10-12 & 10-13 Settling in and starting to explore

10-12

I woke up very early and tried desperately to go back to sleep but it was not to be. Eventually we got up and joined Graham downstairs. He and Karen were busy gathering their things and loading the car so we did our best to stay out of the way. Finally they were off on holiday and we were alone with Monty, who couldn’t have cared less

I really wanted to kick this awful cough, so I decided that this day would be devoted to unpacking, reorganizing things and drinking lots of tea. Bruce walked into the village, then up to “The Ladies’ Mile” an area where the ladies used to ride their horses sometime in the distance past.

It rained a bit and Karen had warned us that Monty didn’t like the rain and was always in a bad mood when it rained. I don’t know if that’s true, but he didn’t want to spend any time with us.

We had delicious leftovers for dinner and I headed to bed early.

10-13

I was feeling a bit better, but decided to continue babying myself and working on the blog posts from our time in Africa. In the afternoon we took the bus to Hove. Brighton and Hove were separate cities, but in 1997, they were joined to form the unitary authority of Brighton and Hove. Of course, everyone still refers to them separately. Anyway, we had plans that evening but chose to head into town a bit early to find a place for a quick bite. We ended up at the Ancient Mariner pub in an area known as Poet’s Corner. The Ancient Mariner is around the corner from Coleridge Street, fittingly enough, and features local ales and bar food. We ordered a cheese plate with Cornish Yarg Nettled, Clawson Reserved Stilton and Quickes Mature Cheddar which came with crackers and a wonderful relish. We followed that with Iberico salami, fried Padron peppers and gnocchi with capers, olives, tomato sauce and cheese. The salami and peppers were really good. The gnocchi, not so much. Truth be told, it was pretty ghastly. Note to self: good gnocchi is found in really good Italian restaurants, not pubs.

Bruce enjoyed a couple of local beers, a pale ale & an extra pale ale from Gun Brewery and a blond ale from Long Man Brewery, both Sussex breweries. Ollie, the bartender, recommended pubs for Bruce to check out in Brighton. He was really nice and the pub was charming, really a family affair, as there were families with young kids hanging out next to lads meeting up after work.

At the appointed hour, we made our way to Madame Jennifer’s Distillery for what turned out to be a private gin tasting. We were greeted by Inger, one of the owners, who escorted us to the tiny headquarters, distillery and tasting room. There we met Ian, the other partner. They poured 4 G&Ts (because why shouldn’t they enjoy the evening with us?)

and explained how they make the gin, and how they develop their taste profile. They make so many different gins. The Chemist, named after Ian and the Botanist, named after Inger, are the two basic gin formulas. After that, the flavors get a bit more experimental. We tasted everything in their range, which is pretty extensive. Normally I’m not a fan of flavored gins, but these were really good and didn’t have the cloying sweetness often present in flavored gin.

We had a really great time (could be partly attributable to the alcohol involved) and ended up buying a lot of gin to take home. Ian recommended some good local pubs and cocktail lounges to Bruce, so we’ll have places to check out while we’re here.

Home on the bus, fed Monty a rather late dinner, and off to bed.