G. Morris & Sons' Mega pie

A Mega pie from G. Morris & Sons this week, weighing in at a mighty 1 lb 12oz – we’ve already had their pies this year, on the 11th January, but not on this scale! We headed to the pie tasting ground of Castle Acre with the intention of avoiding the rain, but we were to be wrong footed, three times on this outing. The Walk Master & Weather Wizard had planned a walk in the west to avoid the rain that was predicted to come from the east, on Saturday evening, but the weather front was now coming in from the west. However, we set off from the remains of the castle in good weather, along the Nar Valley Way in a northeasterly direction. Passing fields of happy outdoor reared pie filling, we arrived in West Lexham. Here we headed to the church of St. Nicholas where after a fruitless search for a scratch dial, we had lunch – the boys in the porch and girls sitting outside in the sun. After lunch we retraced our footsteps south, then has a game of Poohsticks as we crossed the River Nar. A second crossing of the Nar provided a return match of Poohsticks before we eventually arrived at Newton-by-Castle-Acre. We were once again wrong footed: choosing to visit the church before the boozer. St. Mary and All Saints church was interesting but dial-less, we then headed to the George and Dragon just before 15:00, where were refused service as they were about to close! Soberly we made our way back towards the cars, passing the porky pie filling again, when we picked up the Nar Valley Way. Our third mistake was when we elected to head into Castle Acre for a pint of Directors in the Albert Victor, before sampling our pie. We left the pub and the wet weather had arrived! We moved the cars under the shelter of some nearby trees for the tasting... Tea by Liz and Smoked Salmon crescents prepared us for the mega pie. Slicing revealed the marbled pink interior with no jelly and not releasing much aroma. However the munching was good - the pastry tasty and crisp, the filling satisfying and even more so with a dab of mustard, giving the pie a healthy score of spot on 8.5, with a small standard deviation of 0.53452. Ricky’s posh Scottish Shortbread was then consumed. So G. Morris’ mega pie, not quite beating the first pie of the month.

The 1 lb 15 oz Mega pie from G. Morris & Sons

Wm. Morrison Large Melton Mowbray pork pies

The delicatessen at Wm. Morrison provided the last pie of the month – large Melton Mowbray pies. We hadn’t tried these before – Melton Mowbray, hmmm... they didn’t look like Melton Mowbray’s, appearing to have been baked in fluted moulds, rather than free standing as tradition dictates. But before we could sample these, we had one of the Walk Master's interesting walks – you cant say he doesn’t have stile – this walk had at least ten! (A rupture of stiles?) Setting off from the car park at New Buckenham Common, we headed for St. Martin's church to look for scratch dials, of which we found none. We then headed east to Old Buckenham, skirting round the rampart and moat of the New Buckenham castle. Heading north as we walked around Warren Plantation, we eventually came to the 1818 Old Buckenham mill – the widest tower mill in the country. Onwards to sandwiches in the porch of All Saints, Old Buckenham. This church had been extensively rendered so no scratch dials were visible. We then visited the “ Ox and Plough” for a pint of their very acceptable “Ox Ale” at £2.20 a pint, brewed by Worthington’s. We also enjoyed the company of Barkley, a playful 5-month old Labrador puppy. Picking up footpaths on the Tas Valley Way, we headed back to New Buckenham and a return visit to St. Martin’s, then on to the cars and the pies. The two dubious looking Melton Mowbray pies were cut, revealing a pale coarse filling, with a bit of jelly. A pleasant meaty aroma was present though not abundant. The pies tasted good too, “porky and peppery” and were good both with and without mustard, this was reflected in the score with a 8.25 and a standard deviation of 0.75593. Don’s pâté was again passed over, Ricky’s Shortcake offering made a welcome return, followed by a “Quality Street” finale. So Wm. Morrison scored a normalised 8.5 for its large Melton Mowbray pies.