Casual 50 Mile Cycle for Lunch at the Hole in the Wall in Cambridgeshire

At 8am on Easter Saturday when most sane people are safely tucked up in bed dreaming of not doing very much and about to tuck into a leisurely breakfast, Cowie and I set off on a 50 mile bike ride in search of lunch. We left my parents’ house near Bedford and headed east to Cambridgeshire. I’d been convinced by Cowie that it was going to be far easier than our previous trips because everything is downhill to Cambridge.

We zoomed through Bedford and romped towards the A1 where we had a fairly hairy moment crossing the A1! So far so flat. Then as we left Sandy what appeared to be East Anglia’s tallest mountain loomed in front of us. Within moments I had dropped into my lowest gear and was panting like a shaggy dog in the sunshine. But when we got to the top of the green sands ridge the view was epic. The trees had changed from deciduous to coniferous and the air seemed clearer.

We were blessed with glorious weather that belied the predictions by the met office and arrived in a small village called Little Wilbraham spot on 1 o’clock. We felt very smug, exhausted and ravenous as we waited for the Brown-brigade to arrive.

The Hole in the Wall is featured in Diana Henry’s Gastro Pub Cookbook, that has become our bible. It has almost always been spot on with its recommendations and this time was no exception. It has also has recently been awarded a Michelin Bib. The pub is run by Jenny and Chris Leeton who pride themselves on the pub’s friendly atmosphere, wooden beams, fabulous beer and proper pub food. Even though the menu was tragically truncated due to a serious traffic accident, we had a great meal. The short menu didn’t let us down.

After a restorative few pints of lime and soda water and a pint of local ale, we ordered pretty much everything on the menu!

The shrimps were served slightly warm and tasted every bit as good, if not better, than the ones I’ve previously had at The Anchor and Hope.

Those who had the soufflé groaned and only very reluctantly offered me a nibble. It was perfect balance of flavour and texture with a walnut sauce that added an extra dimension. And for my parents who are trying to avoid carbs at the moment, it was a great treat to find such a dish on a pub menu.

When my steak and kidney pie arrived I let out a little squeak of delight. After 50 miles of cycling it was just what I needed. The pastry flaked like an anorexic Hollywood star and yielded to reveal a scaldingly hot meaty goo. Tender beef and perfectly cooked kidney mingled with a thick beery liquor that kept me quiet for at least 10 minutes. I often find kidney a bit overpowering, but not this time. Having been away from the UK for three weeks this pie captured the spirit of the English food that I’ve been missing. The bacon and spinach on the side was terrific. As was the silky parsnip mash.

Dad’s sausages with onion gravy and broccoli tasted good, as did Cowie’s scrambled eggs with smoked salmon.

By this point I’d normally be feeling pretty full and very unlikely to order pudding. But with 4 hours of cycling in the bank I unshackled my greed and let it take over…

Sticky toffee bread and butter pudding with butterscrotch sauce is not going to win me any prizes from anyone in the medical world, although I might make me a contender for a Darwin Award. It was stodgy, sweet, gungy, and so naughty it should have been made to stand in the corner. What a pudding.

Cowie’s pavlova with passionfruit sorbet was delicious. Tart, sweet and light. Just like a wannabe pop star.

And Suz’s treacle tart with toffee ice cream was great too. It had been made with milled oats, which gave it a coarse but satisfying texture. Not that I could even manage any more than the smallest mouthful!

For many reasons that are far beyond the scope of this blog, this meal was incredibly heart warming. It’s a lunch that I won’t forget for a long time. As we drove back home I felt overcome with happiness. And it made me realise the importance of family, how much I enjoy our amazing cycle trips, the joy of the British countryside and just how good proper British pub food can be. It’s definitely true, distance makes the heart grow fonder.

2 High Street, Little Wilbraham, Cambs CB21 5JY.
Tel 01223 812282
www.the-holeinthewall.com

Further reading:

Diana Henry’s Gastro Pub Cookbook on Amazon
Diana Henry’s Gastro Pub Cookbook Another Helping on Amazon
The Hole in the Wall on Square Meal
More cycling adventures

The Crown Inn, Broughton, Cambridgeshire

We’ve become addicted to Diana Henry’s Gastro Pub Cookbook, not for its recipes, but instead for the way it recommends the best pubs to visit all over the country. So when we were looking for an Easter Saturday excursion from Bedford, reached for her book, like a heroin addict grappling for their syringe.

Nestled in a small village, a cricket ball’s throw from Huntingdon is The Crown Inn, in Broughton. It is an attractive pub that overlooks a handsome church. Several years ago the pub went bust and was bought by a consortium of locals. Having been put back on an even keel, it has never looked back and has recently been taken on by a private individual. It’s a fairytale ending for this village pub, that will make many other villages feel jealous.

Whilst it definitely is not a drinking pub, it still has a bar area to nurse a pint and put the day’s troubles to bed. We enjoyed a pre-meal drink in this homely space whilst visually devouring the menu and engrossing ourselves in their collection of cooking and guide books.

We needn’t have been kept waiting for our table because it was empty. But we’ll let them off this indiscretion because they only had a skeleton staff and we were happy having a drink. Throughout the pub you encounter stylish touches that elevate it above the average boozer.If you were to conjugate their style you might come up with a wanky mantra such as “contemporary style with a rustic jus”. For instance linen napkins are tied into a scroll with rough gardening string. The same approach translates to their cooking.

Our starters were a collective success. The safe option of smoked salmon was adjudged “very good” by my Grandfather who has had as many smoked salmons as he has hot dinners. Char grilled King Scallops with sweet chilli sauce and crème fraiche was far better than we had dared to hope. The chilli sauce had genuine warmth and the scallops was discerningly charred. My pork belly with sesame, ginger and a Thai dipping sauce made me sit forward abruptly and grin with heady glee. Not only was the pork belly so soft I was able to tease it apart,like Matilda using only telepathy, but the oriental sauce which I was dubious about, in an English country pub, was a the real deal.

Act 2 wasn’t bad either. The fish and chips showed us that the kitchen can do “pub grub” as well as any. But a mushy pea connoisseur may have questioned the “neither one thing nor the other” pea puree perhaps. Chips were good too, but too prolific. Medallions of Aberdeen Angus beef were pink, soft and doused in a deep, savoury gravy that met with grumblings of approval and a refusal to share which is a sure sign of success. My roast rump of lamb, marinated in rosemary, garlic, thyme and lemon with gnocchi was good without being enough to warrant a “great”. The meat was beautifully rare and the Mediterranean vegetables and the gnocchi were a delight. But the marinade-cum-gravy was a touch bitter which held back this dish’s zing factor. Whilst none of the actors botched their lines, they didn’t quite have us queueing at the stage door with our autograph books out.

Some of the greedier members of the Brown family couldn’t resist pudding. AKA the misters. Three generations of Brown men tucked into a faultless pannacotta, a text book steamed syrup pudding and a decadent chocolate tart that saw the girls having to sit on their hands to resist.

The atmosphere was warm, the service was slick and the food was some of the best in the area. It’s a pub well worth an hour’s drive for a family visit for lunch. Once again Diana Henry has come up trumps.

All images are from The Crown Inn website.