A celebration

I’m once more waiting for the filling for a pie to cool down before I cover it with pastry. Today we’re having a ham pie, using up some leftover gammon. It’s a substantial meal but I was reassured yesterday when the Fox managed two courses for his birthday celebratory meal.

From that you will realise it was the Fox’s birthday yesterday. As the sun was shining, we decided to go out for a drive. We decided to explore some of the Lancashire Pennine area, heading towards the Beacon Fell Country Park. It’s a long time since we headed that way.

As we cut across country we were stunned by some of the countryside. The gorse shone out goldenly against the dark, still dead, heather & bracken of the Pennines. Then we would wend down a hill, through woodlands carpeted with English bluebells. I do so prefer them to the Spanish ones that abound in our gardens. The flowers are so much more delicate (unlike the bigger, rather plasticky Spanish ones) & the colour so more intensely purply blue.

By the time we got to the country park, the sun had been replaced with heavy cloud & we were thirsty so we headed to the village of Chipping instead. However, there we could find nowhere to park so continued on to Longridge where we found a very pleasant pub, the Towneley Arms. It was a very friendly place, clearly the sort of place locals of all ages come to meet & unwind. In the end we dined there.

The food was good honest food, simply done but very acceptable. We had the homemade mushroom soup, followed by fish & chips. The cod was in the lightest of batters, leaving the cod full of flavour, making the tartare sauce almost superfluous if it hadn’t been so good.

We headed home afterwards to open a bottle of wine. a Mâcon Villages, put on a couple of CDs, one of Ella & one of Dino, & settled down to a quiet chunter to complete the celebrations. It was a lovely day, we both enjoyed.

We’ve decided to do a bit more of exploring this county of ours. We haven’t had many days out of late & usually they’ve been to regular places or for a particular purpose e.g. the need for some plants from a garden centre. I’ve even got a couple of books out of the library to give us some ideas of new places to go.