Wm. Morrison (star shaped) hand raised pies

“Star shaped” hand raised pies from the in-store bakery of Wm. Morrison, were the pies of choice for the final munching of flaming June. As it was so hot, we headed to Overstrand for a walk near the coast. Parking by the cricket ground we walked west along the main road to the church of St. Martin, but not visiting it, before we headed up Newman’s Hill. Descending by Suffield Park to join the Paston Way, we passed Cromer lighthouse that featured prominently in the classic 1960’s film “The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter”. We headed towards and walked through Cromer, to the zigzag slope on the west of the town, that goes down to the prom. Now walking east, we made our way to the pier to consume our sandwiches above the sea. The Walk Master then led us up a steep ascent of the cliffs to the Red Lion with it's good selection of beers, of which we sampled “Stripey Jack” from Bees brewery, Woodforde’s “Sundew” & Wolf’s " Straw Dog". We made our way back to Overstrand on the firm sand, thanks to the low tide. Heading back to the town centre via The Londs, we passed the impressive clock tower at The Pleasaunce - designed by Edwin Lutyens and dating from 1897-9. We took our tea and pies to Overstrand cricket ground to utilise the seating. Only Six munchers this week, no King Canape, so straight into the pies: cutting revealed a bright pink interior with no jelly and no aroma. Munching proved the crust to be both crisp and tasty, the filling less so, tasting faintly of unsmoked ham. Mustard didn't really enhance the flavour. The pies were judged to have an acceptable score of 7.25 – marginally higher than when we last sampled these on the 31^st May, last year. The standard deviation was also slightly lower at 0.68920 and with one less muncher! While consuming the post pie Shortbreads, José noticed the cricket club's fixture list and that Overstrand were playing the Bystanders Cricket club on 12^th June and ^14th August. Wm Morrison’s star shaped pies get a normalised score of 7.5 on this outing.

Icarus Hines, small pork pies

Small pies from Icarus Hines, purchased from his shop in Cromer were the focus of our munching this week. We have sampled his small pies once before on June 1^st 2008, when they were purchased from his shop in Sheringham. We headed to Blickling, so that we could enjoy the bluebells in the woods. We parked in the car park by Buck’s Common and then walked with Bert and Harris, through Bunker’s Hill plantation seeing swathes of English bluebell, including a few albino examples. We then followed the path by the Great Wood and into Blickling Park, where we walked around the lake spotting a reed warbler and a grebe diving for food in the lake. As we headed back to the hall, we noted the water tower to our left. We then followed the ha ha around the hall’s gardens with the rhododendrons in bloom, and passed the splendid front of the hall to the picnic to the west. Here we consumed our sandwiches before the short stroll to the Buckinghamshire Arms, where we passed up the Adnams to sample Lupus Lupus – the seasonal beer from the Wolf brewery. After enjoying this fine pint, we headed back past the hall and to St. Andrew’s church. The church was open today, so we were able to see the fine brasses – on previous visits, the church had been locked. From here we headed south along Silvergate Lane before we headed west on the last leg of the walk, passing through Long Plantation and passed the Tower - the second Earl of Buckinghamshire's race stand. Finally a short walk through Buck’s Common concluded our appetiser. Prawns with tartare sauce provide by King Canape was the first course, then followed the pies and a tortilla cooked by José Luis. First the pies,

good looking and when sliced revealed a pink filling with a very little jelly and low on aroma. The pastry was crumbly and too thick for some – perhaps because of the high crust to filling ratio that is inevitable with small pies. The filling was a disappointment to me, not bad, but below expectations, others found it to their liking, resulting in a score of 7.22222 with a high standard deviation of 1.06393. The tortilla was very tasty and I think we all agreed on that. Finally, just to ensure we didn’t go hungry, the Walk Master provided Scottish Shortbreads. So a normalised score of 7 for Icarus Hines compared to a score of 8 on their last outing.

Wm. Morrison “New” Melton Mowbray pork pies

The Pie Master had spotted “New” Melton Mowbray pork pies in the deli in Wm. Morrison - their fluted Melton Mowbray pies were surprisingly good when sampled on the 22^nd February, last year. So these were this week’s delicacy - they certainly looked the part. Eight pie munchers set out on an undulating walk near to Edgefield, from where we headed north west along tracks and bridleways. Many horses & riders passed us on a 10-mile sponsored ride. Wildlife spotted on the first half of the walk included a hare and a pair of Brimstone butterflies. On our journey north west, we passed a field of happy looking pielets before crossing a former M&GN railway line, then we then headed south west for just under a mile. We crossed the railway again, following a track that took us past a delightful garden as we crossed a beck. A short walk along road took us by a field with lambs and the church of St. Lawrence, Hunworth. The walk master was unable to provide his usual informative update regarding the church, as he had brought the wrong Pevsner volume! Finding no scratch dial, we headed for the “Hunny Bell”, passing the rear of Hunworth hall with its fine topiaries. The pub was serving pints of Wolf's "Hero" - a tasty pint coming in at 4%. A final mile and a half, in which we spotted a buzzard and another hare completed this very enjoyable, picturesque walk - Don awarding the Walk Master eleven out of ten! The appearance of the pies got the munchers excited, King Canape declaring them to be a fine pair of erect pies! But first, we had his peppers stuffed with goats cheese that were eagerly consumed. The pies were sliced, their contents looked good despite no jelly. The lack of aroma was the first sign that these pies were not up to the mark. Munching the pies, with their crisp but lardy crust, revealed that flavour was sadly lacking. Mustard did help this pie out a little and the texture was O.K., but it only scored 5.8125 with a very high standard deviation of 1.62431. Organic Scottish Shortbreads completed an excellent outing. A normalised score of 6, then for Wm. Morrison’s new Melton Mowbray pies, their “old” fluted ones had scored 8.5!

J & N’s Butchers

A new pork pie for us this week, a large pork pie from J & N’s Butchers of North Walsham (part of Mundesley Butchers). To sample these pies we headed to Blickling via an interesting route devised by the walk master – rather than going into Aylsham and heading west, we took the bypass to the east and then would head west, cross-country. After a wrong turning, we headed west along Banningham Road, only to find the road was closed and there was a diversion. This was interesting, as this route was completely flooded. Both cars raised their suspension for wading and followed Josie in her wellies, through the water. We arrived at the pie tasting ground – the Fisherman’s car park by the lake at Blickling Hall. We started the pre-pie “warm-up” by walking by the frozen lake and along a part of Weaver’s way, then heading north through much mud and very scenic countryside. We eventually reached the road in front of the Saracen’s Head, which we followed southeast, to the church of Our Lady & St. Margaret in Calthorpe. Here we found two scratch dials and sat in the graveyard and had our sandwiches. Onwards to the Spread Eagle in Erpingham, to enjoy a good pint from Wolf or Woodforde’s in “Bullshit Corner”. We had to leave the two pub dogs and head back to the cars and pie, about two and a third miles away. Arriving back at the cars it was decided to start with the pie course. The large pie, obviously cooked in a foil dish, had an attractive glossy top. When cut the pie revealed a coarse pinkie-grey filling and a little jelly. This pie was rated very diversely: although it lacked an appetising aroma, to me this was a top-notch pie, with its coarse meat filling and tasting spot-on, both with and without mustard. One thought it lacked flavour and some criticised the crust, resulting in a very high standard deviation of 1.55265. It did come through with a very respectable score of 7.625. Now it was time to sample the Venison Pâté on oatcakes, donated by Don Warman. This was pleasant though not remarkable, shortcake completed the grazing experience. So a normalized score of 7.5 for J & N’s Butchers pies.