The Walnut Tree

“It was a dark & stormy night”; not quite; it was broad daylight but we had had a heavy snow storm the day before and been stuck in the house for most of the morning.  A frozen & then burst water main had shut off the village water supply and panic buying at the village grocery store had resulting in only a few tins of SPAM and some stale crumpets left on the shelves.  Suzy expected to go to work but thanks to the sterling efforts of the BAA to remove snow at LHR, was told by QF to stay at home for a further four days.  Consequently, we did what any self respecting Aussies would do; donned all the warm clothes we possessed and headed off under a faltering sky to the pub for an afternoon of cabin fever suppressant.

“The Walnut Tree” is actually just up the road from our place in Bourne End and we could have run there in our underpants but given that the wind chill was about -8c, that idea could have resulted in serious consequences; (& we are not that sort of people).  Once there, we had to substantially disrobe anyway as the inside temp was more than warm & toasty, but very welcome none the less.

The pub is quite old, probably dating from the time of Cromwell & his merry men.  The current décor is a mix of your Grandmothers lounge room and a Transport Café; at least the fire was roaring and a real wood fire at that, and not a forest in sight (see “The Feather”). 

We were the only people in the place, as it was before midday, but at least it was open for business (see “The Feather”).  At the appointed hour, the place suddenly filled with locals, no doubt all having had a similar idea (ie they didn’t like SPAM & crumpets either) or it could have just been the Rugby broadcast live on the big screen in the bar.(we had no idea who was playing but it wasn’t Australia and/or New Zealand).

There was a range of pub food available and it all looked pretty good.  We went for the BLT toasted sandwiches; I forewent my vegetarian principles, yet again, for some animal protein to ward of the cold.  The pub is a tied House ie not a Free House, so the range of ales was limited or so I understand the way it is with English Public Houses.  Consequently, the following are available; Bitter beers: Abbotts; St Edmonds Light Ale; Green King IPA and lagers; the ubiquitous Fosters; Stella & Becks all on tap or in bottles and also Guinness and Strongbow Cider.

I made the mistake of ordering drinks at the bar in an Australian accent and was immediately inundated with questions about where I came from & what I was doing in Bourne End; all in the nicest possible way of course.  We had a number of lively discussions with fellow patrons about innumerable subjects and by that time it was 3.30pm in the evening; (we knew it was the evening because the sun had set) so we made our way back to the house dressed like polar explorers as the pale streetlights reflected off the glistening ice & snow.  The water was back on, but no sign of any food delivery trucks.  We will be back there soon, it’s a pleasant place to be.