Wednesday 20 December 2017

20/12/17 - Rural Ticking - Lion o' Morfe in Upper Farmcote

I'm not as competitive with my Good Beer Guide Ticking as I am with my Geocaching but occasionally, there's a chance to bag a rarity.

Sat Nav tells me I live 13 miles from Upper Farmcote.  If I type it into Google Maps, it points me to a Farmcote near Winchcombe.  It's not, the one I am after is somewhere in the wilds of Bridgnorth.

First, I need to get to 1000 Geocaches for the calendar year.   This part of the world is saturated with caches, all laid by Blokie Bloke - a man who's email notifications must ring off the hook.   A nice couple of miles bimbling through the Shropshire Countryside and I reach 1006, with 13 for the day.

Geocaching Views
The Geocache Laden Shropshire Wilds
Onto the pub.  Help is at hand to let you know you have arrived at the right Farmcote.

Upper Farmcote
Not in Winchcombe
The Bible provides the background.  The name is nothing to do with Tony Hart's clay man.  It states that its a former farmhouse, converted to a pub in the 1850s and popular with walkers and locals.  What locals?  There's scarcely another building around.

But it is busy on a Wednesday lunch time and there's a good reason.  It's a classic country pub - from the outdoor loos to the pre-aga aga and furniture that was bizarrely labelled as being used in episode of Morse.

I loved it - and here is why.

Red Lion, Upper Farmcote
Classic Country Pub
Red Lion, Upper Farmcote
Unique porch glassware
Lion o' Morfe, Upper Farmcote
View from the Morse Bench to the Pre-Aga Aga

But Mappiman, what about the beer?  Does it deserve to be in the Good Beer Guide?

Well, yep, all my favourites are here - Three Tuns, Wye Valley HPA and Butty Bach but in honour of a particular pub ticker whom I can never hope to catch, I went for one of these.

Bass in the Lion o' Morfe, Upper Farmcote
Only my 3rd Ever Pint of the Red Triange
And as its Xmas - here's a bonus and how I imagine his living room to look.

Lion o' Morfe, Upper Farmcote
Carefully Avoiding Catching my Reflection

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