Thursday, 7 June 2012 - Vetnary and Ale

I won't mention the weather.

Today we went on a trip to Thirsk and Masham.  C & M wanted to visit the Herriot museum in Thirsk (Tricia and I had seen it 10 years earlier and didn't think we needed to see it again).  Masham was my choice as I wanted to see Theakston's Brewery.

Again no issues with our trip to Thirsk, seeing lots of Yorkshire countryside.  Tricia and I recognised some of  it from our earlier trip.  Found a park in the centre of Thirsk, and while C & M did the museum, we did the shops.  Found a good coffee shop and poked around in several others.  We met up again on the street and picked up a sandwich in one of the bakery chain shops (forget the name).  Good stuff and quite cheap.

Theakston's Pub, Black Bull in Paradise - I should look happier.

In the Pub.  I was happier.

After lunch we set TomTom to Masham.  Found a park in the centre there as well.  Mike and I found the signs to the brewery (there was also the Black Sheep Brewery if we wanted another one!)  The ladies stayed in the car - how boring was that?  Found Theakstons and booked a tour.  Did the tour, it was very similar to a tour I did of Monteiths in Greymouth a few years back, I guess beer is beer.  It was interesting though.  We ended up in the attached Pub where the tour included samples of the company's fine products.  We passed on the sampling set, and just did a pint of Old Peculier, which I knew about and had tasted in the bottle earlier that week.  Needless to say fresh is best, even Mike who isn't a beer drinker thought it was pretty good.  It's ironic, but just last week my local supermarket had two Theakston beers, including Old Peculier, in stock.  I have a bottle in my fridge now.  It's a small world.

I love the beers in this part of the country, also the baked goods, and the fish and chips.  There's plenty of all of these to go around as well.  We had Fish and Chips again this evening.  From the local chippie which had won some award.  They were damned good too, just as good as those from the Magpie Cafe.

Tricia's diary:

Drove to Thirsk, C + M went to James Herriot House.  J + M went to visit brewery.