One particular Suffolk based brewery has a lot to answer for! Not only has it provided my daughter with a job for the last eight years it has furnished her social diary with fun events and her address book with fun places to visit. Connections! The Farmers Boy Inn (FBI) at the village of Longhope between Gloucester and Monmouth and within yards of the county line between Glos and Hererfordshire is a sparkling gem from that collection of connections. The FBI connection! My feedback to Phil, the boisterous proprietor, courtesy of his customer comments card was; divine food, smiley staff, clean and cosy room(s), glorious location. The FBI served as our base for two nights and two days exploration of the nearby Wye Valley. At less than fifty gbp a night for a single room inc of breakfast, for which I recommend visitors take the full English (!!) we were admirably cared for. In the evening we at the magnificent FBI pies as the centrepiece for our evening meals, (even taking some away for the family back home at the end of the trip ..what better accolade?), drank wine, played pool and chatted with staff and locals like we were one big family.
Magnificent pies, voluminous quantities of alcohol and full English breakfasts were to be teased off of the waistline with day one activities oriented around cycling. I would be stretching a point well beyond the limits of imagination if I attempted to describe it as mountain biking. A remodelled ( with roof and boot cycle carriers) black BMW320D tenaciously transported three mountain bikes the one hour twenty minutes from Swindon to the FBI and a further 15 minutes onto Simmonds Yat the morning of the first day. Simmonds Yat is at the heart of the Wye Valley through which the River Wye runs a flamenco like course down towards the Severn estuary. Through picturesque Herefordshire settings we cycled six miles stopping only twice for (cider) refreshment at the Ye Olde Ferry Inn and the Saracens Head. Much of our route was in the Monmouth direction from the riverside pubs of Ye Olde Ferry Inn and the Saracens Head and took the form of an old tree shaded old railway line (now bereft of lines and sleepers) which ran alongside the River Wye for the trip into Monmouth. The full trip registered 12 miles on the lead cyclists odometer, acknowledged by cries of ‘no wonder my bum hurts’ from infrequent cyclist team members.
Such aches encouraged the car oriented second day visits to Monmouth Town Centre revealing: The Savoy theatre and cinema with an incredibly nostalgic facade going back to the at least the ’50’s; Coffee served by an attractive cafe but consumed outside of a very un-photogenic lingerie shop in a sunny little courtyard not far from The Savoy. A further short car trip transported us curious to sports fields allegedly close to the River Wye!? Through a hole in a nearby hedge all was revealed. We crossed the river to reach the Boat Inn courtesy of a bridge that at some time in the past carried trains and still retained enough character to provoke visions of chuffing steam engines and the colourful livery of wooden southern region railway carriages. Now, sadly, Mr Beeching, the bridge provides only pedestrians a means of crossing the river. The Boat Inn has the longest list of draught cider options I have ever seen. ABV’s ranged from 3 something to 7 something. Eeeeeeek! I chose a pint of Happy Daze at 4 something and had a happy hour there with Rach and Stu. Rach, my daughter and Stu, her bf, were my pals for the weekend adventure that culminated at Tintern Abbey. A 12th century abbey of which only the ruins remain and now appear to serve the sole purpose of justifying the Welsh price of four pounds for a pot of tea, a scone a small tub of clotted cream and squidge of strawberry jam at a nearby tea shoppe. Really the only disappointment of the weekend!
Down The Road 