Good Beer Guide Pubs from Home
My one man protest at the 50% budget increase for capped single bus journeys starts here. Instead of the ever reliable Kidderminster Number 3 whisking me off to exotic climes, I'm saving money by walking from my front door to a remote Good Beer Guide (re)Tick and then back to my local, so that I can get it into a blog.
The walk is a belter. Sometimes, its easy to forget the beauty on your own doorstep through complacency.
Downstream on the Western side of the Severn to break into Redstone Caves. Double fenced off, but you cannot stop those pesky kids.
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| Redstone Caves.... Outside |
The Redstone Caves near Stourport-on-Severn were inhabited by hermits mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries. This was part of a broader trend where hermitages became fashionable in England, sometimes with wealthy landowners hiring people to live as hermits on their estates. In Stourport, hermits in the caves may have sought genuine solitude or welcomed occasional visitors, blending isolation with limited social interaction. By the late 19th century, this trend faded, and the caves became a historical curiosity rather than a residence.
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| Redstone Caves, Inside. |
The Geopark Way (109 miles, Bridgnorth to Gloucester) provides the route over farmland and along the River Severn. A solo man staring into the nothingness of Larford Lake Fishing Farm gets a little more than a courteous hello. I have met my match in the "Talking with Strangers" stats. In 30 minutes I learn that Tony has;
- caught fish with hand grenades
- has a girlfriend, 35 years younger
- been in the SAS
- suffered two strokes and a heart attack
- found a dynamited safe, following a dramatic robbery
- was a professional golf player
- plans on leaving said younger girlfriend to run away to a monastry
- near Inverness, but only a monk knows exactly which one.
I've made my first post-retirement friend. Meeting up with him next Wednesday, as there's so much more he could have told me.
Onwards with the walk - despite Tony's best efforts, I am still too early for the spruced up Hamstall Inn but after a crossing through Shrawley Woods, I am ready for my first pub of the day.
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| Blair Witch Vibes in Shrawley Woods |
The New Inn at Shrawley has made it into the last couple of Good Beer Guides. I was skeptical that an expensive make over (both internal and external) of a remote country pub would be financially viable. But it shows what I know. Good honest food and very good beer will bring in the punters.
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| Has a Bus Stop named after it |
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| A pseudo Chesterfield next to the log burner the best seat in the house |
A very decent Black Sheep, tasting more robust than its meagre 3.8% would suggest.
Onwards and the footpaths around the back of the pub lead to Glasshampton Monastery. A remote retreat, where you're unlikely to bump into anyone.
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| Helping lost Monks |
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| I only see the Monastery rooftops - so here's the environment |
The villages of Astley and Dudley are crossed and its back into civilisation to my local, the Black Star. Recently celebrating 10 years under the stewardship of Andy and Maria, who (and I don't exaggerate here) saved the town's nighttime economy. Before they came, I refused to go out - getting better qualityt beer from my garage than what was available in the handful of rough pubs. We know have 4 pubs that have taken it turns in the Bible, with the Black Star an ever present.
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| The Black Star - ready for Armistice Day |
In those 10 years, the price of my tipple has only increased twice - from £3, to £3.50 to £3.80. Still one of the cheapest pints I find outside of Timbos.
And its in particularly fine form today.
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| Joy in a Glass |
Time to check on whether I still have a tax free element to my pension, when I find unexpected Budget joy.
My next Butty Bach should be £3.79.
Drink 379, get one free.
Walk Details
Distance - 12 Miles
Walk Inspiration - Found on Komoot
Geocaches - 0
