Nina's Blog - Sunday 4th August 2024

Sunday 4th August 2024, 08:34

Off to Bristol today. Well Easton-in-Gordano to be more precise, or rather the Ramada motel as Gordano Services. I'll stay there two nights and take the bus into Bristol on Monday.

A man in Swindon has been pestering me to meet for quite some time and I said I could detour there and be with him by 12:00. As usual the sight of a specific date and time seem to have paralysed him because he has read my last message confirming that I can get to the general area then and that I will, of course, be dressed but has again failed to give me his address. It's very odd.

One of the routes suggested by abetterrouteplanner.com goes past Chipping Camden. Perhaps I should drop at Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm Shop and see what he has to offer for lunch.

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ninalanyon · 61-69, T

Sunday 4th August 2024, 11:49

I decided I would see how Clarkson's farm shop is doing so after topping up the battery at Warwick Southbound I headed down the motorway to Banbury. I would have visited one of my favourite places, The Art Café in the centre of Banbury, but they aren't open on Sundays.

But when I got to Diddly Squat it was immensely busy. It's so popular that the queue to get in extends all the way round the car park. So I just took a picture

and went back to my car. Even the overflow car park was almost full with about 150 cars.

So I drove on to Chadlington where I found the Café de la Post where I'm having a nice pot of tea and a slice of excellent lemon drizzle cake.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

Sunday 4th August 2024, 17:07

Arrived at the Ramada about half an hour ago. I was hoping to have a soak in the bath but it doesn't have one. So even though the hotel chain owner (Wyndham) ranks it slightly above the sister chain of Days Inn I prefer the Days Inn that I stayed in at Telford because it had a bath. But I've just looked at the Wyndham Hotels booking site and for most rooms it doesn't say anything about the bathroom for others it simply says bathroom amenities whatever that means.

In my opinion a hotel should always have a bath in the bathroom! And booking sites should say whether the room does or does not have a bath so that one can choose.

If I were wealthy perhaps I would set up a site that would maintain such information.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

Sunday 4th August 2024, 13:39

The route to Gordano from Chadlington passes not far north of Stroud so I decided to visit a café that I have only been to twice but which has become a a favourite already: Hristo's. It's a a Greek café and I'm having a galactoboureko and a good Americano. Galactoboureko is translated on the label on the counter as custard pie but that gives a completely misleading impression.

Aa far as I can tell from overhearing conversations Hristo is not just the man behind the counter but also the cook. He makes his own filo pastry.

turbineman40 · 80-89, M

Sounds interesting
Clarkson's Squat Farm

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@turbineman40 Jeremy Clarkson was one of the original presenters of the BBC television programme Top Gear. He and his two colleagues moved to Amazon where they did (still do?) a similar programme called The Grand Tour. Clarkson has owned a medium sized farm for some years but it was always farmed by a tenant farmer. The farmer retired and Clarkson decided to farm it himself. I'm not sure whether the idea for the television series came first or not. But anyway, the Clarkson's Farm television series shows Clarkson struggling with the economics of farming, the difficulties of dealing with local planning committees, the complications surrounding having a farm shop that is immensely popular, and the sheer hard work that it needs to make it work. It's played for laughs but also has a very serious message.

A lot of people go there I think simply so they can say they have been. But I'm not patient enough to queue so I didn't bother staying and I only went because it was very nearly on the direct route from where I was to where I was going. It would have been interesting to see how good the cafe was but I wasn't about to queue for an hour for the privilege!

I asked the young man who was directing traffic in the overflow car park if it was always this busy. His answer was "God I hope not, it's my first day!" He was looking frazzled and it wasn't even lunchtime, i think the place had only been open a couple of hours.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

Sunday 4th August 2024, 20:26

Just had a Sky news alert on my mobile saying that rioters have broken in to a Holiday Inn in Rotherham that was housing asylum seekers. Ten police officers injured.

What's the country coming to?

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