pies revealed a strange tasting filling which some enjoyed but others didn’t, reflected in reasonably high standard deviation of 0.95743. The pies were disappointing, mustard not helping to lift the score and the pastry was unremarkable, resulting in a low score of a spot on 6.5. The customary Shortcake completed the munching.
