Butlers Choice pork pies

A new pie for the pie munchers: Medium size Butlers Choice pork pies, homemade by award winning Mrs. Leeks! Purchased from R. A. Cawdron & Son in Stalham. The Walk Master, inspired by the recent Boldero walk, had us heading out to Great Ryburgh to sample the pies. This walk started as the last walk left off... We headed south down a muddy bridle way, the majority following the Walk Master down the left hand side. The Führer led a small party down the right-hand side! They all had to turn back, other than Don, who climbing through the bushes, managed to climb the embankment. Walking along the top of the embankment, passing obstacles on the way, he then met up with the main party via a decent through more bushes! We all eventually regrouped and continued south, observing a buzzard riding the thermals and passing the west gatehouse of Sennowe Hall, we arrived at the church of St. Helen, Gately - this was our lunch stop. Having consumed sandwiches and looked around the church, finding no scratch dials, we made our way back to Great Ryburgh along footpaths that followed the road. In the distance we observed a barn owl hunting and then later rabbits scurrying in the undergrowth, close to our path. We had a quick look around the exterior of St. Andrew’s as it sounded a service was under way. We crossed the road for pints of Adnams in very good condition at the Blue Boar Inn. We returned to the cars parked in front of the village hall, to sample Vintage Houmous with Celery prior to sampling the pies...These good-looking pies with good chunky meat filling and little jelly, released a beautiful aroma when sliced. The meat filling was very tasty and not really enhanced by mustard. The attractive pastry looked better than it tasted. However, these pies were a hit with the massed pie munchers; they were judged to be the best pies this year, with a score of 8.58333 and a standard deviation of 0.79296. The last pie to beat this was Hewitt's small pies sampled on 8th June, when the Führer was absent. The Walk Master then produced Shortcake to complete proceedings! So a normalised score of 8.5 for Butlers Choice pork pies.

Massed Pie Munchers at Great Ryburgh

Wymondham Farm Foods

This week, when the clocks went forward, was very topsy-turvy: The Pie Master did the walk, King Canapé provided the pies and the Walk Master returned with his Shortcake. This week, to warm up for the pies that Charles had sourced from Wymondham Farm Foods on Thursday, we did a 6-mile Boldero walk from Salhouse. We did it in the reverse direction; from All Saints church we headed east and then south by footpath to the centre of Salhouse. From here we ventured west to Rackheath industrial estate taking in views of the Horstead water tower in the distance and passing a collection of car front spoilers! From the industrial estate we headed north west to All Saints church, Rackheath – our lunch stop at about two thirds distance. This not only had a porch for the partaking of sandwiches, but a scratch dial too! We continued our reverse Boldero walk, deviating to take in the “Green Man” on the Wroxham road, for a pint of Adnams or Wherry in good condition. Continuing our walk back to Salhouse church, along Stonehouse road, we again deviated, taking the footpath at the bend in the road, rather than continuing along to the railway bridge. Then, less than a third of a mile from the cars, the Führer led a breakaway group on an extended route in order to avoid walking 70 yards along a lay-by, by the road. When we had all eventually arrived at the cars, the pies were presented. Rather odd looking with the pie top detached from the case. Slicing the pies released a good aroma and revealed a coarse pink filling, with no jelly. These pies were severely let down by poor pastry. The crust was soft, probably due to it being more like short crust than hot water crust pastry. The coarse filling was quite tasty and even better with a touch of mustard. The pies scored a 6.71429 with a standard deviation of 0.95119. Ricky’s Shortcake was then eagerly consumed. So a normalised score of 6.5 for Wymondham Farm Foods.

Don’s Pheasant Pâté

No pies today due to a lack of pie munchers and this being Mothering Sunday, we bowed to Margaret’s wish of a non-pie day. In the absence of the Walk Master, King Canapé and the Pie Master managed to navigate, a poorly signposted, Boldero walk around Brome, Suffolk. Parking near to the Swan Inn, we set off towards Brome church, but just prior to reaching it, headed south to Mustardpot Hall, then picking up the Mid-Suffolk Path, headed to Brome Street, passing Brome Hall. On reaching The Street, Brome Street, we headed west, back towards Brome. Noticing the ideal lunch stop, a covered seating area in front of the village hall – a memorial to the 490th Bombardment Group (Heavy) stationed nearby at Eye - we had our lunch early. Continuing our journey along The Street, full of beautiful thatched cottages, we came to Brome and the church of St. Mary - much reconstructed rather than restored in the 1860’s - although the south porch and south side were much left intact, there were no scratch dials to be found. After inspecting the church interior and admiring its stained glass windows we departed. Retracing our steps a short distance, we then headed north via a footpath towards Warren Hills and shortly before reaching the B1118, turned west and followed a footpath across the A140. Our passage to the church at Stuston via the un-signposted footpath across a field, was blocked by deep furrows across our path, forcing us to follow the perimeter of the field. As can be seen on Google Earth, previously crops blocked this right of way. We eventually reached the Victorianised All Saints church, Stuston. This too had no scratch dials, so we left the church and headed south down a track zigzagging back up Stuston Lane and then south again, down Grove Lane, turning east under a crackling high-voltage pylon and heading to the A140. Walking the short distance down the A140 to the Swan Inn for refreshment, unfortunately it had closed at 15:00! We crossed the A140 to the car. Smoked salmon mousse crescents formed the entrée prior to sampling Don’s Pheasant Pâté on nairns Oatcakes. I really enjoyed this and thought it better than the Venison pâté sampled on the 8th February. Finally, dial-less, we headed for St. Nicholas church, Oakley by car on the way home. This church did not yield any scratch dials either but had some good Victorian stained glass.

Marks & Spencer Melton Mowbray pies

The month started with us tasting, for the first time, Marks & Spencer Melton Mowbray medium pork pies. This is thanks to Jorge; who wrote to me asking why our score for M&S pies were so low, when the Independent's review had scored them so highly? I investigated, and found that we were not comparing like with like – the Independent were reviewing Melton Mowbray pies and we had been munching on cured pork pies. This was rectified this week after walking up an appetite following the Boldero’s walk, recently published in the EDP. From Gunthorpe Green, we headed east to Briningham passing Bellevue tower, a former mill that was once used as a water tower. As we approached this, Don spotted Baconsthorpe water tower in the distance. The church of St. Maurice was our lunch stop, we had previously photographed it’s scratch dial with a porch door hinge attached! We headed back in a westerly direction, the pace quickening when a group of walkers with two dogs got in Josie’s sights! We visited St. Mary’s church at Gunthorpe, prior to returning to the Green. The nairn’s mini oatcakes with Waitrose supreme houmous and their supreme red pepper & feta dip made a return appearance. To appreciate the pies fully, the tea service was restored, the award winning pies were then sampled: An OK appearance with a reasonable amount of jelly failed to set the taste buds alight. Peppery seasoning helped, the texture nothing special, the pastry leaving a lardy after taste did not impress. These pies were judged to have a score of 6.4375, with a rather high standard deviation of 0.9797. So a normalised sore of 6.5 for Marks & Spencer Melton Mowbray medium pork pies. The walk, without a pub, was completed in good time enabling all the munchers to get home for the delayed start of the Grand Prix and see Lewis Hamilton snatch the World championship in the last few seconds. I bet he had a celebratory pork pie!