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56 | Summer 2016Yours to keepYours to keep
EASTERN AIRWAYS IN-FLIGHT
STEP UP TO STAVANGERLooking forward to ONS 2016ALSO IN THIS MAGAZINE:COUNTRY HOUSE HOTEL OF THE YEARROALD DAHLEXPLORING COVENTRY
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FÀILTETha Eastern Airways a’ cur fàilte air ar luchd-cleachdaidh gu lèir bho Bhreatainn agus an Roinn Eòrp.
Tha Eastern Airways am measg prìomh làn-sheirbheisean adhair clàraichte na RA. Tha sinn an dòchas gum meas sibh ar seirbheis, an dà chuid, cùramach agus beagan eadar-dhealaichte – tha sinn an-còmhnaidh toilichte ur beachdan mun t-seirbheis againn, is mu ar n-iris, a chluinntinn.
SGIOBA EASTERN
CROESOCroeso gan Eastern Airways magazine, i bob un o’n cwsmeriaid ym mhob rhan o Brydain Fawr ac Ewrop.
Mae Eastern Airways ymhlith y prif gwmnïau awyrennau yn y DU sy’n cynnig amserlen lawn o wasanaethau. Gobeithio y gwelwch chi fod ein gwasanaeth yn un gofalus ac ychydig bach yn wahanol – rydyn ni bob amser yn falch o gael eich sylwadau am ein gwasanaeth ac am ein cylchgrawn.
TÎM EASTERN
VELKOMMENEastern Airways magasinet ønsker våre kunder i Storbritannia og Europa velkommen.
Eastern Airways er et av Storbritannias ledende ruteflyselskap. Vi håper at du vil være fornøyd med servicen vår – og at den tilbyr deg det lille ekstra som er prikken over i-en. Vi setter alltid pris på å motta dine kommentarer om både servicen og magasinet.
EASTERN-TEAMET
BIENVENUEBienvenue à tous nos clients de Grande-Bretagne et d’Europe de la part de Eastern Airways magazine.
Eastern Airways figure parmi les principales compagnies aériennes britan niques offrant un service de vols réguliers. Nous espérons que vous nous trouverez attentifs à vos besoins, avec ce petit plus qui fait la différence, et sommes toujours heureux de recevoir vos comment aires sur notre service et notre magazine.
L’ÉQUIPE EASTERN
Welcome on board your Eastern Airways flight and welcome to this Summer issue of Eastern Airways Magazine.
We present you this time with a veritable pot pourri of features, offering something for everyone to whet the appetite.
On which subject, quite literally, we try out the best Argentinian beef at Gaucho’s impressive Leeds steak house, while also rolling up our sleeves and working in the kitchen at Newcastle’s Michelin Star House of Tides.
To wash it all down, Harry Pearson presents the low-down on the new micropub phenomenon that’s sweeping the UK, while we’ve the exclusive story of how the creator of Birmingham’s celebrated Custard Factory bought a very remote hotel in Scotland with help from a lady with a crystal ball.
If all that sounds a bit too indoors for Summer, then Victoria Trott has some great ideas for outdoor adventure in South Wales, while Kevin Pilley is also in that part of the world on
the trail of the great children’s author, Roald Dahl, in the year of the centenary of his birth.
Further afield, you can find out about what’s going on in Rodez and the department of Aveyron, Eastern Airways’ new destination in France.
Still overseas, we preview Stavanger’s ONS conference and exhibition. This biennial event is, of course, one of the two key must-attends in the offshore industry’s calendar.
Back on home soil, Exploration Express this issue encounters both surprise and delight in Coventry and its surroundings.
Our competition this time offers the chance to win a two-night stay for two, with dinner on one night, at Sunderland’s newly opened Hilton Garden Inn. Eastern Airways flights to Newcastle are also included.
So, enjoy your flight with Eastern Airways and do take your magazine home for family and friends.
THE EASTERN TEAM
Welcome to Eastern Airways Magazine!
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15 BEST BEEF 33 DISCOVERING DAHL24 SEE STAVANGER
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CONTENTS
REGULARS
07 NEWS What’s happening around Eastern
Airways destinations
16 MOTORING The times are a changing for
motor sports says Norman Burr
22 BOOK REVIEWS Good summer reads
30 EXPLORATION EXPRESS Stan Abbott is sent to Coventry
and returns with an uplifting tale
38 BARE ESSENTIALS Eastern Airways’ network map, passenger information, essential goings-on and destination guides
48 ESSENTIAL GUIDE: MICRO PUBS
All within easy reach of Eastern Airways destinations
50 THE LAST WORD Harry Pearson runs up the flag for the traditional seaside resort
COMPETITION
39 STAY IN THE CITY BY THE SEA
WIN a two night break in Sunderland’s new Hilton Garden Inn
FEATURES
11 AVEYRON What's going on in and around
Eastern Airways’ new French destination
15 FOOD AND DRINK Beefing it up at Leeds’s Gaucho
restaurant and Michelin star cooking in Newcastle’s House of Tides
18 HOUSE OF DREAMS How a fortune teller helped Bennie
Gray buy an extraordinary hotel
24 ONS 2016 Stavanger’s leading conference
and exhibition for the offshore and gas sector – preview
33 ROALD DAHL CENTENARY
The enduring affection for the popular children’s author
36 WILD WALES Where to make the most of
Wales’s Year of Adventure
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Eastern Airways in-flight magazine is published for Eastern Airways by Gravity Magazines, Arch Workspace, Abbey Road, Pity Me, Durham, DH1 5JZ www.gravity-consulting.com e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)191 383 2838
Publisher: Stan AbbottDesign: Barbara Allen Print: Buxton Press
© June 2016. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced by any means, without prior written permission of the copyright owners.Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this magazine, neither the publisher, nor Eastern Airways can accept any liability for errors or omissions.
ISSN: 2044-7124Previously known as e-magazine, ISSN 1477-3031.
Eastern Airways, Schiphol House, Humberside International Airport, Kirmington, North Lincolnshire DN39 6YH
Communications Manager: Darren Roberts
Telephone: + 44 (0)8703 669669 Reservations: + 44 (0)8703 669100 www.easternairways.com For magazine comments: [email protected]
To advertise in Eastern Airways Magazine, call Liz Reekie on +44 (0) 7563 796103 / +44 (0) 1434 240947 or email [email protected]
A flexible test ground for subsea and shallow water testing
ore.catapult.org.uk @ORECatapult
For further information please contact Andrew Tipping e: [email protected] t: 01670 357 790
Saltwater environmentSimulated seabedStillwater test tanksAccredited electrical laboratoriesSite support team
Prototype developmentFactory acceptance testsPerformance verificationTrials and demonstrationsInstallation techniques
Click or scan the QR code for more details
The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth, Northumberland, has been undertaking research and development, and conducting testing and demonstration activity on innovative marine energy technologies since 2002.
ORE Catapult at Blyth provides a 3MW drive train test facility, a shallow water test facility, comprising two still water docks and a simulated seabed, and the UK’s only accredited electrical and materials laboratory.
The site, an ex-shipyard, has adapted disused dry docks to create a realistic testing ground for trialling new technologies
in a controlled saltwater environment. The facility is used to perform equipment trials, prove installation techniques, conduct performance verification, and witness tests for the offshore energy sector. The simulated seabed has enabled ORE Catapult to play an instrumental role in the testing and trialling of novel cutting devices for trenching equipment, such as IHC Engineering Business Ltd’s Hi-Traq ROV trenching technology, and the still water docks are used to carry out submerged testing of ROVs and cable protection system trials for offshore wind projects.
Other projects have included the development of power take-off systems for marine renewable devices, and cable joint integrity tests, not to mention novel pipeline and cable infrastructure installations to help reduce the risk of failure offshore and accelerate the marine energy technology development cycle.
The 3MW drive train test facility is used for the testing of tidal turbine drive trains and individual components. Commissioning partner Atlantis Resources Ltd tested its AR1000 1MW turbine and in just two weeks of full testing, the marine energy developer
secured performance data equivalent to four months of tidal exchanges, enabling the development of the next generation AR1500 (1.5MW) tidal turbine. This will be installed in the world’s first multi-megawatt tidal array in the Pentland Firth, off the North Coast of Scotland, as part of the MeyGen Project.
ORE Catapult’s world-leading research, testing and demonstration facilities help to bring innovative technologies to market, reduce the costs of energy from offshore renewables, and provide the industry with confidence and reassurance. This in turn helps to encourage further investment and the wider supply chain to make the transition into the marine renewables industry.
Test Case: ORE CATAPULT
ORE Catapult’s 3MW tidal turbine drive train test facility in Blyth, Northumberland
ROV about to be tested in ORE Catapult’s shallow water test facility in Blyth, Northumberland
ADVERTISING FEATURE
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New face at MagmaOil and gas engineering consultancy Magma Products has appointed a recruitment specialist in the arena of commissioning and start-up projects.He is Blair Harley, pictured below, who has more than 25 years’ expertise in the oil and gas sector.
Magma Products has carved out a niche in the field of commissioning, with a track record of managing all the checks, inspections, certification and tests that need to be carried out on components, systems and infrastructure before handover to the operator or duty-holder.
Paul Rushton, Managing Director, said: “In appointing Blair, we have enhanced the Magma team by adding an industry professional with specific knowledge in the field of commissioning and start-up.”
www.magmaproducts.co.uk
OLYMPIAN SPECTACULAR COMES TO DURHAM
n Leeds is set to bolster its reputation as a major retail destination this autumn, with the opening of the £165 million new Victoria Gate arcade shopping centre.
The new venue builds on the city’s powerful Victorian architectural legacy and brings John Lewis to the city for the first time.
The Eastgate location will complement the city’s best Victorian retail locations nearby, including the Corn Exchange and Kirkgate Market.
Since reopening in 2008, following a £1.5million restoration, the Grade I listed Corn Exchange has earned a reputation as the home of independent shopping, with almost 30 boutique shops, cafés and beauty businesses, as well as regular events and fairs.
What promises to be the UK’s most spectacular open-air live action night show since the London 2012 Olympics curtain-raiser, opens in County Durham this summer. It is listed by Rough Guides as one of the world’s top ten must-see tourist attractions to experience in 2016.
Kynren – an Epic Tale of England is an exciting family entertainment, taking audiences on a spellbinding journey through British history. The show is modelled on the hugely popular Puy du Fou theme park in the Vendée, France, known for impeccably choreographed historical shows that involve Viking raids, Roman gladiators and breath-taking special effects.
Taking place on a landscaped open air stage (equivalent to five football pitches with a full-size lake at its centre) against the backdrop of Auckland Castle, it features a movie-like, fast-paced and action-packed journey from Roman times to the Second World War, through the Viking invasions, the splendour of the Tudors, the Industrial Revolution and the Roaring Twenties. As the story unfolds audiences will see ships, a steam train, mass choreography, combat, dance, dazzling pyrotechnics and grandiose
lighting and water effects.
More than 1,000 volunteers are involved as cast and crew, with an accompanying cast of animals, including performance horses, sheep, goats, cattle and even ducks. The volunteers have been professionally trained by top performance experts, including teams that delivered the mass choreography of London 2012 Opening Ceremony.
The bold initiative – comprising some 14 shows this summer – is just the latest manifestation of the reinvigoration of Bishop Auckland since philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer donated £15 million to Auckland Castle Trust to prevent the loss of 12 paintings by Francisco de Zurbarán, present in the palace since 1756, which the Church wanted to sell. He has since donated a further £18 million to restore the Bishop’s Palace, set up Kynren and create a museum on the history of Christianity and faith in Britain, expected to open in 2018. Other buildings in Bishop Auckland are also being renovated as part of his plans.
Kynren will be shown 14 times from July 2 to September 17.
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Northern England’s first Hilton Garden Inn hotel has opened in Sunderland, next door to the Stadium of Light and the city’s Olympic-size swimming venue.
It was officially opened by the Mayor of Sunderland, Councillor Barry Curran, and has already received enquiries from as far afield as Germany, Holland and the USA.
“This is a fantastic development for Sunderland and the wider North East,” said the Mayor. “There was a real sense of anticipation across the city while construction was under way.”
The Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland, boasts 141 en-suite bedrooms, and offers Pan-American fusion dishes
in its contemporary restaurant, the Karbon Grill.
Dishes included Maryland crab cakes, signature Karbon burgers, steaks, goats¹ cheese and beetroot, all cooked on the Josper grill for a stronger barbecue taste, as well as Karbon¹s signature cocktails, margaritas and raspberry and lychee martinis.
Work on the hotel took around a year to complete and was managed by Tolent Construction Ltd and Turner & Townsend.
“There is a clear demand for a hotel of this calibre in Sunderland,” said Kim Kelso, General Manager for Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland.
Abigail Atkinson – wife of celebrity chef Kenny Atkinson – has opened her own venue on Newcastle’s historic Quayside.
Violets café, on Side, will be a daytime tea room which aims to complement the Michelin-starred restaurant she co-owns with husband Kenny round the corner, House of Tides.
The refubishment of the building got under way in January in a project which is being led by Darlington-based business CBW Refurbishments.
Last week Mrs Atkinson, who spent time in The Savoy’s pastry kitchen last November, was granted permission by Newcastle City Council to carry out alterations to the Grade II listed building, breathing new life into a property and adding to the successful regeneration of the Quayside, which has undergone a rapid transformation over the last two years.
Plans by the owner of the Fat Buddha
bar-restaurant chain to open a patisserie in the historic Guildhall on the Quayside have also been approved by councillors, as regeneration of the area as a sophisticated eating and upmarket bar area continues apace.
Meanwhile, Newcastle has been named the North’s most “restauranty” city, with one eatery for every 1,558 residents.
In a new survey by leading trade exhibition NRB and CGA Peach, Newcastle pushes Manchester, with 1,576 residents per restaurant, into second plac,e with York taking third spot with one restaurant for every 1,585 residents and Sunderland rounding out the top ten, with one restaurant per 3,418 people.
This compares with London’s restaurant density of 1,353 residents per restaurant, as northern cities close the gap on the capital.
COOKING WITH KENNY – PAGE 14
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NEW HILTON WELCOMED IN SUNDERLAND
It’s Hello Violets as Newcastle tops the menu as the North’s most ‘restauranty’ city
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n Investors are being invited to back the development of Cranes, the self-styled “world’s first premium cranberry cider”.Developed by twins Ben and Dan Ritsema, near Cambridge, Cranes is a four per cent alcoholic drink from crushed cranberries, but with added juice for additional flavour. It comes in Original Cranberry, Raspberry and Pomegranate, and Strawberry and Kiwi.
The product claims to be 100 per cent natural, high in juice, low in calories and has 5g of stevia leaf – 30 times sweeter than sugar.The drink is already stocked by Ocado and the brothers hope their crowd-funding campaign will help to develop both sales and new products.http://drinkcranes.co.uk
n A lightweight composite cabin developed in Hampshire could revolutionise the way passenger ships are built. A consortium of market leading companies and advisory bodies including Carnival UK, Gurit (UK), PE Composites, University of Southampton, Trimline and Lloyd’s Register worked on the design, engineering, manufacture and fitting out. Of the one-tonne protype,which is half the weight of a “traditional” steel cabin.
Designer Tom Royle, from Wizz Consultancy, said: “Reducing topside weight is becoming an increasing problem for naval architects as the trend for larger capacity ships continues.”
WIN A BREAK AT THE HILTON GARDEN INN – PAGE 39
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www.sortir-aveyron.comwww.tourisme-aveyron.com
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FESTIVAL EN BASTIDES – August 1-6 For six days, this “street art” festival brings an irreverent selection of theatre, dance, circus and song for all generations to the ancient fortified villages of west Aveyron. Well, age holds no bounds to letting your hair down!
HIER UN VILLAGE (YESTERDAY A VILLAGE) July 28-30 – August 4, 5, 6 et 8 This summer Flagnac becomes the scene of a vast living sound and light fresco, with 350 residents donning costume for a series of performances, which take us back to the start of last century. The peasant, Jeannou, and Marinou, the grandmother, tell the story of their labours and torments, but also of their fond memories of these times.
PICASSO AT THE SOULAGES MUSUEM, RODEZ – to September 25The highly acclaimed Soulages Museum, in Rodez, is welcoming Picasso this summer. A collection of the great artist’s works from 1908 to 1964 will be housed in a temporary exhibition hall, bringing to Rodez paintings normally seen only at the national Picasso museum, in Paris, or the Picasso museum, at Antibes.
Eastern Airways recently launched a new service within France, connecting the southern town of Rodez, in the department of Aveyron, with Paris Orly, with up to three daily return all-jet services. As part of the airline’s partnership with the tourism authorities in Aveyron, we bring you a round-up of some of the events going on there this summer as the department welcomes you to the rhythm of music and dance, coloured by history, culture and authentic festivities dedicated to the pride of of the regional “terroir”.
People like partying in Aveyron – whether it be summer or all year round; during the week or at the weekend. People get together, laugh, drink, eat, dance and sing. Music and folk festivals echo the seasons, celebrate the landmarks of the farming year and showcase local produce.Bridges are built between the past and the present and these joyful and convivial traditional get-togethers sit comfortably in the agenda alongside concerts, gastronomic events, cultural shows and all kinds of festivals.
MILLAU JAZZ FESTIVAL – July 16-23The “city of gloves” will tap its feet to the rhythm of jazz as it marks the 25th anniversary of the Millau Jazz Festival, whose philosophy is to reach a public as broad and diverse as its music. Between concerts, poetic jazz, jazz songs, swing and “manouche” take over the old town fortifications – alongside musical walks and meals, performances for younger audiences and dancing at night.
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39TH FESTIVAL OF SACRED MUSIC – July 10 to August 28Sylvanès Monastery, a cultural centre and meeting place, is celebrating its 39th sacred music festival, bringing together artists of international acclaim.These include the Alexandre Nevsky men’s choir, from St Petersburg; the À Bout de Souffle ensemble; Bernard Tétu’s choirs and soloists, from Lyon; the Sylvanès monastery’s young choir; the XVIII-21 Baroque Nomade ensemble; the Camargue Vocissimo choir; and the Michel Piquemal vocal ensemble. Many others complete the prestigious list of guest artists, who will perform not just great vocal and choral sacred works, but also pieces from popular tradition from across the world.
Blair HarleyRecruitment Specialist at Magma Products Ltd.
Think Commissioning, Think Magma
I use my 25 years’ experience of recruiting commissioning engineers to �nd the right people for the right project. By doing this, Magma Products delivers proactive services that enhance project capabilities and increase ef�ciencies. Our track record, innovative in-house software and highly-skilled engineers mean it’s very much a case of Think Commissioning, Think Magma.
ADVERTISING FEATURE
Remote monitoring is the futureWith the offshore oil and gas industry increasingly focussed on production efficiency improvements, Emerson Process Management is working hard to extend automation and remote monitoring to oil and gas facilities in the North Sea.
According to STUART BROWN, pictured above, VP and UK General Manager of industrial automation specialist Emerson Process Management, North Sea oil and gas companies are recognising that automating production and monitoring operations from onshore facilities can help them save money, increase efficiency and improve safety.
“We believe automated production and the remote monitoring of offshore facilities will be increasingly prevalent,” he said. “Emerson has well-proven expertise and experience in automating major North Sea operations. As the progression to remote operations gathers pace, we will continue to work closely with all our customers to
help them achieve their goals.”
Mr Brown was speaking as Emerson celebrated the official opening of its £20m Solutions Centre in the Dyce area of Aberdeen. The centre gives North Sea oil and gas companies access to wide-ranging operational support, engineering services and state-of-the-art training. These facilities will demonstrate the benefits of increased automation and remote monitoring, and how it can enable improved productivity.
The centre allows Emerson to monitor conditions at North Sea offshore platforms, with its technology enabling diagnostic data to be beamed from the rigs to the centre via satellite. Experts at the centre can
then analyse the information and notify the operators when a piece of equipment might be about to develop a fault, giving them the chance to deal with it before it leads to a costly unplanned shutdown and lost production.
“This new facility demonstrates Emerson’s commitment to support our customers in Scotland and the North Sea,” Mr Brown said.
“Given the challenges the industry is experiencing, now is the perfect time to build upon Emerson’s well-established operations in Aberdeen and demonstrate to our customers how users of our technology and services can run their operations more efficiently and more reliably.”
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In these days of locally sourced food, it’s unusual to find a restaurant that boasts about its key ingredients having travelled nearly half way round the world.
But then you would never open an Argentinian steak house if you weren’t going to get your beef from Argentina. And for any non-meat-eaters who may find themselves reading this, Argentinian is the watchword for best in beef.
Although only an occasional steak-eater, that means that when I do go for beef, I expect it to be rewarding. At Gaucho – housed in a vast monochrome emporium just below city centre street level – the scene was set in almost theatrical style as our waitress, Rohanna, brought the various cuts on a board for us to inspect before ordering.
All Gaucho staff are trained at the chain’s London academy and the quality of
that training shone through as Rohanna explained the qualities of the various cuts, described the marbling and generally setting our digestive juices flowing.
The Gaucho concept was created in Amsterdam more than 20 years ago by Zeev Godik, who had a hunch it might take off in Britain. There are now 12 Gauchos in London, and one each in Manchester and Leeds.
Indeed, Brits now eat 600 tonnes of meat a year at Gaucho, from cattle on 45 Argentinian farms. They are fed only on grass and not pumped with antibiotics or anything else unpleasant. They are slaughtered at two and a half years old.
Of course, it’s not just wall-to-wall beef at Gaucho: I chose pan fried scallops and black pudding to start, while my colleague stayed with beef: a selection
from the choice of empanadas.
I got myself firmly on-message for the main course, however, with a spiral cut churrasco de chorizo, marinated in garlic, basil and olive oil. My colleague opted for a delicately marbled Ancho ribeye.
I have to say quite unambiguously that the quality of the beef and accompaniments was exquisite: couple this with continuing friendly and attentive service and you understand why Gaucho has done so well.
A modest Malbec from Gaucho’s own Mendoza vineyard was the proverbial icing on the cake.
Hop in the saddle and head on down across the pampas to Gaucho’s Park Row venue. If you’ve never thought of it before, do give Gaucho a go and watch out too for the three-course business lunch. SA
GAUCHO: A lot to beef aboutGaucho – the upmarket restaurant specialising in the best Argentinian beef – has only two UK outlets outside London. We tried out the one in Leeds…
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It gets under your skin, this dining lark and all the extras that go with it. It begins with Saturday Kitchen, then it’s adding fine dining to your social repertoire, then it’s the roadshows…
To take these in reverse order, I’d had the bright idea of going to see Gino D’Acompo live on stage, imagining the likeable Italian chef somehow presenting his highly engaging TV programmes from the stage. The reality was much more about large numbers of pretty inebriated mostly middle-aged women lusting after gorgeous Gino. Though I did learn not to put oil in the water when cooking pasta and to always take the pasta to the sauce, rather than the other way round.
In marked contrast was former Saturday Kitchen presenter James Martin’s Plates, Mates and Automobiles – a highly entertaining stage show, well polished. James took particular delight in gently mocking his friend Kenny Atkinson, the Michelin Star owner of Newcastle’s House of Tides restaurant. “Fish and chips – £5,” says James and then, smearing the brown sauce over the plate with the back of a spoon…
“Now Michelin Star fish and chips, £20”.
Just a couple of days previously I’d seen Kenny’s kitchen from the inside. House of Tides has become one of Newcastle’s favourite eateries since it opened a couple of years ago. Its attraction is “casual fine dining” at affordable prices, featuring the freshest local ingredients and in the stunning setting of a Grade I listed former merchant’s house.
Should you struggle to get a table of an evening, then I can strongly recommend the slightly simpler lunchtime offer. Indeed it was while enjoying precisely that that I casually remarked that the restaurant was selling the opportunity to spend a day working in the kitchen. Well, guess what I got for Christmas!
Once again, House of Tides is housed in a Grade I listed building of a type not conducive to the kind of modification that restaurants tend to demand. For this reason, the kitchen is carefully levered into what’s best described as a cosy unlisted feature at the end of the building.
The first thing you notice is that not only is the space small, but there’s also a
heck of a lot of heat being generated by the sort of giant Aga on which all frying and simmering is done. I winced as I contemplated the gas bill, particularly as much of the heat generated vented straight out through the giant extractors. Add to that the constant churning of the giant dishwasher and you’ll get the idea. But then, as they say, if you can’t stand the heat…
Kenny will visit the kitchen at least once a day, exchange ideas and then entrust delivery to head chef Danny Parker. “My maxims are ‘respect your ingredients’ and remember the idea is not to challenge people but just provide food they will enjoy,” he said.
On Michelin Star “groupies”: “Some expect white table cloths and silver service. And quiet. This is about enjoyment and conviviality.”
We chat about a world in which the top chefs really do enjoy time together and Kenny is looking forward to James Martin’s visit. And he reflects on his time at St Martin’s, in the Scilly isles, where he gained his first Michelin Star. “It was difficult because you needed three
Stan Abbott gets inspired behind the scenes at a Michelin Star restaurant…
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HOUSE OF TIDES: Hot food
days to go anywhere, so things like Saturday Kitchen were close to impossible.”
He tells me how the kitchen experience I’m about to enjoy came about because rival chefs were asking if they could spend time in the House of Tides kitchen. “And then they went back and cooked our dishes!” At least a fee should discourage them, he thought. “But we’ve been surprised how popular the idea has become and it’s ordinary punters not chefs who are taking it up.”
So, did I get a “real” kitchen experience? Well it began with prepping vegetables, which wasn’t too great a challenge, but I did learn how to cook the perfect sea bass fillet. Here, one of the secrets lies in trimming the fillet so it is pretty much uniform in thickness. If you abhor waste, well you’ll just have to look away.
Back to the giant Aga… I was taught how you vary the heat simply by moving your pan closer to or further from the heat source. Rapeseed is the oil of choice – good flavour and high burning point. But then the fillet, with its nice crisp skin, is finished with a splash of butter, olive oil and lemon juice. Yummy!
I got involved in presenting the “snacks” and garnishing the soup (made with the biggest
multi-speed liquidiser machine you’ve seen) and witnessed Danny rejecting the foie gras terrine because he didn’t like the way it was cut. And I heard the team practise their French – all two words of it. Because “Oui Chef!” is the correct acknowledgement to any instruction.
I was glad for my lunch break to get the weight off my feet and really regretted not wearing Crocs like everyone else. I got posted upstairs to desserts and vacuum packing and found my mind beginning to wander. I was creating my own tasting menu in my head for family and friends on St Cuthbert’s Day – inspired, of course, by everything I had seen at House of Tides.
And that is really what I got out of my day: a little bit more inspiration to add to the TV, the live shows and eating experiences!
And, just for the record, my tasting menu went down well, with the terrine of pease pudding and ham hock with wild garlic; the cream of locally-caught mackerel and crab soup, topped with mini-chips & Morecambe Bay shrimps; and the slow-cooked Northumbrian hogget with barley risotto earning particular praise. The guests at my pop-up restaurant were less keen on the triple rhurbarb dessert, I confess: more work required!
St Cuddy’s Day tasting menu
Tasty treats Paté of Hartlepool kipper • Terrine of pease pudding & Ham hock
with wild garlic• White pudding surprise • li’l stotties
Gob-teaser Lindisfarne oyster with a salsa of cucumber, our kitchen garden
apples & rhubarb, topped with caviar
Noo ye’re really taakin’! Cream of locally-caught mackerel and crab soup, topped with mini-
chips & Morecambe Bay shrimps
Yor mains Hill-bred Northumbrian hogget, slow-cooked in our locally-produced
wine, with a dash of Brown Ale • leeks • pease pudding • barley risotto with wild garlic
Eastern Airways flies to Newcastle from Aberdeen, Birmingham and Cardiff
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Ever since the first internal combustion engine spluttered into life, the engineers who created the vehicles they powered have been pitting them against each other. It’s partly because Man is a naturally competitive creature but also because, as motorsport enthusiasts have been pointing out for well over a century, “Racing improves the breed”.
It’s easy to see why this argument has remained so powerful for so long. War and commercial pressure also improve the breed, but the first is obviously too high a price to pay, while the second is inevitably compromised by the need to produce a vehicle, which is not only safe and reliable but also affordable. Because motorsport suffers from neither of these constraints, manufacturers have long seen it as both a shop window and a high-speed (in every sense) test bed.
Of late, however, enthusiasts everywhere – yours truly included – have been asking themselves how long this link to the wider motor industry will continue. In an increasingly environmentally conscious world, is it still relevant?
At the risk of over-simplification, there is a fairly regular cycle to the involvement of manufacturers in any given area of motorsport. Phase One begins when the board of a major manufacturer decides that a particular sporting niche fits well with a potential new market. A works team results, either directly controlled from the factory or, more likely, contracted out to a specialist motorsport enterprise. Its budget and professionalism outclass the privateers, victories are
chalked up and valuable publicity ensues.
In Phase Two, rival manufacturers enter the fray, seeking similar benefits. Budgets mushroom, organisers’ promotional effort increases dramatically, audiences grow and a “golden era” of speed and glamour develops, albeit with the privateers now relegated to the back of the grid. But within a few years, organisers, under pressure from smaller teams, start making technical changes to the rules, to limit spiralling costs.
These changes delay, but rarely prevent, the advent of Phase Three. Sooner or later one manufacturer – usually one that has spent heavily but achieved little – decides that the expense cannot be justified and pulls out. If enough others follow suit, the bubble bursts and the sport is left with just one or two works équipes plus a mix of private and lightly sponsored semi-works teams. Results become predictable, audiences collapse and the surviving big players start questioning the point of it all.
By Phase Four, all the manufacturers are either out of the sport or operating very much at arm’s length. Small teams are back in charge and the scene is set for a return to Stage One.
The cycle described above may be an oversimplification, but for it to exist at all there has to be a technical trade-off between track and road. Increasingly, that link is looking tenuous. Millions of road cars already incorporate technologies that are widely banned in competition, such as traction control, while millions more boast features that simply have no relevance to sporting machinery. No-one needs cruise control on a
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A HARD ROAD AHEAD?Our motoring correspondent Norman Burr muses on the future of motor sport…
IMPROVING THE BREED: Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar
Palm's Ford Escort en route to victory in the 1970
London-Mexico rally.
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rally stage, lane departure warning on a race track, or iPhone connectivity on a drag strip. It’s the manufacturers who are cutting most of the technological edges now.
As the slow but relentless shift to autonomous electric cars continues, this gulf between road and track can only widen. Formula 1 has tried to maintain its relevance and fend off criticism from environmentalists by introducing a fuel-consumption formula, incorporating hybrid powertrains, but the cars are complex, budgets are enormous (and probably unsustainable) and audiences are falling, not least because the cars no longer make such a gloriously visceral sound.
In fairness to Bernie Ecclestone et al, the audience drop is probably not solely due to the current regulations. Each successive generation of drivers has fewer and fewer chances to stretch its vehicles legally on the road, and also has more and more alternative pastimes on offer. While the serious enthusiasts are still out there, still tuning, modifying, and competing, the less dedicated are seeking amusement elsewhere.
According to Tim Swietochowski, Communications Manager of the Motor Sports Association (the controlling body of
amateur motorsport in the UK), the number of competition licence-holders has remained fairly stable for the last four decades, but has declined somewhat of late, from 35,000 ten years ago to 30,000 now.
A bigger problem is the decline of the casual enthusiast, who doesn’t want to compete but might volunteer to marshal or organise a club night. In the 1970s a young driver with a passing interest in motorsport probably had a straight-through exhaust on his otherwise standard Mini and spent his weekends tinkering, often of necessity, in order to keep it on the road. His 21st century counterpart, if he can afford to insure a car at all, has an absolutely standard Vauxhall Corsa that hardly ever goes wrong and spends his weekends cycling or playing on an X-Box. Or, if he is feeling more adventurous, trying to emulate 15-year-old British pilot Luke Bannister, who recently beat 150 teams at Dubai’s World Drone Prix, the first truly global drone-racing event, and came home £175,000 richer as a result.
Stuart Turner, the legendary Ford motorsport manager who masterminded the Escort’s rally success in the 1970s and the Sierra’s racing achievements a decade later, puts it like this:
“I see around 20 motor club magazines
a month and, although some clubs are bouncing along, quite a lot have concerns about falling membership and the difficulty of getting youngsters on board. Youngsters seem to get much of the excitement they need from constant use of social media and maybe it doesn’t help that the supposed pinnacle of our sport, Formula One, is going through an odd patch.”
In the long term, we will not be driving at all but travelling in carbon-fibre boxes, which are programmed to take us where we want to go. Most people find driving stressful, or boring, or both, so they will presumably welcome this. Those of us who take pleasure in controlling a car, in feeling the machine obey your every command and respond to your every touch, will have no choice but to turn to motorsport.
What will we find on offer? The most recent developments are not encouraging. Electric race cars have had some success in countries where traditional motorsport has never become established, and were well received when they competed in Paris in April. But they will never bring a lump to the throat of the millions who have heard the spine-tingling cacophony of 55 cars at full chat commencing their rolling start at Le Mans. Those folk are likely to be even less enthused by the latest suggestion, driverless electric car racing, a kind of giant Scalextric.
In my opinion, the Sport of Internal Combustion Engines must look to the Sport of Kings for inspiration. Equestrian sports grew out of the everyday use of horses for transport, yet they are still flourishing a century after the car displaced them from our roads. As the car in turn is replaced by the autonomous box, it too must take its place in the sporting pantheon, not apologetically but proudly.
Petrolheads unite. Stop bending over backwards to be politically correct or environmentally bulletproof. Yes, there is risk. Mountaineers are hurt every year. Yes, there is pollution. Travelling football fans burn countless litres of fuel every week. No-one complains about these activities.
We have as much right to enjoy our sport as anyone else. If you really must protect us from ourselves, we’ll let you give everyone a free set of earplugs at the gate. But don’t complain if we all leave them in our pockets.
www.msauk.org
“ELECTRIC RACE CARS HAVE HAD SOME SUCCESS …BUT THEY WILL NEVER BRING A LUMP TO THE THROAT OF THE MILLIONS WHO HAVE HEARD THE SPINE-TINGLING CACOPHONY OF 55 CARS AT FULL CHAT COMMENCING THEIR ROLLING START AT LE MANS. ”
THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME? Start of the
2016 Paris ePrix
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What does it take to be named Scotland’s Country House Hotel of the Year? Or to be voted the regional Best Luxury and Fine Dining Hotel a year later? Stan Abbott heads for the Highlands in search of an answer…
other than the hotel’s owner) looked to be, if anything, understated. We quickly began to appreciate just why the judges had been so impressed in two consecutive years. Getting the atmosphere right in a country house hotel is not necessarily all that easy – I recall a sniffy such venue in the Lake District once, at which jacket and tie at dinner was a requirement and I had brought neither. In the Lake District, land of the great outdoors, for goodness’ sake. And your country house guest list may range from young couples chasing romance to old chaps chasing a quiet day’s fishing, or shooting, so you’ve the challenge of keeping all these disparate interests happy.
The staff at Ardanaiseig, some of them local, despite the apparent lack of population nearby, seemed to strike just the right balance: not overly formal, but equally, respectful and suitably indulgent.
We quickly learned that, in addition to the guests – and a surprisingly large number were to join us at dinner having presumably similarly coaxed their sat navs to deliver them here – the hotel was lodging a very large personality. I refer to that of its owner of some 30 years, Bennie Gray. He’s loosely described in various places as an antique dealer, but really that doesn’t begin to do justice to the man. In fact he’s probably best known as the creator of Birmingham’s Custard Factory, where 500-plus artists enjoy the space to develop their creative industry in the sprawling Digbeth complex that was once where Bird’s custard was made. Prior to that, in the 70s, he brought creative entrepreneurs together under one roof at Gray’s Antiques, in London.
Bennie seemed to be everywhere: his décor was at once exuberant and yet classy. Our own room – whose window perfectly framed an idyllic island-studded view across the loch – was very red; the one next door, very green. The dining room was similarly confident, with pride of place on its walls belonging to a rather unusual picture. Merely the largest and grandest of a collection that once hung on the walls of London night club, Tokyo Joe’s. Bennie stumbled across them 30 years after that venue went bust. He believes it was originally a group portrait of councillors from Lancashire in the 1840s. Their faces, however, have been overpainted to represent, on the left, rock stars including Mick Jagger, Brian Ferry and George Harrsion. And to the right of the table, men of politics, including James Goldsmith.
The thread connecting his initiatives, says Bennie, is: “We’re just trying to make spaces people enjoy being in – the trick with all of these things is to create that
“No, we don’t get much passing trade!” agreed Lauren, laughing as she stepped out to meet us when we finally rolled up outside Ardanaseig Hotel. The sat nav had given up a mile or two previously, seemingly shrugging its shoulders and inviting us to take a compass and hike the last bit through the forest. I swear I heard its monotone drone “You’re on your own now, guys” as its little red arrow tracked forlornly across a featureless white map. If there is a more remote hotel in the whole of mainland Scotland I have yet to hear of it.
Before the sat nav finally abandoned us, it had taken us round in a near 20-mile circle. We’d driven west along the north shore of a long narrow arm of Loch Awe, technically the River Awe, dammed at the Pass of Brander. On its southern side, to our left, menacing screes tumbled sheer into the water while, to the north, rose the brooding bulk of the “hollow mountain”, Ben Cruachan – a mere 31st on the list of
Munros (Scottish peaks over 3,000ft), yet taller than either Scafell Pike or Snowdon.
Some miles on we had turned south before doubling back for ten miles behind the mountains, on a single-track road, which had eventually brought us to the long cul-de-sac leading only to Ardanaseig.
And now, here we finally were, looking up at this early example of William Burn’s romantic Scottish Baronial architecture (fitting as we had just left Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, which is probably the most celebrated such Gothic extravagance).
Location is all, and we found the hotel sitting comfortably in a natural bowl in the forest, commanding wide views across the still waters of the loch. The vista was, ahem, awesome.
For once the hyperbole about a hotel (most of it, to be fair, written by people
WRITTEN IN THE STARS…
One morning in spring 1985 I was flicking through Country Life when an extraordinary image caught my eye – it depicted an ancient rather crumbly gothic building festooned with creepers, with grand lawns sweeping down to a tranquil loch reflecting distant islands and snow-capped mountains. The composition was so idyllic, I thought it was a fantasy painting of some kind of Shangri-la. It turned out to be a small remote hotel in the Highlands, called Ardanaiseig.
Sometimes minor events can have major consequences – that casual glimpse of Ardanaiseig changed my life in a big way. One glimpse and I was a goner. On impulse my girlfriend and I caught the plane to Scotland and, after a picturesque drive over the mountains and around the lochs, we got to the hotel at dusk. It was more remote and even more beautiful than I had expected. It was also empty. In fact we were the only guests, which somehow added to the romantic mystery. We were greeted by a kilted self-proclaimed woodsman, with an accent so thick he might have come from central casting. He seemed to do and be everything – chef, waiter, chambermaid and a great story teller too. The room overlooking the loch was enchanting and as for the moonlit view… I don’t have the words. I wanted to stay there forever.
The next morning we were woken by a small posse of people who wanted to see our room. At first this annoyed me, but when I discovered that the hotel was up for sale I became recklessly excited. I was determined that whatever it took I was going to buy Ardanaiseig – and later that morning when I had explored the 100 acres of artlessly overgrown lochside gardens, and the hotel’s private island, I was even more determined.
I called the agent to find out how much they wanted, but they wouldn’t even give me a guide price. The sale would be by way of a closed tender, as common in Scotland. I
knew nothing about hotels and nothing about the Scottish property market –I did know that Ardanaiseig was beyond price. So I persuaded a friendly bank manager (there were still a few around in the 1980s) to lend me the money in principle and set about researching the likely value.
A couple of weeks later – as the deadline for the closed tender drew near – I had an estimate in mind. However it was a very shaky estimate, because although I had spent a long time checking out recent sales of hotels in Scotland there were no true comparables. Ardanaiseig was, and is, unique in so many ways. Then, exactly three days before the deadline, I had lunch with my daughter Rosie and explained my problem: she said I should consult Angelique in Muswell Hill, her crystal ball gazer-cum-soothsayer. According to Rosie, she knew everything past present and future.
I won’t dwell on the sarcastic conversation I had with Rosie, but I confess that, secretly, I did go to see Angelique, and this is what happened.
Feeling embarrassed, I slunk up her path and knocked on the door. There she was – not a witch or a wizard or a wizened crone but a perfectly conventional North London mum with a heavy French accent. She led me into her patchouli-scented parlour, which was garlanded with the instruments of her trade – Himalayan artefacts and bells and candles and bead-embroidered hangings, and, yes, a crystal ball. She directed me to a tasselled velvet armchair. No small talk: she demanded quite brusquely “why are you here?”
At the mention of Rosie, Angelique half smiled. Then I explained my problem about knowing what to bid for the hotel. The half smile evaporated instantly – it was plain that Angelique felt insulted. With much vehemence she made clear that her life was devoted to helping people with real problems – not linked to money, but to matters of the heart,
grief, loss, impending illness, exotic travel, separation and romance. She was becoming quite angry and I thought she was about to show me the door, but the more she rejected me the more convinced I became that she had the answer to my question. I had come prepared with a piece of paper on which I had written ten numbers – five less and five more than my shaky estimate. I almost begged Angelique to choose one. With the kind of intense thin-lipped disdain, which only the French can manage, she waved my piece of paper away without a glance, wrote something on one of her cards, put it in an envelope, sealed it, handed it to me and asked me to leave. I rushed to my car, ripped open the envelope and there – on the card – was Angelique’s number.
It was about £100,000 less than my intended bid. I was astonished – how on earth could Angelique know even the number of noughts let alone anything more specific? It was eerie. I sat motionless in the car for almost an hour before driving home
So what to do? Should I ignore the apparent miracle, or take the risk and use Angelique’s number, even though it flew in the face of all my painstaking research? I was far too embarrassed to discuss Angelique with my bank manager or my accountant. In the end I decided to go with Angelique. The result? Mine was the highest bid and so I got to buy Ardanaiseig. That was remarkable, but what was beyond remarkable was what happened next, and this is fully documented. A month later I met the agent who had handled the sale and he told me that the second highest of the many bids was just one thousand pounds less than mine.
Since that time I have sent a number of people to see Angelique. Almost everything she has said about their past and their future has been correct. One day I might brave her thin-lipped disdain and drum up the courage to ask her about my future too.
Bennie Gray tells for the first time how a clairvoyant broke her own rules and helped him to buy a hotel for somewhat less than he’d expected…
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sense of place that makes you reluctant to walk away.”
Although someone on TripAdvisor was a bit sniffy about the dado rails being the same colour as the walls, it would be a mistake to think for one moment that Bennie is not driven by high artistic ideals and, throughout the hotel, there are signs of its gentle ongoing restoration, such as a pair of marble columns in the drawing room that had been painted over with what Bennie refers to as a thick layer of “brown gunge”. Also revealed a few years ago was a fine 300-year-old chimney breast, while – in the grounds – you’re apt to bump unexpectedly into statues and other artworks, often emerging, moss-covered, from their environment.
So back to all those dinner guests I mentioned. One of the biggest challenges running a kitchen in a hotel of this size, where guest numbers can fluctuate with the availability of fresh produce, is to deliver a fine dining experience from finite kitchen resources. We felt that chef Colin Cairns got the balance just about right in ensuring the menu varied enough each evening to satisfy longer staying guests. His locally sourced seafood and venison ticked all the right boxes, as did an imaginative wine list and a good collection of single malts and spirits, including the small-batch Highland gin, Caorunn.
Not enough, though, for a strange and stringy man from London, who made a rather arcane complaint to Lauren across the bar about locally sourced ingredients and suggested London’s Borough Market might be better. My advice: stay in London, mate.
His intervention, however, prompted my own conversation with Lauren, in which we got chatting about Bennie and she let slip that she believed he’d consulted a “wee wifey” before buying the place. I’m delighted that
the net result was that Bennie tells on these pages for the first time how he did indeed consult a medium before making his bid and just how crucial her advice proved to be.
The secret of staying at Ardanaseig is to slow down to its pace and to feel no guilt if all you want to do is read a book while watching the changing mood of the loch out of the corner of an eye. We took a wander through the lovely gardens one day, enjoying a picnic in the tiny walled cemetery that houses the estate’s ancestors. Feeling bolder, we took one of the hotel’s boats and headed towards the dramatic ruins of Kilchurn Castle at the head of Loch Awe. Now, many people know that Loch Ness is Scotland’s largest by volume of water, while Loch Lomond is its largest by area. Fewer can tell you that Loch Awes is its longest (25 miles) and third largest by area. That’s a lot of water – water that can move about a lot if the weather turns.
Ten minutes out from shore and I began to feel uneasy: changing weather was coming in from our backs and I sensed we were
running with an increasing swell. The boat felt very small and I suggested the white horses I could see ahead of us boded ill. Discretion, I find, is the better part of valour in these circumstances and I turned the wee boat gently back the way we had come and we gingerly headed back to more sheltered waters as waves broke repeatedly over the bows. Our return afforded time for a good nosey at the hotel’s Boatshed, a romantic hideaway with dramatic floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the loch. For another visit perhaps.
Back in the cosy security of afternoon tea in the sitting room I thought about those hotel judges. This, after all is the kind of place where attention to detail is such that they even tuck the belt back in on your dressing gown when they come to turn down the bed of an evening, close the shutters and leave mints on your pillow.
Let’s hear it from the judges: “Among the factors for choosing Ardanaiseig as the best country house hotel were its setting and ambiance, and the décor of its public rooms. It has a sense of elegance, with high standards of furnishings, fixtures, fittings, art and ornamenting. We found it championed local food at all meals including breakfast. Judges were left with the happy impression of having stayed in a wonderful, real Scottish country property.”
And so say all of us!
www.ardanaiseig.comNearby: Inverary Castle, seat of the Dukes of Argyll. www.inveraray-castle.comVisitor centre for the “hollow mountain” power station inside Ben Crucahcan. www.visitcruachan.co.uk
Eastern Airways flies to Aberdeen, Highlands gateway, from 13 airports in Scotland, England and Norway.
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Not so many years ago we published in this magazine an Essential Guide to Persian restaurants in the UK. There weren’t all that many. Now, of course, in most of our cities you’ll be spoilt for choice if you want to sample the flavours of Iran or the Middle East in general.
Reflecting this evolution, Sabrina Ghayour is among the best known faces on TV favourites like Saturday Kitchen and Sunday Brunch, where she always brings both a smile and an original take on traditional Persian cookery.
Her first book, Persiana: Recipes form the Middle East and Beyond, earned plaudits and topped bestseller lists in 2014. This follow-up treads new ground, however.
Named after the “hot, dry wind that blows from the east”, Ghayour combines her deep knowledge of eastern cuisine with her understanding of ingredients that you’ll find easily
anywhere in the UK. In her own words: “These recipes are all inspired by flavours of the East but use fresh produce, techniques and cookery styles of the West; hence the name Sirocco.”
I guess bacon pittas must be the most standout example, but really this beautifully illustrated booked is jam-packed with great ideas for taking western dishes to the Orient for a makeover – like cardamom doughnut brioche French toasts!
Buy it, browse it and then come up with your own ideas.
Mitchell Beazley (Octopus Books), £9.99
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TASTY TITLES FOR THE SUMMERA look at new publications from the worlds of cookery and fiction
Prices quoted are from Amazon and may vary22
When I worked in book publishing in the 80s and 90s, the idea of publishing your own work (especially fiction) was often rudely labelled “vanity publishing”. Now some of the biggest sellers of recent years, like Fifty Shades of Grey, have debued as self-published works.
These days, some authors think strategically about which titles will do best under their own imprint and which might still fare better with a traditional publisher. And those traditional publishers are now, of course, watching what goes on in self-publishing very closely. Hence the sprightly leap by new author, Adrian Walker, from self-publisher to Penguin, no less.
The End of the World Running Club is Walker’s third work of fiction, and first to “go mainstream”. It is set in a world in which the UK has been blasted by a huge asteroid storm – its landscape changed for ever and most people
simply fried. The narrator has survived by holing himself up with his family in a cellar near Edinburgh. But after this wife and children are “rescued” by helicopter and taken to board the evacuation ships in Cornwall, he has no choice but to try and reach Cornwall himself. The terrifying landscape he has to cross and the unpleasant survivors he must outwit make up what we like to call a dystopia, or the opposite of utopia… It’s easier to invent the latter, because if you create a utopia it is you who sets the rules. In the case of a dystopia, however, there might be annoying critics querying whether the events that created your unpleasant world are actually realistic. In Walker’s case, I found his ghastly world credible.
It is a page-turner and the evidence of early sales suggests Walker has successfully made the leap from publisher to published.
Del Rey (Penguin), £3.85
THE END OF THE WORLD RUNNING CLUBAdrian Walker
SIROCCO: FABULUOUS FLAVOURS FROM THE EASTSabrina Ghayour
BRINGS BOTH A SMILE AND AN ORIGINAL TAKE ON TRADITIONAL PERSIAN COOKERY
Vine wrapped baked feta
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AYS NORWAY MADE EASY WITH
EASTERN AIRWAYSIt’s never been easier to reach key Norwegian destinations with Eastern Airways
Whether you’re heading to Stavanger for ONS 2016, to Bergen, or a variety of other onward business and leisure destinations, Eastern Airways services and Norway flights operated by codeshare partner Widerøe, offer hassle-free connections to Norway over Eastern’s major UK hub at Aberdeen.
With a choice of daily departures to both major Norwegian cities from Aberdeen, there’s a variety of options to choose from when starting your journey at Eastern Airways destinations across the
UK – Cardiff; Durham Tees Valley; East Midlands; Humberside; Leeds Bradford; Newcastle; Norwich; Southampton; Stornoway; or Wick John O’Groats.
And the great thing about travelling to Norway via Aberdeen is that it is just so much easier.
No longer do you have to dread what might be lying ahead of you at Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam, or London Heathrow. There’ll be no mile hikes and no long waits when you use Eastern Airways’ hub at Aberdeen.
And most flights have a very reasonable connection time, so you can relax in international departures on your way to Norway, or Eastern Airways own dedicated lounge.
Here are just a few examples of connections:
Norwich-Bergen Mon-Fri. Depart Norwich 0645, arrive Bergen 1150. T3722/T35393 via Aberdeen
Bergen-Norwich Mon-Fri. Depart Bergen 1750, arrive Norwich 2105. T35398/T3729 via Aberdeen
Humberside-Stavanger Mon, Tues, Wed. Depart Humberside 1040, arrive Stavanger 1620. T3752/T35369 via Aberdeen
Stavanger-Humberside Tues, Wed, Thurs. Depart Stavanger 1325, arrive Humberside 1710. T35368/T3755 via Aberdeen
All through flights and connections can be easily booked via the Eastern Airways website or your travel agent.
So the next time you travel to Norway, why not make your life as easy as possible and book with Eastern Airways!
www.easternairways.com
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Energy explained. Opportunities exposedONS 2016
August sees the return of ONS, Stavanger’s industry-leading conference and exhibition for the offshore oil and gas sector. The organisers of ONS 2016 promise an expanded exhibition area and more quality conference content than ever, as the renowned energy event will focus on the opportunities arising in the context of the new market reality in the energy industry.
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NINE EXHIBITION HALLS – ENDLESS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIESThe exhibition halls will as usual be filled with all the major players in the industry. A significant number of new exhibitors have also signed up due in response to the expanded exhibition area.
“We experience an urge to get together,” says Leif Johan Sevland, President and CEO of ONS. “This is not only to plan for the future but also to discuss the current
situation. Gathering the global energy industry means gathering global business opportunities in one place. Suppliers get access to new customers and contractors discover new technology from new suppliers.”
Technical Sessions – new for ONS 2016 The big new feature for ONS 2016 is called Technical Sessions. With help from
a committee of key individuals from the industry, the unsolved technical challenges have been identified, after companies in the industry were invited to submit their ideas and solutions. The result is a conference arena providing the latest news in technology developments, and an in-depth understanding of the possible solutions to major technical challenges.
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Widerøe has played a small but decisive part in the Norwegian oil adventure. For 80 years, our extensive network and frequent departures has connected people with the important oil hubs. We continuously improve our timetables to ensure excellent connections and a swift and smooth journey, whether your final destination is onshore or offshore. You could say we fuel the industry. Welcome aboard. wideroe.no
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ABOUT ONSn 91,682 visitors in 2014
n One of the world’s most renowned energy events
n Exhibition, Conference and Festival
n 1,300 exhibitors
n 350 speakers in five conference arenas
n August 29 to September 1, in Stavanger, Norway
Eastern Airways flies to Stavanger via Aberdeen from throughout the UK, with partners Wideroe
THE ONS CONFERENCE: ENERGY EXPLAINEDOur countries, our companies and our jobs are all influenced by the changes in the energy world. ONS offers the chance to understand the dynamics affecting markets and the energy industry. All this will be crucial information for anyone who wants to stay ahead in the game.
“The ONS Conference presents the biggest names in the business – to give you the global perspectives from the people with the best insight and the power to influence the future,” Sevland explains.
Among the keynote speakers for ONS 2016 are Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell; Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhillips; Lord Browne, Chairman of L1 Energy; Eldar Sætre, CEO of Statoil; and Mohammed Y Al Qahtani, Senior Vice President Upstream of Saudi Aramco.
ONS IS EXPANDINGONS is one of few energy events that is experiencing growth, despite the tougher market conditions facing the energy industry. An extra exhibition hall will be used –and additional exhibitors have not been hard to find.
The reason is easily explained, according to President and CEO Sevland: “ONS has more than 40 years of history as one of the world’s leading energy events. So, especially in challenging times, companies understand the value of exhibiting at ONS and visitors know why it is important to be here.
“They know we deliver the latest insights on the market and future opportunities – and most importantly, we provide deliver the international energy industry to them. It’s a magnificent meeting place, and the perfect place to boost business.” P
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n ONS Festival, the afterparty. When the exhibition and conference closes in the afternoon, ONS participants gather in the festival area downtown. This is the perfect network arena, with plenty of entertainment, music and culinary delights. The highlight is the ONS Concert and fireworks.
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E Grand nature with steep mountains and deep fjords; from outer reefs to sheltered villages; from steep vantage points to green valleys; short distances to mountains and fjords; colourful culture and spectacular culinary highlights – Stavanger Region has it all! Stavanger itself is the region’s largest city, with a population of about 130,000.
WELCOME to the STAVANGER REGION
Active holidayThere are endless opportunities for an active holiday in the entire region. Just to mention a few – canoeing, kayaking, fishing, salmon safari, surfing, kiting, climbing, zip line, rappelling, SUP (stand-up paddle), boating, skiing, cycling, hiking or extreme sports, such as base jumping or paragliding. Norway’s best surfing conditions are actually found along the Jæren beaches in the Stavanger region, making it possible for large tournaments such as Eurosurf and Eurosurf Junior to organise events there. Pick the activity that you would most like to experience. Take advantage of the short distances, your next adventure is never far away!
The culinary regionRestaurants and ingredients in this part of Norway have received excellent reviews from national food critics, as well as from the Michelin guide, where Stavanger became the first Norwegian city outside Oslo to earn the highly sought after Michelin Star in 2016. The accolade goes to restaurant RE-NAA, but seafood, lamb, vegetables and fruit from local producers can be enjoyed in world-class restaurants across the city and the region. Gladmat is the largest food festival in the Nordic countries and is one of more than 30 festivals organised in the region every year. It attracts more than 200,000 visitors every year at the end of July.
Smart City Stavanger region is one of ten cities in Europe that the hold European status of Smart City Light House, seeking integrated commercial-scale solutions with a high market potential, in the fields of energy, transport and information technology. Stavanger is proud to be one of three cities in the EU Triangulum project, which is set to demonstrate, disseminate and replicate solutions and frameworks for Europe’s future smart cities. For the Stavanger region, the Triangulum project will contribute to lowering emissions, improving welfare technology and improving the quality of public transport.
World-famous attractions Preikestolen and the Lysefjord in the Stavanger region
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Urban nature breakThose interested in architecture will enjoy the many buildings and attractions of remarkable design. Old Stavanger has northern Europe’s largest concentration of listed wooden houses, with its 173 white-painted homes. The area is one of the most photographed tourist spots in the city of Stavanger. Attractions such as the Norwegian Oil Museum and Stavanger Cathedral are also examples of outstanding architectural pearls. Stavanger and Sandnes were chosen as European capital of culture in 2008, a testament to the cities’ wide-ranging and rich cultural life. Visitors can choose from cultural delights that include museums, galleries, a pioneering musical environment, cabarets and theatre shows. World famous artists have given fantastic concerts in the iconic Stavanger Concert Hall, beautifully located in the city’s harbour area. The what’s on calendar (regionstavanger.com) gives you the complete list of events in the Stavanger region at all times. Exquisite street art trails are found in both Stavanger and Sandnes – explore them on your own, or with a guide during summer.
Mesmerising natural history Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) is the most famous tourist attraction in the Stavanger region. It towers 604 metres above Lysefjord, with a grand view of the entire fjord from the mountain plateau. The hiking trail is in slightly hilly terrain, and climbs 350 metres. There are pretty spots to swim as well as pleasant resting places along the hike. Remember that you’ll need sturdy footwear and warm clothing, as well as food and drink. And you do need to be reasonably fit. The hike takes about four hours there and back, and is approximately six kilometres. The main season for doing the walk runs from April to October.
Kjerag is the king of Lysefjord! At 1,084 metres, Kjerag is the highest mountain on the fjord and its unmistakable feature is the large round rock wedged between two mountain faces. The highlight is to have your picture taken on it! Kjerag is also a popular destination for mountain climbers and base jumpers. The very demanding hike goes up and down several summits and involves a total climb of 570 metres. A return trip requires five or six hours and is about ten kilometres. The season for this walk runs from June to September.
The Lysefjord is a 40-kilometre-long fjord
that stands apart from other fjords in the county because of its savage drama. The mountains soar high above much of the fjord’s length. A boat cruise on the fjord is a memorable experience so you can see the dramatic mountains, waterfalls, seals, goats and remote farms. There are sightseeing boats on the fjord all year, while in summer, a tourist ferry also operates.
The good life in Sokndal and the heritage listed SogndalstrandExploring the southernmost part of the Stavanger region, Sokndal is the first municipality in the Nordic countries to become a member of the International movement, Cittaslow. The idea is to slow down the pace of life and to prioritise quality of life and the good life. In Sokndal you are allowed to be different and slightly silly. Sogndalstrand, in Sokndal, is the only community in Norway where both the wooden houses from the 18th and 19th centuries are listed along with the surrounding cultural landscapes. They have no tourists here – only guests! In Magma Unesco Geopark are exciting geological features more reminiscent of the surface of the moon. Visit the Stavanger region to walk on “moon rocks”.
THE STAVANGER REGION – WHERE EVERYTHING IS WITHIN REACH! MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE DESTINATION AT REGIONSTAVANGER.COM
Norway’s best surfing conditions can be found at the Jæren beaches in the Stavanger region
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If you look at a map of the old West Midlands metropolitan county, you can’t help but notice the fact that it looks a bit like a walrus, with a large bulky head and upper body in the northwest and a slimmer tail bit extending off to the southeast.
At the end of the “tail” is the city of Coventry, but if you look more closely, you’ll see it is “joined” to Birmingham only by the Borough of Solihull, the greater part of whose land area is actually a Green Belt buffer between Coventry and the heartland of the conurbation, in Birmingham and the Black Country.
That’s a slightly roundabout way of
saying that our arrival in Coventry pretty much confirmed what the map would have told us: this city really sits apart from the West Midlands, both physically and, in many ways, culturally too.
Sure, Coventry shares with its bigger, brasher neighbour a common history in the development of the British motor industry, but in this – as in many other areas, the city has its own distinct story to tell.
We spent a most enjoyable day discovering details of this story; so let’s get the negatives out of the way first… Coventry shares with other UK cities that 60s blight: the inner ring road. Coventry’s is undoubtedly worse than most, as
much of it is on stilts, thereby blighting an even wider swathe of land on either side of its path than might otherwise have been the case.
On the plus side, there are plenty of car parks beneath this road, so access to the city centre is easy! We began our tour on foot at Coventry Cathedral – where else? – which I hadn’t visited since not long after its opening, when I was a small child.
I still recall the new cathedral being met with a slightly mixed reception more than half a century ago. Today, Sir Basil Spence’s work is a Grade I listed building and one that has stood the test of time quite exceptionally well. Indeed,
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Stan Abbott finds the city of Coventry and rural Warwickshire full of surprises and very different from their big Brummie neighbour in our Exploration Express…
COVENTRY
CITY WORTHY OF PRAISE
Sir Basil Spence insisted that the new building should be built alongside the ruins of the old
with its extensive use of glass and light, airy structures, you can’t help but feel that Sir Basil was well ahead of his time and that the judges who chose his design from among many were equally far-sighted.
We spent ages watching the light play on the coloured glass panels of the (geographical) east window – geographical, because the altar of the “new” cathedral, which would normally be in in the east end of the building, is actually in the north end.
Everywhere in the building are tokens of international recognition and understanding as Coventry, like Dresden, became symbolic of emergence from the destruction of war into a more humanitarian age. Indeed, this ethos can be traced back to the day following the destruction of the old cathedral, in 1940, when Provost Howard made a commitment not to vengeance, but to forgiveness and reconciliation.
It was this moral and prophetic vision that led to Coventry Cathedral’s development as a world Centre for Reconciliation, which over the years has provided inspiration and support to many Christians addressing ongoing conflict in contemporary society.
Our visit was made the more enjoyable by the attentive service of cathedral staff, especially Ruby Dillow, who took time to explain many of the building’s special features in detail and with passion.
Time may be a great healer, but it does also wear things down and rather alarmingly, Graham Sutherland’s huge work, Christ in Glory (said to be the world’s largest tapestry), is in the process of an ongoing restoration programme, which cost £100,000 last year alone.
Before leaving the Cathedral, do take time for a coffee at Rising Café, a 40s themed café and restaurant run by the Betel charity and staffed by previously homeless former addicts. All proceeds go towards helping the recovery of these people and others finding themselves in similar circumstances. Beautiful home-cooked food and lovely staff!
Coventry’s university – formerly Lanchester and then Coventry Polytechnic – enjoys a prominent position opposite the new Cathedral to its east, helping it to earn popularity awards with students. On the southern side of this big square stand the poignant ruins of the old St Michael’s Cathedral and, to their east, the city’s art
gallery and museum, the Herbert.
We were fortunate to catch there the national tour of the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, just one of many visiting exhibitions. But this is also a great place to discover everything about Coventry’s history, from Neolithic times to Lady Godiva to the arrival of the industrial revolution and the modern city.
Coventry suffered extensive destruction during the Second World War and the loss of St Michael’s was only the most symbolic expression of this. Even before the war, advancing industry had claimed many old buildings and streets. After the wreckage of war, however, much of the city centre was rebuilt in modern, brutalist style by the young City Architect, Donald Gibson. It would be fair to say that the jury is still out on the concept of brutalism, at large, but scratch beneath the surface and you will still find remains of Coventry’s medieval past.
St Mary’s Hall is close to the cathedral, while the surviving city walls at Swanswell Gate, and Cheylesmore Manor, are among city centre buildings that somehow survived both the Blitz and the arrival of modernism.
OUR VISIT WAS MADE
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Graham Sutherland’s Christ in Glory
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What a gem!Our base for exploring Coventry and Warwickshire was the family-run Hampton Manor – and what a gem of a find it is.
One of a slowly growing band of privately-owned boutique hotels and country houses that are showing the bigger boys what a hotel stay should really be about, it would be hard to find a better place to unwind while only minutes from Birmingham Airport.
For a start, it is set in 45 acres of gardens and mature woodland. Then, it offers a modest 15 individually designed bedrooms, inspired by Fjona Hill, part owner with husband James of the family hotel.
Fjona’s work really comes into its own in the beautiful dining room, whose specially commissioned wallpaper has no repeating pattern and was specially printed in China.
This is the venue for the three-AA Rosette Peel’s Restaurant, which – in my humble opinion, is a Michelin star venue in all but name. Young Head Chef Rob Palmer and his locally sourced team have created menus drawing on fine local ingredients. We opted for the four-course tasting menu, which spanned fine ingredients, from local beets, to less local barbecued octopus and wagyu beef two ways, with cauliflower cheese and red cabbage. I could tell you all about the great service and imaginative amuse-bouche, but I really think you should go and try for yourself!
Afterwards to Fred’s bar, where we kept the young French waiter on his toes and he surprised us by producing a rather special 1724 Inca Trail tonic to go with the designer gin.
www.hamptonmanor.com
Spon Street is a near complete medieval street, just a spit from the city centre and is home to family-run shops and the Old Windmill, Coventry’s oldest pub, whose interior is a maze of snugs, cosy spaces and friendly local cross-cultural banter: a must-visit on any trip to Coventry.
Refreshed, we walked on to Coventry’s magnificent Transport Museum. Wow, what a place! Forget any talk of “I’m not interested in cars” or “I don’t like buses”, this is just so much more than “what it says on the tin”. This is the story of the industrial revolution as seen thorough the eyes of transport – how Singer sewing machine workshops became Singer cycle workshops, became larger Singer motorbike workshops, became even larger Singer car production lines.
It is also a social history, including the impact of the decline of the motor industry in the Midlands, alongside hope for the future. The latter lies in the opening next year of the National Automotive Innovation research centre and the possibility of a new Jaguar Land Rover plant, to add to the London Taxi Company (the Chinese-owned Black Cab plant).
The other hope comes from two very upbeat virtual reality rides that you’ll
find at the end of the museum – you can relive the setting of the 763mph world land speed record in Thrust SSC (super-sonic car). The other ride, which I suspect may not be there now, invited you to ride in the new Bloodhound, the aim of which is to push the record to 1,000mph, perhaps as soon as next year.
So things are on the up… Coventry is bidding to be City of Culture in 2021 and should make a worthy holder of that crown.
I mentioned the green spaces between Coventry and Solihull – we also spent some time exploring the historic towns that punctuate that green. Stratford-upon-Avon, of course, needs little introduction this of all years, so we headed instead for Kenilworth, whose magnificent castle is said to be the finest example of a medieval “semi-royal” palace. It also boasts nice local shops.
Even better, is Warwick whose fine medieval buildings, quaint pubs and grand castle make it the ideal day trip destination.
www.visitcoventryandwarwickshire.co.uk
Eastern Airways flies to Birmingham from Newcastle and to East Midlands, from Aberdeen
Kenilworth castle
Ford's Hospital, a grade I listed 16th century half-timbered almshouse in Greyfriars Lane
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DOING DAHL This year marks the centenary of one of our favourite, and at times controversial, children’s author. Kevin Pilley reports…
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Twenty-six years after the death and a 100 years after the birth of its most famous customer, there are still long queues at the counter of Mrs Pratchett’s former sweet shop in Llandaff, Cardiff.
But now spring rolls and egg foo yung are the order of the day – rather than bullseyes, jelly babies, dusted mallows, milk teeth, apple cubes, liquorice twists and gobstoppers. The chicken chow mein is delumptuous. But, sadly, the prawn crackers are not everlasting.
Steven and Amy Lau’s Great Wall of China Restaurant on Llandaff high street is one of the Welsh capital’s more unusual major landmarks. In 2009, the Chinese takeaway became a heritage site and was “blue placqued” to commemorate the infamous Great Mouse Plot of 1924 when children’s author Roald Dahl and four “accomplices” allegedly put a dead mouse in a gobstopper jar at their local sweet shop. Dahl always believed that “beastly people should always be published”.
The owner of Mrs Pratchett’s Sweet Shop may have inspired The Witches and The Twits. In his autobiographical Boy : Tales of Childhood, Dahl described the Trunchbulliian proprietrix as “a small skinny old hag with a moustache on her upper lip, little piggy eyes and a mouth as sour as green gooseberry”.
Roald Dahl was born in Cardiff in 1916. He was named after the Norwegian explorer who beat Scott to the South Pole in 1911. His father was a wealthy 33
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shipbroker involved with the timber industry.
Dahl’s birthplace, the nouveau art Villa Marie, at 32 Fairwater, Llandaff, is now called Ty Gwyn (the White House). The Dahl family’s second home, or what remains of it, is listed on the accommodation site, Airbnb.
The refurbished 1920s gatehouse of the family Ty Myndd (Mountain House), near Radyr, on the outskirts of Cardiff, is available to paying guests. The country manor house was demolished in 1967. Dahl remembered it as “a mighty house with turrets on its roof
and majestic lawns”.
In 1920, after the death from appendicitis of his sister Astri, and father Harold of pneumonia after a visit to the Arctic, the family moved to Cumberland Lodge, now part of Howell’s School.
Dahl attended Llandaff Cathedral School and St Peter’s School, Weston-super-Mare. He travelled by Campbell White Funnel Steamer from Portishead. The quay is on Cardiff walking tours. As is the Norwegian Church where Dahl was baptised.
The site of the original Lutheran church is now the Red Dragon cinema, bowling and restaurant complex. The current Norwegian church is now an arts centre.
Says Cardiff On Foot city walking guide Nigel Bevan: “The Norwegian Church is still a reminder of just how ethnically mixed industrial Cardiff was. It’s strange one of the greatest English language children’s writers was actually baptised in Norwegian!”
At 6ft 6ins, Dahl, who was a very good squash player, went on to attend Repton School, in Derbyshire. He then worked for Shell in Africa before joining the RAF, becoming a war-time fighter ace.
He wrote most of his books in pencil on a tray, with a blanket over his knees, in his garden shed at Gypsy House in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, where you can now find the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. He also wrote in a gypsy “vardo” caravan.
The museum in the Buckinghamshire town where he lived for 36 years exhibits the hut and the chair he wrote in. There is a Café Twit, serving Swashboggling Sandwiches, Bogtrotter Chocolate Cake and other “flushbunkingly glorious” things.
Dahl loved sweets. He ate a chocolate bar every day. He would screw up the foil wrapper and add it to a growing ball. His huge ball of wrappers is also on display on his writing desk. The museum was opened by Cherie Blair.
The great storyteller died in 1990 and was buried in St Peter and St Paul church, Great Missenden, along with his favourite HB pencils – as well as a saw, a bottle of
Norwegian church and, below, the young Dahl
Burgundy and his snooker cue. Selling 200 million books, he has spawned an industry. He also wrote adult fiction and wrote the screen play to the Bond film, You Only Live Twice.
Stephen Spielberg’s BFG will be released in July. It was filmed on location in Skye, Orkney and the Outer Hebrides.
Perhaps one of the most famous Roald Dahl film locations is the Headland Hotel, Newquay, seen in the 1990 film, The Witches, starring Grand High “vitch”, Anjelica Huston. The hotel will be screening some of his films.
This summer his home town of Cardiff will become the City of the Unexpected, with city-wide performances celebrating all things Dahl, produced by National Theatre Wales and Wales Millennium Centre, and a programme of outreach events by Literature Wales. There will also be an exhibition of illustrations by Quentin Blake.
There are many Dahl connections around Wales. The Lolfa Cynin working dairy and sheep farm in St Clears, Carmarthenshire, now offers Roald Dahl afternoon teas “with whipped cream whipped with real whips”.
His quayside family holiday home in Tenby, west Wales, is available for rent. The Dahls spent every Easter there from 1920-36. The Cabin was part of the Welsh walled seaside town’s old assembly rooms and spa. It is now owned by Dahl’s niece. On a wall of a restroom is a quote from his posthumously published book, My Year: “We adored Tenby.”
Sadly, the first floor Atlantic-front holiday apartment has no lickable wallpaper or edible marshmallow pillows. The Cabin, which looks out over the harbour and the beaches of Carmarthen Bay, sleeps six. It has all mod cons vital to any Dahl self-catering holiday and copies of his classic Revolting Recipes abound. It may not be possible to make “noodles made out poodles” and “smelly jelly made from armadillo toes”. But, as plenty of pots and pans are provided, you can always whistle up a batch of “pishlets” (for kids who can’t whistle) or rustle up some scrambled dreg, before going down to the beach singing the Oompa-Loompa Song all the way.
The Cardiff Bay Ramble costs £10 per adult. www.cardiffwalkingtours.com
The Cabin is available for rent. www.coastalcottages.co.uk
www.roalddahl.com/roalddahl/100
Eastern Airways flies to Cardiff from Newcastle and Aberdeen and to Birmingham, for Great MissendenDahl with Quentin Blake
Dahl writing inside the hut
The hut exteror
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Wales is celebrating its Year of Adventure this year. Victoria Trott chooses ten of the best adventures to try…
KITESURFING IN PORTHCAWLBest known for the Royal Porthcawl Golf Club and Coney Beach Pleasure Park, this small Victorian seaside resort is also popular with surfers and kitesurfers who come to catch the waves at Rest Bay. Blast Kiteboarding, run by three-times British Senior Wave Champion Marc Rowley, offers a wide range of lessons for beginners to advanced kitesurfers. These start with an hour-long one-to-one at £40, while a five-day course, which aims to turn novices into competent riders, costs £449. www.blastkiteboarding.co.uk
GOING WILD IN WALES
SKYDIVING OVER SWANSEABased at Swansea Airport on the eastern edge of the Gower Peninsula, the National Skydiving Club of Wales offers intrepid sorts the ultimate adrenaline rush above the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Strapped to an instructor, you can experience a “ground rush” from 7,000ft for £130, or a tandem skydive from 12,000ft for £260, dur-ing which you’ll experience the thrill of freefall at 120mph for about 45 seconds. Both dives include pre-jump training, equipment and a certificate of achievement when back on terra firma. www.skydiveswansea.co.uk
DIVING IN CHEPSTOWHoused in a flooded quarry near the English border, the National Diving and Activity Centre offers exciting underwater experiences for beginners and experts. As well as challeng-ing pay-as-you-go dives for technical or free divers, the centre also runs a one-hour Try-A-Dive introductory course in a swimming pool. Or you can take the PADI Open Water Diver course, held over two consecutive weekends, to learn the skills and knowledge to dive unsupervised with a buddy up to a depth of 12 metres (39 feet). If that’s not adventurous enough, try hurtling down the zipwire, zoom-ing around on a flyboard, or experiencing weightlessness on the 3G swing. www.ndac.co.uk
CLIMBING IN THE VALLEYSFormerly known as the Welsh International Climbing Centre, the Summit Centre is built on the site of a disused drift mine, about an hour north of Cardiff. As well as more than 180 routes and indoor climbing walls up to 18 metres (59 feet) high, there is also a man-made caving system. Courses include 60-minute taster sessions, starting at £30 for two people, and Family Adventure Days for £35 for a family of four for one activity, or £60 for two activities. You can choose from activi-ties including abseiling, canoeing and gorge-walking, as well as climbing. www.rockuk.org
RIDING IN THE BRECON BEACONSCantref Adventure Farm is the only riding centre licensed to trek in the Brecon Beacons National Park. The hour-long Red Kite Ride is suitable for all, from six years and over, and takes in wonderful views, as well as the feed-ing sites of Red Kites. There are also half-day and day rides for more experienced riders. Back at the farm, kids can bottle-feed the lambs and goats, enjoy tractor rides and get lost in the new maize maze. There are themed events throughout the year and camping and catering are available on site. www.cantref.com
MOUNTAIN BIKING IN MERTHYR TYDFILBike Park Wales was built by riders for riders and is one of the UK’s leading destinations for this sport. But you don’t have to be an expert to enjoy its forest trails. Beginners can book a place on the one-day mixed or women-only Park Essentials and Core Skills, while intermediate riders can take the one-day Jump Starter. On this you’ll learn the skills to take to the air. Both cost £75. Alternatively, families can just bring their own bikes and follow the easy Badger’s Run or join the Taff Trail, which runs for 55 miles between Cardiff and Brecon. www.bikeparkwales.com
RAFTING IN CARDIFFNear the upmarket seaside town of Penarth, Cardiff International White Water offers a range of water sports for all ages. From a two-hour white-knuckle white-water rafting experience along the 250-metre Olympic-standard course, to a one-day Introduction to Paddlesport (canoeing and kayaking), the centre provides an exhilarating escape from the Welsh capital. Other activities include indoor surfing, stand-up paddling and air walking, which involves navigating an aerial route above the water courses. The café ensures a proper Welsh welcome, thanks to its use of seasonal, local produce.www.ciww.com
SURVIVAL ON THE GOWER PENINSULAFancy getting back to nature and learning to fend for yourself? Survival expert and TV presenter Andrew Price and his colleagues at Gower-based Dryad Bushcraft will show you how to make bows and arrows using Stone Age methods on their Primitive Living Skills Course. Or you can try the Gower Castaway Adventure and learn to build shelters and fires after being taken to a remote location by jet boat. Adults and kids can have fun foraging and tracking during a two-day Family Bushcraft Camp, or prepare a meal outdoors using seasonal, wild ingredients on the One-Day Wilderness Gourmet. www.dryadbushcraft.co.uk
ADVENTURES IN FOODNot all adventures need to be high adrenaline. Food Adventure runs a variety of culinary tours and experiences in South Wales, including a cheese and wine-tasting visit to the biodynamic Ancre Hill Vineyard, near Monmouth, or seasonal cookery classes and foraging on the banks of the River Taff near Cardiff. Making strawberry and rhubarb preserves with an award-winning jam-maker in Chepstow is followed by a cream tea, and a pork butchery class with an award-winning artisan charcutier in the Vale of Glamorgan includes lunch. www.foodadventure.co.uk
FALCONRY IN THE NEATH VALLEYOnce the favoured sport of royalty and noblemen, the ancient art of falconry is now accessible to all. Mountain and River Activities offers adults and children the opportunity to see these magnificent hunting birds close up, via a two-hour Hawk Walk (£45 per person) or a four-hour Birds of Prey Experience Day (£83 per person). After being taught some essential skills, participants can experience the Harris Hawks landing on their gloved fists and learn how to pick up and carry them.www.mountainandriveractivities.co.uk
Eastern Airways flies to Cardiff from Newcastle and Aberdeen
WILD WALES Birds, bushcraft and baking
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WIN a two night stay at NorthernEngland’s first Hilton Garden Inn
Eastern Airways flies to Newcastle from Aberdeen, Birmingham and Cardiff
Eastern Airways Magazine has teamed up with the newly opened Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland, to offer one lucky reader a two-night stay for two in the “city by the sea”.
YOUR CHANCE TO WIN: Our prize package includes two nights’ accommodation at the Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland, with breakfast both mornings, as well as dinner, with a bottle of wine, at the Karbon Grill Kitchen and Bar on one evening. Return Eastern Airways flights to Newcastle are also included in the prize. Ground transfers not included.
For your chance to win this amazing prize simply answer the following easy question:
How many bedrooms and suites are there at the UK’s first Hilton Garden Inn?
Send you answer to [email protected], no later than Monday, September 5, making sure you write HILTON GARDEN in the subject field. Please also supply dates of your most recent Eastern Airways flight. Gravity competition rules apply: only one entry per household permitted.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Prize to be taken before March 31, 2017. All dates are subject to availability. Match and major event days at the adjacent Stadium of Light are specifically excluded.
For more information about Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland please visit www.hgisunderland.hgi.com or www.safc.com/hotel. Bookings can also be made by contacting [email protected].
Further details about the hotel’s 100-seater restaurant, Karbon Grill Kitchen and Bar, can be found separately by visiting www.safc.com/karbongrill, emailing [email protected] or calling 0191 349 8500.
The new hotel – the first of its kind between Birmingham and Glasgow – is within easy reach of all of the region’s main attractions, as well as the economic centres of Sunderland and Newcastle.
Designed to cater for both corporate and leisure travellers, the hotel boasts a wide range of features that are ideal for a long or short stay, including a 24-hour business centre, fitness suite, meeting rooms and guest laundry.
Residents have a choice of 141 en-suite bedrooms and suites, each equipped with the brand’s signature bedding, as well as a spacious work desk with an ergonomic desk chair, mini-fridge, individually-controlled air conditioning, flat screen TV and complimentary WiFi.
Those who can draw themselves away from these comfortable surroundings and convenient room service, will find the hotel’s destination restaurant, the Karbon Grill Kitchen and Bar, serving a wide range of Pan-American fusion dishes, as well as a variety of drinks and cocktails in its adjoining bar.
Leading conference, events and sporting venue, the Stadium of Light, is just a short stroll away, with attractions such as the National Glass Centre, Sunderland’s extensive beach-front, and major businesses, including Nissan, EDF, Barclays, Nike and many more, also within easy reach. The hotel is just a short walk from the Stadium of Light Metro station, with frequent direct trains from Newcastle Airport.
OUR DESTINATIONS
Scheduled routes
Charter routes
Codeshare services operated by Widerøe
WELCOME TO OUR BARE ESSENTIALSInformation on our routes, fleet, passenger experience and suggestions for what to do when you arrive at your destination.
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EMBR AER ERJ135
Two aircraft Seats 37 passengers Two turbofan engines Wingspan, 20m (65ft)
Length 26m (86ft) Typical cruising speed, 450 knots, at 35,000ft
JETSTREAM 41
Seventeen aircraft Seats 29 passengers Two turboprop engines Wingspan 19m (60ft)
Length 20m (63ft) Typical cruising speed,280 knots, at 20,000ft
SAAB 2000
Nine aircraft Seats 50 passengers Two jetprop engines Wingspan 24.3m (81ft)
Length 26.7m (89ft) Typical cruising speed, 370 knots, at 28,000ft
EMBR AER ERJ145
Three aircraft Seats 50 passengers Two turbofan engines Wingspan, 20m (65ft)
Length 30m (98ft) Typical cruising speed, 450 knots, at 35,000ft
THE FLEET
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Besides the airline’s scheduled service network in the UK and Norway, Eastern Airways also operates domestic services within France from Paris Orly to Rodez, in the department of Aveyron, in the south.
EMBR AER E170
Two aircraft Seats 76 passengers Two General Electric CF34-BE turbofan engines
Wingspan 26m (85ft 4in)Length 30m (98ft) Typical cruising speed, 481 knots, at 41,000ft
Our customers choose Eastern Airways because they want their journey to be as convenient, speedy and hassle-free as possible.
We aim to satisfy these key requirements by offering frequent services (up to four weekday departures, plus Sunday services), same day returns on most routes, and free hand lug-gage and hold baggage allowance.
Our highly trained cabin attendants also offer a fully complimentary in-flight drinks and branded snacks service, while customers with fully flexible tickets can enjoy complimentary lounge access at selected airports.
Our 30-minute check-in time, along with fast track security at selected airports, are a big plus when time is of the essence and queues at both will be short, enabling you to make the most of your ticketless travel, pioneered by Eastern Airways a decade ago.
Fast Track is currently available at Aberdeen,
Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds Bradford, South-ampton, East Midlands and Newcastle, and is a dedicated security channel for Eastern Airways passengers to use and avoid busy airport terminal security queues.
With Eastern Airways operating the largest number of scheduled services from Aberdeen, we offer exclusive use of our dedicated busi-ness lounge, located next to our departure gates. Executive lounge access is also offered at Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Norwich and Southampton for pas-sengers travelling on fully flexible tickets.
As you board your aircraft you will see our liveried valet baggage cart for you to place larger items of hand luggage by the aircraft steps. Your hand luggage will be there for you on the valet baggage cart at your destination.
Once again our aim is to make your travel as pleasant an experience as possible and we wish you a most enjoyable trip.
…we'll make your journey easier and more enjoyable
FLY FOR LESSThe Eastern Airways 4-4-3 Route Pass offers savings for frequent flyers of up to 25 per cent when you buy four return tickets for the price of three.
The 4-4-3 Route Pass offers maximum flexibility, lounge access and fee-free changes, and is available on all Eastern Airways UK domestic services – as is our Zonal Route Pass, which offers even bigger savings of up to 40 per cent.
The Zonal Route Pass is for customers buying six return flights, or 12 one-way sectors, on the same route. You can pick and choose your flights, making as many changes as you need (subject to availability). The Zonal Route Pass is available on all domestic Eastern Airways routes and also comes with complimentary lounge access, where available.
The Air Discount Scheme (ADS) was brought in by the Scottish Government for the benefit of the remotest communi-ties in the Highlands and Islands and provides a discount of 50 per cent on the core air fare on eligible routes. Routes eligible with Eastern Airways are Stornoway to Aberdeen and Wick to Aberdeen.
For more information on flying for less, see www.easternairways.com, or contact your travel agent or our reservations team on 08703 669100.
LASER DEVICESA safety issue that has been raised in the airline industry and which has attracted some wider publicity recently is the number of laser attacks against aircraft. It is a matter about which the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is very concerned.
Targeting an aircraft with a laser is reckless, dangerous and also illegal. Just a microsec-ond of laser energy from a powerful laser source is enough to permanently damage the eye.
If you do happen to see a laser beam from the cabin or if it enters the cabin, you may be tempted to look at it. However, you should not look at the beam or try to locate its source. Just look away or look down towards the floor of the cabin. Do report the incident to your cabin crew.
Thanks for your attention.
SAFETY AND SECURITYAbove all else, we want you to enjoy flying with us and we’re confident that in the overwhelming majority of cases you will do so. However, while the vast majority of passengers flying in the world today behave impeccably, there is a greater awareness of isolated incidents of disruptive behaviour, sometimes dubbed “air rage”. While this isn’t a major problem at Eastern Airways, the safety and security of our passengers and crew is our number one priority and we don’t want our customers to experience any behaviour that makes them feel uncomfortable, or to be put in a situation that compromises safety.
Our Zero Tolerance policy is directed at disruptive behaviour, which might include smoking, drunkenness, aggression or abusive language towards a customer or a member of crew.
Our crews are fully trained to deal with this kind of incident and therefore we remind customers that to disobey a lawful com-mand given by a crew member is to commit an offence under the UK Air Navigation Or-der. Offenders who persistently misbehave on a flight will be handed to the appropriate
authorities on arrival and may face arrest and a heavy fine – or up to two years in jail. Severe restrictions will also be placed on their future travel with Eastern Airways.
Similarly, we remind customers that there is a strict No Smoking policy on board all of our aircraft and in all of our lounges. This includes the use of electronic cigarettes or any cigarette substitute device that emits a vapour or has a power source or produces heat and or a light. We do not permit electronic cigarettes to be charged in our lounges. Electronic cigarettes may be carried on board subject to the following conditions:• Carried on the person only • No refills • Strictly not permitted for use
ESSENTIAL TRAVEL
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Celebrating the fabric of Harris Tweed
n The Aberdeen International Youth Festival (AIYF), one of the world’s biggest celebrations of youth arts, runs this year from July 29-August 6. AIYF features the best in International culture and the performing arts – theatre, dance, world music, opera, orchestras and jazz.
n The Mouth of the Tyne Festival four-day cultural celebration of music and performing arts returns for its 12th year from July 7-10. The main outdoor stage is on the cliffs, adjacent to Tynemouth Priory and Castle. Headline acts this year include Bryan Ferry and Will Young.
n Hull’s Freedom Festival returns in September 2-4 for its ninth year, featuring theatre, music, dance, spoken word and more in a mainly free programme, set on the streets of the city. The festival was highlighted in Rough Guides' list of Top 10 Cities 2016.
n The NiddFest literary festival, dedicated to bringing world-class authors, poets and experts in the field of nature in writing to the Yorkshire Dales, takes place over August 5-7 in Nidderdale. The programme consists of talks, wild swimming, den-building and star-gazing amongst other activities.
n The Sunderland Airshow, one of the largest free shows of its kind in Europe, returns to Seaburn and Roker on the North East coast, with three days of airborne acrobatics, displays and entertainment from Friday July 22.
n This summer Harrogate International Festival is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a rich programme of culture, literature and music, headlined by the legendary Van Morrison.
The Clo Mor Festival of Harris Tweed, which runs at An Lanntair arts centre and surrounding venues in Stornoway for three months from August 1, celebrates and promotes innovation in Harris Tweed on a national and international scale.
Organised by An Lanntair, the event includes: a weekend festival of Harris Tweed designers, producers, demonstrations and talks; an exhibition From the Land Comes the Cloth, curated by Ian Lawson at An
Lanntair, connecting products from top Harris Tweed designers with his highly acclaimed photography; the launch of a specially-commissioned kinetic sculpture from a traditional Hattersley Loom by international innovators, Sharmanka; an exclusive screening of a new film, capturing the journey of the cloth from weaver's shed to London Fashion Week; and tours taking in the Harris Tweed landscape.
www.lanntair.com
August marks a huge first for the Port of Blyth, in Northumberland, when it plays host to the North Sea Tall Ships Regatta.
Up to 30 of the largest and most spec-tacular Tall Ships in the world will sail into Blyth for a fantastic four-day festival over the Bank Holiday weekend, August 26-29.
The port promises lots to see and do, with a mile and half of entertainment, food and drink – and, of course, the Tall Ships themselves. Hundreds of thou-sands of visitors are expected to enjoy the event, which also includes nightly fireworks, live music and grand parades.
The celebrations take place during the 60th anniversary of The Tall Ships Races, and will end with a race from the
Northumberland coast to Gothenburg, Sweden.
Up to 30 Tall Ships, steeped in history, will anchor in Blyth, including vessels from Norway, Belgium, Poland, the UK, and the Netherlands.
The event will be a poignant one for the family of a Northumberland musician whose tune became the theme to the Captain Pugwash TV series, which many will remember.
Accordionist Tommy Edmonson’s legacy will be marked by a rendition of the dis-tinctive tune by local musicians who will take to the stage to play it at the regatta.
www.tallshipsblyth2016.com www.facebook.com/tallshipsblyth2016 www.sailtraininginternational.org
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This year is the 75th anniversary of the death of Amy Johnson. The city of Hull, the place of her birth, is marking the anniversary with a celebration of her life, achievements and legacy through an ambitious international programme of the arts and engineering sciences.
Born in 1903, Johnson was one of the most influential and inspirational women of the 20th century. The first woman to fly solo from England to Australia, she set a string of other records throughout her career. She was the first woman to gain a ground engineer’s “C” licence and set off for Australia in 1929 just a year after being awarded her pilot’s licence.
The launch of the summer festival took place on July 2, with a spectacular aerial extravaganza – the Places des Anges – created and performed by French theatre
producers Gratte Ciel.
Giant moths, designed by local and nationally-based artists, are also set to appear around Hull at the start of July, inspired by Amy’s Gipsy Moth in which she flew to Australia.
Other highlights include Da Vinci Engineered –
Renaissance mechanics to contemporary art – a special exhibition in Hull’s Zebedee’s Yard, which includes 12 faithful reproductions of Leonardo da Vinci’s flight and wind machines, loaned by Florence’s Da Vinci Museum (July 2-August 21); and Far Horizons International Kite Weekend, which involves spectacular flying displays from around the world at Beverley Racecourse, along with stalls, a fun fair and entertainment (July 30-31).
www.amyjohnsonfestival.co.uk
FLYING THE FLAG FOR A MY Animal crackersThe streets of Southampton will be overrun from July 16 for ten weeks as a zeal of zany zebras from Marwell Zoo create a fun and family friendly trail for all to follow.
The mass art extravaganza involves around 150 sculptures sponsored by local businesses and organisations and decorated by talented artists. Schools and colleges will also be joining in the fun,
adopting, designing, and realising their very own smaller zebra sculptures.
The event is organised by the same team at Marwell behind the successful Go! Rhinos of 2013. Replica miniature zebras will also be hidden within the zoo.
After the event, all of the large sculptures will be sold at auction to raise funds to conserve endangered Grevy’s zebras and other wildlife, and to support communities living in the arid rangelands of northern Kenya.
There are still fewer Grevy’s zebra than there are black rhino in Africa. It’s hoped that Marwell’s Zany Zebras will not only provide a fun free event for the region but also raise awareness of the animals’ plight.
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The University of Leicester’s Attenborough Arts Centre is hosting a new contempo-rary art exhibition between July 23– September 25.
Bringing together different artistic representations of plant life in modern and contemporary art, “Plant Culture: Selected from the Arts Council Collection” investigates the relationship between humans and plants and includes over 20 artworks drawn from the Arts Council
Collection alongside work by international artists and loans from the British Council’s art collection.
Artists include Turner Prize winners Gilbert & George, Simon Staling, short list Turner Prize nominee Anya Gallaccio, Andy Goldsworthy and internationally acclaimed Marc Quinn who will exhibit eight prints from Garden (2) originally created for the Prada Foundation in Milan in 2000.
www.attenborougharts.com
Art and nature under the spotlightMarc Quinn Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London. © Marc Quinn
Da Vinci Engineered
Airport 0844 481 6666 www.aberdeenairport.com
Eastern Airways flights to Bergen, Cardiff, Durham Tees Valley, East Midlands, Humberside, Leeds Bradford, Newcastle, Norwich, Southampton, Stavanger, Stornoway, Wick
Tourist/Local Info 01224 900490 www.visitaberdeen.com
ABERDEEN
WHERESeven miles north-west of the city centre, off the A96. Regular buses into the city centre. For car hire see Europcar.co.uk
VISIT The Winter Gardens, Duthie Park, Polmuir Rd; The Gordon Highlanders Museum, Viewfield Rd; Stonehaven Open Air Swimming Pool, (May 28-Sept 4).
STAY AT The Chester Hotel, Queen’s Rd; Atholl Hotel, King’s Gate; The Village Hotel, Kingswells; Banchory Lodge Hotel; Skene House Apartments, various city locations; Bauhaus Hotel, Langstane Place.
SHOP AT Aberdeen Whisky Shop, Union St; Annie Mo’s, Union St (interiors); Granite Reef, the Green (skate, surf, snow).
DRINK AT Brewdog, Gallowgate; Eclectic Fizz, Union St; CASC, Stirling St; Under the Hammer, North Silver St.
EAT AT Granite Park, Golden Sq; Foodstory Cafe, Thistle St; Yorokobi by CJ, Huntly St; Rishi’s, George St; Aperitivo, Bon Accord St; Sand Dollar Cafe & Bistro, Beach Esplanade.
WHAT’S ON Aberdeen International Youth Festival, Jul 29-Aug 6; Banchory Beer Festival, Aug 12-14.
Stonehaven open air pool
Airport 0871 882 1121 www.newcastleinternational.co.uk
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff. Onward connections to Bergen, Stavanger, Stornoway, Wick
Tourist/Local Info 0191 277 8000 / 0191 478 4222 www.visitnewcastlegateshead.com
NEWCASTLE
WHERESeven miles north-west of the city centre. Metro rail link every few minutes to the city, Gateshead, the coast and Sunderland. Half-hourly bus service. Taxi fare to city, approx £12. For car hire see Europcar.co.uk
VISIT Great North Museum, Centre for Life, Newcastle; Gateshead Quays for the Baltic and Sage Gateshead.
STAY AT Sandman Signature, Hotel Indigo, Jesmond Dene House, all Newcastle; Hilton, Gateshead.
SHOP AT Jules B, Jesmond; Cruise, Princess Square, Newcastle; Van Mildert, MetroCentre and Durham.
DRINK AT Crown Posada, Side; The Forth, Pink Lane; Bridge Hotel, Castle Garth – all Newcastle.
EAT AT House of Tides, Quayside; Blackfriars; Caffè Vivo (Live Theatre); Red Mezze, Leazes Park Rd; Peace and Loaf, Jesmond – all Newcastle.
WHAT’S ON Alice in Wonderland, exhibition, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, until Oct 2; Summertyne Festi-val, Sage Gateshead, Jul 22-24; North Sea Tall Ships Regatta, Port of Blyth, Aug 26-29.
WHEREOne mile from the centre of Wick, half an hour’s drive from Thurso. Main bus and rail stations are near to Wick centre serving most places in Caithness. Trains to Thurso and Inverness. Post bus operates Thurso-Wick-Airport. Car hire: Dunnets offers airport pick-up and drop-off, 01955 602103.
VISIT Wick Heritage Museum; St Fergus Gallery, Sinclair Terr; Pulteney Distillery, Huddart St.
STAY AT Ackergill Tower, Wick; Mackays Hotel, Wick; The Brown Trout Hotel, Station Rd, Watten, near Wick.
SHOP AT John O’Groats (pottery, knitwear); Rotterdam St, Thurso (20 miles).
DRINK AT Cocktail Bar, Mackay’s Hotel, Wick; the Alexander Bain Wetherspoons, Wick.
EAT AT Bord de l’Eau, Market St, Wick; Le Bistro, Thurso; Captain’s Galley, Scrabster (22 miles).
WHAT’S ON Caithness County Show, Thurso East Field, Thurso, Jul 15-16; Halkirk Highland Games, Jul 30.
Airport 01955 602215 www.hial.co.uk/wick-airport.html
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen. Onward connections to Bergen, Cardiff, Durham Tees Valley, East Midlands, Humberside, Leeds Bradford, Newcastle, Norwich, Stavanger, Stornoway
Tourist/Local Info 0845 22 55 121 www.wicktown.co.uk
WICK JOHN O’GROATS
Ackergill TowerHebridean Celtic Festival
Airport 01851 702256 www.hial.co.uk/stornoway-airport
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen. Onward connections to Bergen, Cardiff, Durham Tees Valley, Humberside, Leeds Bradford, Newcastle, Norwich, Stavanger, Wick
Tourist/Local Info 01851 703088 www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk
STORNOWAY
Summertyne Festival
WHERETo the east of the town. Taxis and car hire are available at the airport. No weekend flights. Carhire Hebrides: 01851 706 500.
VISIT Stornoway Fish Smokers, Shell St; Woodlands Centre, Lews Castle grounds; An Lanntair Arts Centre, Kenneth Street, Stornoway.
STAY AT Hotel Hebrides, Tarbert; Royal Hotel, Cromwell St, Stornoway; Scarista House, west Harris; Auberge Carnish, Uig.
SHOP AT Callanish Jewellery, Point St; This ’n That, Cromwell St; Borgh Pottery, Borgh (20 miles).
DRINK AT Chili Chili cocktail and vodka bar, Era, South Beach; The Carlton Lounge, Francis St. (Both in Stornoway)
EAT AT Digby Chick, Bank St; Golden Ocean, Cromwell St; Thai, Church St. (All in Stornoway)
WHAT’S ON Clo Mor Festival of Harris Tweed, events around Stornoway, Jul 2-Nov 13; Uig Gala Day, Jul 2; Western Isles Audax - 300 and 110km cycling challenges, Stornoway, Jul 9-10; Hebridean Celtic Festival, various venues, Jul 13-16.
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Airport 01325 332811 www.durhamteesvalleyairport.com
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen. Onward connections to Bergen, Stavanger, Stornoway, Wick
Tourist/Local Info01642 729700 / 264957 www.visitmiddlesbrough.com
DURHAM TEES VALLEY
Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience
Airport 0844 887 7747 www.humbersideairport.com
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen. Onward connections to Bergen, Stavanger, Stornoway, Wick
Tourist/Local Info 01482 486600 www.visithullandeastyorkshire.com www.visitlincolnshire.comwww.yorkshire.com
HUMBERSIDE
WHEREFifteen miles east of Scun-thorpe, 20 miles south of Hull, 16 miles west of Grimsby, 30 miles north of Lincoln. Regular bus services to major towns. Barnetby Station three miles from airport with Intercity con-nections via Don caster. Approx taxi fare to Hull £26. For car hire see Europcar.co.uk
VISIT Museums Quarter, Hull; The Deep, Hull; Lincoln Castle and Cathedral; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull.
STAY AT Forest Pines Hotel, Broughton; Cave Castle Hotel, Brough; Willerby Manor, Willerby; The White Hart, Lincoln.
SHOP AT Bailgate and Steep Hill area, Lincoln; Henri Beene, Abbeygate, Grimsby.
DRINK AT The Wig & Mitre, Steep Hill, Lincoln; Ye Olde Black Boy, High St, Hull.
EAT AT Figs Restaurant, Cleethorpes; Brackenborough Hotel & Restaurant, Louth; Wintering-ham Field, Winteringham; Pipe and Glass, South Dalton.
WHAT’S ON Far Horizons, Beverley Race-course, Jul 30-31; Humber Street Sesh festival, Hull, Aug 6.
Lincoln Castle and Cathedral Richard III Visitor CentreRoyal Armories
WHERENine miles north-west of Leeds centre, seven miles from Bradford. Regular Airlink 757 bus from bus and rail stations to terminal. Taxi time 25 mins. For car hire see Europcar.co.uk
VISIT Royal Armouries, Leeds; Leeds City Museum, Millennium Square; National Media Museum, Bradford; Salts Mill, Saltaire.
STAY AT DoubleTree by Hilton, Leeds; Radisson Blu, The Headrow, Leeds; the New Ellington, Leeds; Dubrovnik boutique hotel, Oak Avenue, Bradford.
SHOP AT Retro Boutique, Headingley Lane, Leeds; Harvey Nichols, Briggate, Leeds; Victoria Quarter, Leeds.
DRINK AT Baby Jupiter, York Place, Leeds; Haigys, Lumb Lane, Bradford.
EAT AT Chandelier by Mumtaz, Clarence Dock, Leeds; Brasserie Blanc, Sovereign St, Leeds.
WHAT’S ON Bradford Festival, Jul 8-10; Cocoon in the Park, Temple Newsham, Jul 9; Horsforth Food and Drink Festival, Jul 15-17; VW Festival 2016, Harewood House, Aug 12-14; Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, Aug 26-28.
Airport 0871 919 9000 www.eastmidlandsairport.com
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen. Onward connections to Bergen, Stavanger, Wick
Tourist/Local Info 08444 775678 www.visitderby.co.uk www.experiencenottinghamshire.comwww.visitleicester.info
Airport 0871 288 2288 www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen and Southampton. Onward connections to Bergen, Stavanger, Stornoway, Wick
Tourist/Local Info 0113 242 5242 www.visitleeds.co.ukwww.yorkshire.com
EAST MIDLANDSLEEDS BRADFORD
WHERETwelve miles from both Derby and Nottingham, just off the M1 junction 24. Rail stations Lough borough, Long Eaton, Not tingham and Derby are a short bus/taxi ride from EMA. For car hire see Europcar.co.uk
VISIT King Richard III Visitor Centre, Leicester; National Civil War Centre, Newark; Nottingham Contemporary, Weekday Cross; Creswell Crags, Worksop; QUAD, Cathedral Quarter, Derby.
STAY AT Radisson Blu at airport; Cathedral Quarter Hotel, St Mary’s Gate, Derby.
SHOP AT Paul Smith, Low Pavement, Nottingham; The Artisan’s Studio, Arnold, Nottingham.
DRINK AT Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, below Nottingham Castle; The Water-front, Canal St, Nottingham.
EAT AT Loch Fyne, King St, Nottingham; Red Hot World buffet and bar, Corner House, Nottingham; Chef and Spice, Andrewes St, Leicester.
WHAT’S ON Splendour music festival, Wollaton Park, Jul 23; Robin Hood Festival, Sherwood Forest Country Park, Aug 1-7; Nottingham Riverside Festival, Aug 5-7; City Festival, Aug 20-29 Leicester.
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WHEREFive miles east of Darlington and ten miles west of Middlesbrough. Taxi fare to Darlington approx £8. For car hire see Europcar.co.uk
VISIT mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) Centre Square; Locomotion, the National Railway Museum at Shildon; Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience, Historic Quay.
STAY AT Rockliffe Hall, Hurworth on Tees; Headlam Hall, near Darlington; Crathorne Hall Hotel, Yarm; Wynyard Hall.
SHOP AT Psyche, Linthorpe Rd, Middles brough; The House, Yarm High Street; Leggs, Skinnergate, Darlington.
DRINK AT George and Dragon, Yarm; Black Bull, Frosterley.
EAT AT Raby Hunt, Summerhouse; Sardis, Northgate, Darlington; Dun Cow Inn, Sedgefield; The Orangery, Rockliffe Hall.
WHAT’S ON Indigenous Australians, Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, until Oct 30; Middlesbrough Mela 2016, Jul 9-10; Monkeyshine Comedy Festival, Stewart Park, Middlesbrough, Jul 16-17; Cleveland Show, Stewart Park, Jul 23.
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Airport 01446 711111 www.cardiff-airport.com
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen, Newcastle. Onward connections to Bergen, Stavanger, Stornoway, Wick
Tourist/Local Info 02920 873573 www.visitcardiff.com www.southernwales.com
CARDIFF
WHERETwelve miles west of Cardiff, ten miles from Junction 33 on M4. Rail link, every hour, connects airport to Cardiff Central and Bridg end. For car hire see Europcar.co.uk
VISIT Cardiff Castle; Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay; Norwegian Church Arts Centre, Cardiff Bay; Dr Who Experience, Cardiff Bay.
STAY AT Peterstone Court, in the Usk Valley; St David’s Hotel & Spa, Havannah St, Cardiff Bay.
SHOP AT St Mary Street for specialist shops; Splott Market (weekends), SE of city centre.
DRINK AT Pen and Wig, Park Grove; Park Vaults, Park Place.
EAT AT The Potted Pig, High St; ffresh, Wales Millennium Centre; Purple Poppadom, Cowbridge Rd East.
WHAT’S ON Cardiff International Food and Drink Festival, Roald Dahl Plass, Jul 8-10; Cardiff Harbour Festival and the P1 Welsh Grand Prix of the Sea, Aug 28-29.
Food and Drink Festival
Airport 0870 040 0009 www.southamptonairport.com
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen and Leeds Bradford.
Tourist/Local Info 023 8083 3333 www.discoversouthampton.co.uk
SOUTHAMPTON
WHEREFive miles north of city. Parkway Station beside terminal, three trains hourly to Southam pton and London Waterloo. Buses hourly to the city. For car hire see Europcar.co.uk
VISIT SeaCity Museum, Havelock Rd; Tudor House & Garden, Bugle St; Solent Sky, Hall of Aviation, Gilbert Rd South.
STAY AT The White Star Tavern and Dining Rooms, Oxford St; Grand Harbour Hotel, West Quay Rd; Best Western Chilworth Manor.
SHOP AT WestQuay Shopping Centre, city centre; Antiques Quarter, Old Northam Rd; The Marlands Shopping Centre, Civic Centre Rd.
DRINK AT The Cellar, West Marland Rd; The Duke of Wellington, Bugle St; The Pig in the Wall, Western Esplanade.
EAT AT Olive Tree, Oxford St; SeaCity Museum café, Havelock Road; Coriander Lounge, Below Bar.
WHAT’S ON Beasts or Best Friends: Animals in Art, City Art Gallery, until Sep 14; Let’s Rock Southampton, Jul 9; Southampton Mela, Jul 16; Southampton Fake Festival, Mayflower Park, Jul 30; August Fair, Aug 26-29.
Tudor House
Airport 01603 411923 www.norwichairport.co.uk
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen. Onward connections to Bergen, Stavanger, Stornoway, Wick
Tourist/Local Info 01603 213999 www.visitnorwich.co.uk
NORWICH
WHEREThree miles north of the city. Hourly bus service into the city centre. Approx taxi fare to Norwich £7. For car hire see Europcar.co.uk
VISIT Norwich Cathedral, The Close; Norwich Castle, Elm Hill; Sandringham Estate, Norfolk; Norwich Puppet Theatre, Whitefriars, Norwich.
STAY AT The Maids Head Hotel, Tombland; De Vere Dunston Hall Hotel & Golf Club, Ipswich Rd; Marriott Sprowston Manor Hotel & Country Club; Barnham Broom Hotel & Spa, Honingham Rd; Norfolk Mead Hotel, Coltishall.
SHOP AT Jarrold’s, London St; Ginger Ladies Wear, Timberhill.
DRINK AT The Fat Cat, West End St; The Adam & Eve, Bishopgate; The Wine Press, Woburn Court, Guildhall Hill; The Last Wine Bar, St Georges St.
EAT AT Tatlers, Tombland; Mambo Jambo, Lower Goat Lane; Umberto’s Trattoria Italia, St Benedicts St.
WHAT’S ON Wymondham Music Festival, Jul 1-16; Shakespeare Festival, Norwich Cathedral, Jul 15-16.
Sandringham House
WHERESix miles east of the city, off Junction 6 of the M42. Connected by free Air-Rail Link monorail system to Birmingham International Station for trains to Birmingham and Coventry. For car hire see Europcar.co.uk
VISIT Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, (BMAG), Chamberlain Sq; Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Vyse St, Hockley; Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum, Millennium Point; Custard Factory, Gibb St.
STAY AT Hotel Indigo, The Cube; Radisson Blu, Holloway Circus, Queensway; Marriott, Hagley Rd; Staying Cool, Rotunda.
SHOP AT Selfridges (Bullring); Harvey Nichols (Mailbox).
DRINK AT Bank, Brindley Pl; The Tap and Spile, Gas St.
EAT AT San Carlo, Temple St; Opus, Cornwall St.
WHAT’S ON Colmore Food Festival, Victoria Square, Jul 8-9; Birmingham and Solihull Jazz and Bues Festival, Jul 15-24; Birmingham Triathalon, Sutton Park, Jul 24; Birmingham Caribbean Festival, Jul 29-31.
Airport 0871 282 7117 www.bhx.co.uk
Eastern Airways flights to Newcastle
Tourist/Local Info 0844 888 3883 www.visitbirmingham.com
BIRMINGHAM
Custard Factory
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www.bustahouse.com
WHEREEastern Airways operates under contract for the oil industry to both Scatsta and Sumburgh Airports. Scatsta is 24 miles north-west of Lerwick, a few miles from the Sullom Voe oil terminal. Sumburgh is the islands’ commercial airport, located at the southern tip of Mainland, and also 24 miles from Lerwick. For hire car visit www.boltscarhire.co.uk or call 01595 693 636 (note that there are no on-airport facilities at Scatsta).
VISIT Mareel, Lerwick; Muckle Flugga, Unst, the northernmost tip of Britain; Shetland Museum, Lerwick; Jarlshof, Grutness (both Mainland).
STAY AT Busta House Hotel, Brae; Saxa Vord Resort, Unst; Scalloway Hotel, Central mainland.
SHOP AT Shetland Fudge, Lerwick; Jamieson & Son Knitwear, Lerwick; Valhalla Brewery, Saxa Vord.
DRINK AT Mid Brae Inn, Brae; The Lounge Bar, Lerwick; Kiln Bar, Scalloway.
EAT AT Busta House Hotel, Brae; Saxa Vord Resort, Unst.
WHAT’S ON Shetland Nature Festival, Jul 2-9; UnstFest, 2016, Jul 16-24; Shetland Fiddle Frenzy, Jul 31-Aug 4; Shetland Boat Week, Aug 8-14.
Sumburgh Airport 01950 460 905www.hial.co.uk/sumburgh-airport/
Frequent daily charter services to Aberdeen, operated by Eastern Airways for the oil industry.
Tourist/Local Info 01595 693434 visit.shetland.org
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Airport + 47 67 03 10 00 www.avinor.no/en/airport/stavanger
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen. Onward connections to Cardiff, Durham Tees Valley, East Midlands, Humberside, Leeds Bradford, Newcastle, Norwich, Stornoway, Wick
Tourist/Local Info +47 51 97 55 55 www.regionstavanger.com
STAVANGER
Gladmat
Airport + 47 67 03 15 55 www.avinor.no/en/airport/bergen
Eastern Airways flights to Aberdeen. Onward connections to Cardiff, Durham Tees Valley, East Midlands, Humberside, Leeds Bradford, Newcastle, Norwich, Stornoway, Wick
Tourist/Local Info +47 55 55 20 00 www.visitbergen.com
BERGEN
WHERE Bergen airport Flesland is approximately 12 miles south-west of the centre of Bergen. The airport is served by airport and scheduled buses, boat and taxi. For car hire see Europcar info on back page.
VISIT Troldhaugen, the home of composer Edvard Grieg. Norway in a Nutshell – a short tour (ideally three days) of some the dramatic scenery nearby, including the Breathtaking Flam Railway.
STAY AT Radisson Blu Royal or the mid-market Thon Bergen Brygge, both on the old quayside.
SHOP AT Shop at Galleriet in the city centre; Kløverhuset for clothes.
DRINK AT Holberg Stuen or Zachariasbryggen, both in Bryggen.
EAT AT Potetkjelleren, Bellevue Restaurant, Enhjørningen Restaurant.
WHAT’S ON Bergen Utkant 16, music festival on the island of Skjerjehamn north of Bergen, Jul 28-31, Bergen Game Festival, Jul 29-Aug 6.
Troldhaugen
WHERENorway’s fourth largest city lies on the country’s south-west coast. The airport is just nine miles out of town and is served by a regular shuttle bus. For car hire see Europcar info on back page.
VISIT Pulpit Rock – a natural rock formation that overlooks the Lysefjord; Norwegian Petroleum Museum, Kjeringholmen, 4001 Stavanger.
STAY AT The Clarion, Myrhegaarden, Skagen Brygge, all in the city centre; Sola Strand Hotel, on the beach, near the airport.
SHOP AT Kvadrat, Norway’s biggest shopping centre is just seven miles south of Stavanger.
DRINK AT Dickens, Skagenkaien; Newsman, Skagen 14.
EAT AT Sjøhuset Skagen – specialises in traditional Norwegian food; Tango, Nedre Strandgate.
WHAT’S ON Gladmat – Scandinavia’s biggest food festival, Stavanger, Jul 20-23; Blink Ski Festival, Sandnes, Jul 27-30; Stavanger Marathon Aug 27.
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Scotland
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In our Essential Guide this issue, Harry Pearson explores the small-is-beautiful world of the micropub…
SIX’NORTH, ABERDEENThough not strictly speaking a micropub, Six’North comes very much from the tradition that inspired them – the Belgian brown café, one-room, no-frills, Low Countries alehouses that take pride in serving the best local beer. Six’North bill themselves as the Belgian Brewers of Scotland and this neat bar, with table service, certainly lives up to the billing with more than 300 beers available on tap or in bottle. If you’re at a loss, try Six’North’s Belgian strength Scotch ale – a beer that became popular in Flanders during the Great War. So good even the Belgian’s rate it – and when it comes to beer they are hard to please.Nearest Eastern Airways airport – Aberdeen
RUTHERFORD’S, KELSOSimon and Debbie Rutherford opened their micropub in an old knitwear shop in 2015 – inspired by a visit to the Curfew, just south of the border in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Alongside fine local cask ales from the likes of Jedburgh’s Born in the Borders Brewery, the Rutherfords also serve excellent gin from Edinburgh and North Berwick, high class malt whisky and plates of local charcuterie, slices of game pie, and excellent cheese from Doddington, in Northumberland. The décor is a little more sumptuous than most micropubs, reflecting the owners’ skills as property restorers and interior designers. Nearest Eastern Airways airport – Newcastle
An average four public houses close down every day in Britain. That’s the highest rate since the 1904 Compensation Act forced ten per cent of the nation’s licensed premises to shut in a single year. Most never reopen, converted instead to residential or retail use. Yet paradoxically, while outlets for beer decrease, small breweries proliferate – there were around 1,400 at last count, the most there’ve been in this country for over a century. Add to that the increase in the number of small British distilleries making everything for craft gin to apple brandy, and you have an industry that looks to be in perilous danger of toppling over.
The answer may be at hand, in the form of the small but perfectly proportioned mi-cropub – a 21st century phenomenon that is bucking the disastrous downward trend. The micropub is the brainchild of Martyn Hillier who took advantage of changes in the licensing laws in 2003 to open The Butcher’s Arms in a former off-licence in Herne, Kent, a decade or so ago.
It was when Hillier gave a talk on his ideas to the Campaign For Real Ale AGM in 2009, however, that the idea really took off. Within six months the Rat Race Ale House at Hartlepool Station had opened its doors for the first time, and it was quickly followed by Just Beer in Newark-
on-Trent. In 2012 Hillier and his friend Stu Hirst started the Micropub Association. After that came a deluge. At the time of writing there are more than 170 micropubs in England and Wales (though, technically speaking, only one – Rutherford’s of Kelso – in Scotland) and a new one opens roughly once per month.
So what is a micropub? Well according to the Micropub Association it’s “a small free house which listens to its customers, mainly serves cask ale, promotes conversation, shuns all forms of electronic entertainment and dabbles in traditional snacks”. All of which makes it sound pretty much like the sort of pub most of us dream of.
Working to the adage “keep it small, keep it simple”, micropubs aim to take the British pub back to its roots, while cutting out the bad stuff (micropubs are female friendly, for instance, and strangers are unlikely to find the regulars denying them passage to the bar). The aim is to make people welcome, to make them feel at home. In other words to create the kind of place they sing about in the theme tune of Cheers.
All micropubs are labours of love. Many are one-man bands. They often keep eccentric opening hours, so it’s worth checking online before setting off.
MICRO PUBS
ESSENTIAL GUIDES
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North of England
THE SPLIT CHIMP, NEWCASTLELocated in one of the old railway arches round at the back of Central Station, the Split Chimp is named in honour of the wedge of wood that provides the forward tilt to a hand-tapped cask of ale. Mark Hall’s little pub is on two compact levels. The arched ceiling gives the impression you are in a barrel; there are comfy leather chesterfield sofas, craft ale, cask ale and wine (if you want a Bacardi Breezer or a vodka and Red Bull you’ll have to go elsewhere). Workie Ticket from the local brewery, Mordue’s, is a sure-fire winner among the constantly changing range of hand-tapped ales. No food is served, but the excellent Sausage Emporium is just a few doors down.Nearest Eastern Airways airport – Newcastle
THE RAT RACE ALE HOUSE, HARTLEPOOLTeesside is something of a micropub hotspot. There’s The Golden Smog in Stockton-on-Tees, the Twisted Lip in Middlesbrough, Rita’s Pantry in Redcar and several more, but we’re giving pride of place to the granddaddy of them all. Located in the former station newsagents, The Rat Race measures just 20 by 14 feet and was the first of the breed in North East England. Owner Pete Morgan takes a defiant stand against modern pubs, with signs out front warning No Lager, No John Smiths. Instead, there are four real ales on hand pump, plus a cider and a perry. There’s also a small but well-chosen list of Belgian bottled ales, including the hard to find white-cap Chimay. There’s not enough room for a bar, so the drinks come directly from the cellar. The seats look like they came out of an old bus. Often closed when Hartlepool United are playing.Nearest Eastern Airways airport – Durham Tees Valley
CAP AND COLLAR, SALTAIRESir Titus Salt, the enlightened mill owner who built decent homes for his workforce, famously banned all licensed premises from his village. The rule no longer applies, which is lucky for beer fans. The Cap and Collar is tiny place off the main thoroughfare. There’s no cellar, so casks are on display in chilled cabinets, along with a fine array of bottled ales. Owner Phil Garvey sells locally made pork pies and the four cask ales on offer change almost daily – there’s usually something from one of the local breweries: Bingley, Saltaire, Baildon, Old Spot and Little Valley. Garvey’s stated aim is to create a pub where people feel “they are having a drink in their best mate’s front room” and he certainly succeeds. Nearest Eastern Airways airport – Leeds Bradford
THE SIGNAL BOX, CLEETHORPESThe Chequers, in Beverley, is a fine micropub, and was packed – almost literally – to the rafters on the two occasions we’ve visited, but for sheer unadulterated micro-ness we’re giving pride of place in what used to be the county of Humberside to The Signal Box, in Cleethorpes. It claims to be the smallest pub in the world and is likely right. As others have observed, if an Englishman, and Irishman and a Scotsman walked into this pub, it would be full. Situated, as its name suggests, in a signal box, next to the Cleethorpes Light Railway, Alan Cowood’s pub is just 64 feet square, with room for six drinkers (there are tables outside – and Cleethorpes is bracing). In a nod to tourists, The Signal Box does serve lager and “smooth” bitter, but it also has three real ales on hand pump. Closed during the winter.Nearest Eastern Airways airport – Humberside
Midlands
JUST BEER, NEWARK-ON-TRENTThree times Newark’s pub of the year, Just Beer’s mission: “to strive to serve every pint in as near perfect condition as we can.” Run by four friends, Just Beer serves no keg products (no lager, no smooth, no Guinness). There’s no juke box, pool table or TV showing live Premier League games either. It is indeed “just beer”. Well. Almost. There’re also locally made pork scratchings, traditional pub games and the pub is a “book crossing point”, where you can exchange a book you’ve read for one you haven’t free of charge. At least one of the cask ales always comes from a brewery within 20 miles of the pub. Beer turnover is rapid You can find out what’s being served by following @justbeermicro on Twitter.Nearest Eastern Airways airport – East Midlands
HAIL TO THE ALE, WOLVERHAMPTONIt’s tempting when seeking a suitable venue in the Birmingham area to go for the Whippet Inn, Lichfield, which is not only a fine place, but also probably the only micropub on the planet named after a location in a Carry On film. Instead we’re plumping for this little Black Country beauty. Opened three years ago by the family-run Morton Brewery – in a vacant shop in Claregate that had previously been a bakery and a sub-post office – Hail won the CAMRA West Midlands Pub of the Year title last year. The pub always has at least one Morton ale on, along with four changing guest ales. Also serves local pies, cheeses and scotch eggs, cider, perry and local fruit wines. Open 25 hours per week, which somehow doesn’t seem enough.Nearest Eastern Airways airport – Birmingham
East Anglia and South England
RAILWAY ARMS, DOWNHAM MARKETPubs called the Railway Arms are usually located near the station, and this little gem is slap bang on Platform One at Downham Market station. Converted from the station post office, the Pinches family’s pub was the 2013 CAMRA Cider and Perry Pub of the Year, and has carried off the regional title for the last three years. The décor also won it a place in salubrious pages of World of Interiors magazine. Only has one real ale at any time, but whatever this is, it is always carefully chosen and exceptionally well kept and served. To accompany your drink are the best bacon sandwiches you’ll find anywhere. A truly special place.Nearest Eastern Airways airport – Norwich
BUTCHER’S HOOK, SOUTHAMPTONLocated in the hip Bitterne Park area of the city, the Butcher’s Hook is situated – as you may guess – in an old butcher’s shop. Opened in 2014 by friends Antony Nicholls and Danile Richardson, the Butcher’s specialises in real ales and craft beers from Hampshire. Snuggled between an Indian restaurant and a Co-op, the pub retains some of the original tiling and has trestle tables that encourage conviviality. Southampton’s first micropub proved so popular on opening night it was literally drunk dry by enthusiastic punters and couldn’t open the next day. Usually three cask ales and three keg craft ales available, all stored on a sturdy scaffolding stillage behind the bar. Nearest Eastern Airways airport – Southampton
Wales
THE MUMBLES ALE HOUSE, SWANSEAThe first micropub in Wales opened its doors back in the summer of 2014 in the seaside resort where Dylan Thomas once did his bit to keep the local hostelries solvent. Located in a tiny former artist’s studio, in a Victorian house just off the famed Mumbles Mile, the Ale House has three cask ales on at any time, including those from local breweries such as Pilot, and one regular ale – Butty Bach from the excellent Wye Valley Brewery. There’s barely enough room for a couple of tables and a dozen or so stools and because there’s no cellar, casks are stored in an air-conditioned shed in the back garden. The Mumbles Ale House also serves wine, there’s live music on Sunday nights and pies are available “until they run out”. Nearest Eastern Airways airport – Cardiff
As a boy I spent most summers in the fishing village where my grandparents had grown up. In the evening, when the tide had gone out leaving pools in the sand, my granddad and I would go out with torches and shrimping nets. Later, my grandmother would boil our catch, drain it and tip it out on a newspaper on the kitchen table, and we’d sit, picking off the crispy shells, dipping the meat in lemon juice. My granddad’s dog, Reb, hovered under the table for spills, giving off the scent of the sea. It was the sort of family scene people speak with wonder of coming across on the shores of the Adriatic, or the Bay of Biscay. But this was the scullery of a North Yorkshire council house.
Nostalgia is an essential part of the British seaside. Years ago I worked with a man from the West Midlands who, at the onset of August, invariably recalled fond childhood memories of holidays in Blackpool in the 1950s. “Bingo on the Golden Mile,” he’d say rubbing his hands together with glee at the thought of it, “haddock and chips from Fleetwood and Stanley Matthews running down the wing at Bloomfield Road.” By the time I first visited Blackpool Stanley Matthews had been back in the Potteries for a decade, but, as our family’s Riley drove slowly beneath the glittering lights of the Illuminations it still felt as if you might catch a glimpse of his baggy shorts flapping along the seafront.
Likewise, I could never never go to a
cricket match at Scarborough without somebody telling me of the time Ritchie Benaud of the touring Australians hit sixes into the boarding houses, and the game was punctuated by the pop-pop of gunfire from the model battleships on the lake in Peasholm Park, which re-fought the Battle of the River Plate several times a day. Across the way, Barbara Windsor topped the bill at the Floral Hall and the backlit Perspex mosaic at the Harbour Bar offered ice cream served in wafers shaped like clam shells. There was cinnamon toast inside when it turned nippy, or a bacon bun standing outside the Teapot caravan, watching the waves rolling in from Norway and crashing against the sea wall.
Scarborough hasn’t changed much since then, either. The Harbour Bar is as bright as ever (though the Knickerbocker Glories somehow don’t seem as tall)
and the battleships still blast away. Undoubtedly that’s all to the good. The seaside resorts that have survived best are the ones that didn’t try and adapt to modern trends, that kept the boating lakes, the crazy golf and the shops selling sunhats, saucy postcards (“He wants a stick of rock like that monkey’s holding!”) and models of lighthouses perched on a promontory of cockle shells.
Stasis, as Florence, Venice and Bruges have proved in an altogether grander manner, is a cornerstone of tourism. Last time our family was staying on the coast in Devon we spent one rainy afternoon merrily watching Shrek in a cinema that still had usherettes who showed you to your seat by torchlight and emerged during the interval with trays of choc-ices. In the café round the corner there was sole Veronique on the “evening dinner” menu and two old ladies talking about their ballroom dancing class, “He’s such a lovely man,” one was saying of the instructor, “Wonderful manners. Always smart. Immaculate fingernails. I’m surprised no young woman’s snapped him up.” It was like parachuting back into my childhood.
In Whitby a while ago, a granny on the beach remarking that the town was on the verge of becoming a UNESCO world heritage site surveyed the port wistfully and said: “I’ve been coming here for 50 years. I hope they’re not going to smarten it up and ruin the place.” And you knew exactly what she meant.
THE LAST WORD with Harry Pearson
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