Clarkes Two Pounder!

A Huge 2lb pie, actually weighing in at 33oz, from Clarkes Quality Meats & Country Kitchen, to sample this week. We had sampled their small pies back in May of last year, where they scored a very respectable 8.15. We needed to work up an appetite so we went to Overstrand and parking by the cricket ground, we embarked on a “figure of 8” walk. We started by going east along the High Street that had collapsed into the sea; we then headed inland past the NATS Air Traffic radar and up Hungry Hill and past the Shrieking Pit. We went along the Paston Way to Southrepps, observing the radar dome at Trimmingham, butterflies and a “sleeping” rat. We took lunch at St. James church agreeing that there was no dial to be found! We then made our way by road and footpath to Northrepps, first visiting the church of St. Mary the virgin before visiting the Foundry Arms, open again after being closed for refurbishment. We enjoyed pints of Wherry and Adnams in the garden and were treated to a large bowl of complimentary roast potatoes. Heading north, Don now disguised as a bramble bush, we arrived back at the cars. Since we were not in an ideal spot for pie munching and Gunton was on our way home, we relocated to Gunton Park and invited fellow pie enthusiast, Flounder (AKA Russell), to join us. It was another sawing Sunday at the mill and Flounder had been assisting. We started off with oatcakes, caramelised onion and Moroccan style Houmous. Then the pie was carved, releasing an intense pork aroma and revealing a generous portion of jelly. The flavour was “heaven” and “as good as a pie can get” as two munchers described it, having a wonderful in mouth texture. Mustard did nothing to improve the flavour, just distracting from the experience. The munchers deemed this pie to score a spot on 9 out of 10 with a standard deviation of 0.63246. A shortbread selection completed the gourmet outing.

Sainsbury's Melton Mowbray Large Pork Pie

A lack of pie munchers this week, to sample Sainsbury's Melton Mowbray Large Pork Pie – a pie we haven’t previously had. In the absence of the Walk Master & the Führer, King Canape led us on a pre-pie walk around Botesdale in Suffolk. Parking in The Street we started by having a look round St. Botolph’s chapel of ease – after which the village was named “St. Botolph’s Dale”. We could not access the south side of the chapel, so no scratch dials were found. We headed south along footpaths passing "Bunny Hollow". The footpath crossed a ploughed field and it was decided to follow the perimeter rather than battle across the furrows. We reached the southern most point of our walk to see leverets dashing about madly. Taking a short footpath eastwards, we then made our way in a north easterly direction along Nan Hazel’s Lane for about a mile. Our route then took us along a byway near Stubbing’s Green, spotting the signpost had been knocked down, despite being on a 4” x 4” post, we propped up the sign and headed down the track only to find our way deliberately blocked by farm equipment. Some of the party clambered over the obstacle, while half of the party managed to squeeze past, after we had trimmed the sloe bushes with secateurs. Don, the last to squeeze past, managed to slip into the adjacent ditch. After wringing the water from his socks and emptying his shoes, we continued a short distance before pausing for lunch in the shade of a tree. We now followed footpaths west, spotting painted lady butterflies before heading north and passing under the A143. Coming to a Y-junction, a majority decision kept us on track back to Botesdale by footpath. Shortly before reaching road, two deer crossed our path. We journeyed up Bridewell Lane to The Street and into The Greyhound public house. We were in ‘silly Suffolk’ – the pub sign had a picture of a Springer Spaniel! However, the pub was good selling Norfolk beers - Wherry and what we all enjoyed: 3.7%, Lavender Honey from Wolf. Rejuvenated, we wandered back to the car for graze & tea: Josie was tea lady producing a brew to accompany this week’s feast: olive and anchovy Tapenade on bruschette followed by Sainsbury's Melton Mowbray Large Pork Pie. A rather uninspiring pie with a “minimalist” appearance having a dull pastry crust. Slicing revealed a pale pink filling with the merest soupçon of jelly and a faint pleasant aroma. Munching: the pastry let this pie down, but the filling tasted of roast pork with a peppery after taste. Mustard did nothing to enhance this pie – distracting from the flavour of the filling. The pie was judged to score a spot on 8 out of 10 with a standard deviation of 0.5. Cadbury’s chocolate chunk cookies completed the feast. On the return journey, we stopped by Botesdale’s water tower – a 4 x 5 x 2 panel Braithwaite tank on a brick tower that served the WWII Prisoner of War camp 56, so that the Pie Master could photograph it.

E. W. Revett & Son of Wickham Market.

This week we had to yomp along the poorly signed and poorly maintained footpaths of south Norfolk, before we could get stuck into pies from E. W. Revett & Son of Wickham Market. Parking at the “ Strike School” at Burston, we visited the first of three churches: St. Mary the virgin, next door to the school. This was dial-less and locked. We headed north then east along a footpath, only to find it impassable. While contemplating an alternative route, Charles (the first) spotted a “Robin's Pincushion” – the larvae of the gall wasp causing an abnormal growth on a dog rose. An upturned plastic tub provided a “stepping stone” across a ditch and into a traversable field of wheat with very sticky clay soil.
On route to Dickleburgh, Charles spotted and harvested a few Agaricus augustus mushrooms. On arrival, a fete was in progress by All Saints church, so again lunch was taken either sitting on the grass or on the wall. Finding no scratch dial on the church, we crossed the road and headed for the beer festival at the Crown Inn, where the party tried many of the beers on offer. Reluctantly we left the beer festival and headed west along minor roads, spotting telephone boxes being used as greenhouses to grow tomato plants. We then headed north to Shimpling by a footpath proclaiming it was part of Boudica’s Way! Third time lucky: arriving at St. George’s church we found a good scratch dial. After photographing the dial, inspecting the church and admiring the cattle in the adjoining field, Don explained that a bull didn’t need to have a ring through it’s nose to be a bull! The party continued its journey, except Charles & Don who had found a buried artefact that they stopped to excavate. Being some way behind the group, they found a path on the wrong side of a hedge! We had a pause while they walked back and up the correct side of the hedge to join us. Then one final obstacle before we could start munching pies: no footpath! A field of maize was between us and the last leg of the walk back to the cars. Although it looked daunting, it was quite easy to walk through the tall crop – the stems bending as we passed between. We returned to the cars and another feast this week, starting with smoked organic salmon pâté on crostini. Then the two large hand raised pies from Wickham Market: good looking pies when cut yielded a very pleasant aroma when you got in close and a fine textured pink filling. A small amount of jelly was present in some portions. The pastry was excellent and the filling tasty too. This found favour with the pie munchers coming in with a score of 8.13636 with a high standard deviation of 1.18514. Dark chocolate all butter biscuits, organic milk chocolate & toffee biscuits and shortbread completing the gastronomic experience. So a normalised score of 8 for E. W. Revett & Son’s large hand raised pies.

Massingham Brothers of Hoveton

The return to an old favourite this week: Massingham Brothers of Hoveton, this time in the form of small pies. The chosen munching location was Happisburgh cricket ground, after completing the Walk Master’s challenge. We set off west only to be brought to a halt after a couple of hundred yards, as Margaret had received a call regarding her poorly 102-year-old mum. Determining that no immediate action was necessary, the party of 12 munchers set off again... We now entered a field of barley, with Bishy-barney-bees running all over the footpath. The 1957, 175,000-gallon Happisburgh water tower loomed on our southern horizon. The footpath continued through fields of wheat and barley, passing a field of potatoes that had purple flowers. The footpath took us to Ridley, where we headed to St. Peter’s church, where we found a scratch dial on a buttress. Ridley was having an open day with a flower festival in the church and gardens open to the public. We therefore had to eat our sandwiches sitting on the church wall at 2 ¾ miles. Then Don disappeared into one of the gardens... when it was time to move off, Josie went looking for Don, having to pay to get into one of the gardens where she found Don eating a meal! He had to “doggy bag” his chicken & rabbit pie and eat it as we walked along... We headed north along the edge of a field of treasure hunters with metal detecting equipment, then east along a quiet road to the Lighthouse Inn for liquid refreshment, at four miles. The pub served a very refreshing pint of Harviestoun’s “Natural Blonde” that we consumed in the garden. Refreshed, we headed for Walcott and then along the beach. Here Manola, José and Don decided to take a swim, Manola and José had come prepared for the event, bringing a towel – Don used his hat! Further along the beach, back at Happisburgh, the Walk Master’s challenge ratcheted up a notch: the slope up the cliff to the caravan park had gone, so scaling the cliff was proposed. Charles’ National Service commando training came to the fore and he made short work of the challenge. Further munchers followed, but the Führer led a breakaway group on a detour, further along the beach to some metal stairs. Regrouped, we visited the church of St. Mary the Virgin with swifts nesting in the porch. No dials here and we headed off back to the cars for another feast. The first course consisting of spinach bourekia, an M&S meze selection, organic houmous and Highland oatcakes. Then followed a soupçon of pork pie – due to unpunctual pie procurement, just three small pies were available at Massingham Brothers. Cutting the pies revealed a nice pink meat filling and the merest hint of jelly. No aroma was present and munching the pies was dominated by the crust, this was not particulay good. The meat filling was tasty though. Opinions differed resulting in a high standard deviation of 0.84477 with the score being somewhat lower than before, at 7.68182. The small pie portion was probably a good thing as organic dark chocolate, ginger & pear flavoured biscuits and milk chocolate florentines supplemented the shortbread! So a normalised score of 7.5 for Massingham Brothers of Hoveton’s small pies.

Doreen's 80th

An early start for the pie munchers this week: 10:00, as we had to celebrate Doreen’s 80th Birthday. The Walk Master had chosen a local walk from Newton St. Faiths: parking the three cars on the road that led to Manor House, a dozen pie munchers crossed the A140, Cromer Road and headed west along the wooded Green Lane. The Pie Master having taken on lots of fluids after a pre-walk bike ride, had to “turn his bike around” frequently along this stretch! We headed southwest along Mill Lane to cross the B1149, Holt Road, then a loop around west Horsford and the Activity Centre, by track and road to once again cross the B1149. 700 yards along footpaths brought us to All Saints church and our lunch stop, at just over 4 miles. The church provided shade but no scratch dials and after a short stop we were off again. As the day progressed so did the sun’s intensity, forcing a trip back over the B1149 and stop at the Horsford Dog for a pint of Courage Best at £2.20 a pint. Once more into the baking sun, we again crossed the B1149 and trekked across fields of cereal back to Newton St. Faiths. As we approached the A140 Cromer Road, two deer were spotted crossing our path and then lingered in the tall grass before disappearing into woods. We arrived back at the cars, where tea was available but no pies today. We arrived at Doreen’s do to find King Canape and Don, back from his adventures down the smoke, already there. A superb selection of Canapés had been laid on and the alcohol flowed freely. Great hospitality and a chance to catch up with other Bystanders, celebrating Doreen’s birthday in style - the octogenarian managing to blow out all her candles! Hugo did his best to take centre stage from the birthday girl, but the “wine fight” restored Doreen to the limelight before the celebrations wound up and the rain came.

Topping's Family Pork Pie

A potentially very interesting pork pie this week: Topping's Family Pork Pie - "Finest Yorkshire pork encased in a traditional shortcrust pastry". Interesting, as after I had purchased the two pies in ASDA, I spotted beneath the price ticket "contains 50% Beef and 20% Chicken"! The store assistant was as baffled as I and could not offer any explanation. The ASDA Service Team has confirmed this to be an error that has now been rectified. Before we could sample Yorkshire’s finest pork (or Beef and Chicken) we had six miles to yomp. The Walk Master took us to Morton to enjoy a stroll along the coast towards Stiffkey. This was no stroll for the Pie Master and his mawther as Sabre, who joined us on the 10th May, was in our care! We headed inland and crossed the very pleasant Cockthorpe Common and into the village. We headed for All Saints church, where we ate lunch and Sabre exercised his vocal chords, encouraging all other dogs in the vicinity to do likewise! Lunch consumed and no scratch dials found, we headed back through the village and then towards the coast along the perimeter track of a disused airfield. After pausing to take in the great panoramic views and the dots on Blakeney Point that were seals, we headed east along Love Lane. While walking this track we observed a roe deer hoss across the field to the north, heading for the Common. We followed the track north, spotting a pair of Marsh Harriers hunting, as we turned. We then took a track east, that would lead to Binham Lane, that should have taken us to the pub, but it was now closed. We continued on to Langham Road and an unscheduled visit to All Saints church, Morston. Finding no scratch dials, we headed for the Anchor Inn. Here we had a good scheme of splitting the round into cars: Ricky went in to order and Josie went in to see what beer was available and said to Ricky they have Winter’s Golden, Green King IPA & Speckled Hen and exited to inform me. The over eager barmaid took this to be an order, producing a pint of Winter’s Golden and a pint of Green King IPA. Further confusion and the two rounds merged into one, the barmaid not hearing the repeated requests for shandys to be made with Winter’s Golden and using IPA – obviously on commission from Green King. Most of us enjoyed the Winter’s Golden while Ricky had to make do with a pint of IPA. We then made our way to the cars parked at the National Trust car park. First the Canapé: Oat cake and carrot sticks to dip into lemon & coriander Houmous, sour cream with chives, Guacamole and Vine ripened tomato salsa! Next Topping's Family Pies: slicing revealed a nice pink filling, rather lacking texture, with a good helping of jelly. A faint fresh aroma could be detected if one got in close. The pie disappointed, the pie crust being soft and the filling being very salty. This pie was judged to score 6.15 out of 10 with a standard deviation of 0.91439. To complete the feast, rather warm, dark chocolate & ginger Florentines to supplement the Shortbread. So a normalised 6 for Topping’s pies.

A. H. Butler & Son

The pie munchers ventured over the border to Yaxley in Suffolk to sample a foreign pie from over another border: pies from A. H. Butler & Son of March, Cambridgeshire. Sourced when the Pie Master was at “ Ear Ache”. Parking at the village hall, where later a fete would be held, 13 munchers and a conchie set off on a 6-mile appetiser, first visiting St. Mary’s church, Yaxley with an interesting grave stone and a gem of a scratch dial, with half hour graduations! After a few yards along a road, we followed footpaths eastwards, south, then west for about three and a third miles before a short walk along roads to St. Mary’s Thornham Parva. This small church without a porch, was our lunch stop at just shy of four miles. The church had no scratch dials that we could find, and when everyone had been corralled, we headed north, then east and north again to reach Yaxley. Then despair! As we approached the Cherry Tree – it was closed. Then, carefully reading the sign outside, we found that the pub had relocated to the village hall to support the fete. Returning to the cars, the fete was underway with tug-o-war taking place. The bar was open, selling Adnams Bitter and Mauldons Mid Summer Gold – a pint of this in the hot sunshine could go to your head! After purchasing a cake we retired to the cars for cups of tea and King prawns with a Marie Rose Sauce. Then the two large pies from March: a reasonable appearance and when cut yielded a pleasant aroma and revealed a nice amount of jelly. This found favour with the pie munchers coming in with a score of 8.34615 with a standard deviation of 0.98710. Don then produced a second pie that when sliced revealed a bright pink filling with plenty of seasoning but no jelly. Only some of the munchers sampled this as some had been tucking into the tasty cake and thought their palates were no longer fit for objective tasting. This pie from the King’s Head in Magdalen Street, Norwich scored 7.58333 with a small standard deviation of only 0.37639. So A. H. Butler scored a normalised 8.5 and the King’s Head a normalised 7.5.

      A. H. Butler & Son pies                         remains of the King’s Head pie

All that remained was to have a group photograph of the massed munchers.