Pat Gorman

This week we returned to Horsey to see the seals and to sample a new pie: A Pat Gorman “Unique award winning hand made pork pie” purchased from Aldi. It was our intention to repeat the walk we did earlier in the year, on the 24^th January, however on reaching Horsey Corner, we found that the footpath from Brograve drainage mill to Horsey Mere was closed, so we retraced our path a little and then headed south to All Saints church. We had a look inside and a good look around the exterior, finding no scratch dials to add to our collection. We set off south east along a track, and then by a road passing the pub we turned south into a field. We did this part of the walk in the opposite direction last time, at the field corner we then turned left onto a boggy field towards Horsey drainage mill. Here we had our sandwiches, with an olive entrée, kindly provided by Manola. Now it was full steam ahead to the “Nelson’s Head” by road and permissive path. After being shepparded by the landlady, we enjoyed pints of Woodforde’s Wherry and Nelson’s Revenge in excellent condition. Refreshed, we headed for the coast to see the seals with their pups. There were no Seal Wardens about when we arrived, and the 355 seal pups had taken liberties in the absence of authority - plonking themselves well over the blue polypropylene rope boundary!

We returned to the cars parked at Horsey Gap to sample this weeks delicacies: Manola did us proud with Scottish Lochmuir™ Smoked Salmon mini terrine slices, that were very yummy and M&S Spicy Red Houmous and Olive crackers. To refresh the pallet a cheese course: lightly smoked Polish cheese made from mountain ewes’ milk with Scottish oatcakes. Now the pie: The good-looking glossy pie was low on aroma when cut, but revealed a promising dark pink filling, nicely jellied. The munching revealed the crust to be good and the filling to be flavoursome. This pie tasted far better without the addition of any mustard. The pie munchers were impressed and it came in with a spot on score of 8 despite some one giving it a 6, hence a rather high standard deviation of 1.18322. Just in case we had not replaced the calories burnt off on our 5 mile walk, the Walk Master produced Highland Shortbreads!

Castle Grove

Off to Horsey to see the seals this week, armed with Castle Grove pies. The butchers in North Walsham had shut up shop early, so venturing into Lidl; we found pies we hadn’t sampled before. First we had a 5½-mile walk to complete. Parking at the car park at Horsey Gap, we headed inland via Horsey Corner and onto Brograve drainage mill, on the far bank of the Waxham New Cut, built in 1771 by Sir Berney Brograve. We followed the east bank of the cut, spotting three large unfamiliar birds in flight, thought to be cranes, and then along by Horsey Mere to Horsey drainage mill. Here we had our sandwiches on the seating provided. Heading east, over boggy fields we then headed north to the Nelson’s Head. After assuring the landlady that the 8 of us would fit into her pub and that we could all sit round a long table, we enjoyed pints of Woodforde’s Wherry and Nelson’s Revenge. Now we headed for the coast to see the seals with their pups. We were provided with lots of interesting facts about the seals from a friendly Seal Warden, including the fact that they can reach 30mph on land over a short distance. A walk along the dunes reunited us with the cars where we consumed small peppers stuffed with soft cheese, before sampling the pies. The small pies were cut in two, revealing a pink filling with no jelly and low aroma. The pies had a crisp pastry crust, although the filling lacked flavour, helped a little with a dab of mustard. Not a good pie, but better than last week’s, in my opinion, but the munchers differed; awarding it a score of 6.66666 with a standard deviation of 0.51640. Finally shortbread completed the outing. So a respectable normalised score of 6.5 for Lidl’s Castle Grove pies.
We were then joined by Emma, a retriever cross, who had missed the feast, but could still smell food.

Pork Farms Christmas Pie

Shortly after sampling Pork Farms medium pies in November, we start the year with Pork Farms Christmas Large Pork Pies, promising “Succulent well seasoned pork, baked in a flavousome rich pastry”. However, on arriving at this weeks tasting location, the only pies in evidence were pied-wagtails! The Pie Master had left the pies at home! So we marched off without the lure of a portion of pie back at the cars... We set off from Horsey Gap inland on a very bracing day; some would say “it was cold enough for a walking stick with a wheel on”! It was then pointed out that the Pie Master had his shoes on – the trauma of finding ourselves pieless had thrown him and he’d left his boots in the car! Arriving at our lunch location, Horsey mill, a photographic opportunity arose, only for the Pie Master to find his camera was sans memory card! After a prompt lunch stop, we headed off eastwards from the mill and then north to the welcoming warmth of the Nelson Head and a good pint of Woodforde’s Wherry or Nelsons Revenge. Buttoning up, we headed for the coast to view the seals on the beach. A few seals remained and after brief viewing and a mardle with the Seal Warden, we made hasty tracks back to the cars and a warming brew from Josie, who was acting tea lady this week. Shortcake accompanied the tea. We then returned to chez Pie Master & Josie to sample Sardine stuffed Cherry Peppers and then the pies... The dull pastry was not at its best, the filling having a good pink meaty appearance was reasonably tasty, though not enhanced by mustard. They scored a respectable 6.77777 with a high standard deviation of 0.93912 that gives Pork Farms an enhanced rating, with a normalised score of 7.0.