Guest blog from The Routemeister

I've been talking about visiting the Sussex Oak in Warnham, West Sussex, (website) with my brother, Dan, The Routemeister, for ages, and he went and done it without me! Oh well, he's become a 'guest blogger' for the trouble, cheers Dan, and many thanks for the photographs too! 

The Sussex Oak has 6 real ales served from handpumps on the bar, including Fullers London Pride, Harveys Sussex Best, and Timothy Taylor Landlord, all well known and regulars at the Sussex Oak. Dan, though, tried one of the guest ales, the Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale, a 3.8% golden ale, that he enjoyed, and recorded its flavour as "lemony and zingy!" They also had Dark Star Partridge and Hophead, both reviewed by me in the past, as people will be well aware, NB the Hophead...

Dan also visited The Scarlett Arms (website), a fine 16th century pub in Walliswood, just over the border in Surrey, and somewhere I have been to before, and reviewed in an earlier blog. This is a Badger (Hall & Woodhouse) house, and Dan tried a pint of their seasonal ale, Badger Holy Moley, a light golden/pale amber bitter made with spring water from this Dorset brewer's own spring (I presume). He said it was very agreeable, though he believed it to be a "bit thin" for a stronger ale at 4.7%. So there you have it, The Routemeister's debut blog.

Cheers Dan!

Scarlett Arms - Walliswood, Surrey

Last Thursday, my brother Dan (The Routemeister) and I walked a rather muddy clay-like walk from Warnham to Ockley, got lost a couple of times (I forgot my compass and we had no proper map), but we did find this treat at Walliswood, The Scarlett Arms (website), and, not by chance, we actually found the specific hostelry we were looking for as a watering hole!

A fine looking 16th century pub this is too, and we received a warm welcome, despite being the only two customers when we arrived; though a lucky lad, with 2 very fine looking women, arrived before we left for lunch, as in food. However, because we'd already lost significant time, getting lost etc, we'd already eaten our provisions, so were too full up already to sample their menu, which looks very good indeed.  The landlord, Oliver served us 2 pints each (not at the same time!); though we did not have the pleasure of meeting the female side of the management, Samantha, we did meet Tracey, I believe her name is, and I think it was Hannah too, but not being a regular visitor, just guessing from the photograph on their website.

The ales are from Hall & Woodhouse, whose beers I first sampled when I moved to Exeter in the 1980s, and I seem to remember staying B&B at a pub in Frome a while ago, where I drank a few too many pints of Tanglefoot, a crackin' ale!  However, Oliver advised that they do not have Tanglefoot as a regular, something to do with the strength (4.9%) and the beer not getting through the pump quickly enough, though they do have the same beer in bottles, should that be your tipple of choice.

They do sell as regular Hall & Woodhouse ales, Badger (4%) and Sussex (3.5%), and a changing seasonal ale, for our delight it was Firkin Fox, at 4.3% a fresh easy drinking quite pale bitter, labelled as "amber". We enjoyed it very much, hence not changing our ale when we had our second pint. The name brought back memories of my past work at Lewisham Hospital and drinking at the Fox & Firkin, and my favourite t-shirt of the time I bought there bearing the legend "For Fox Sake Give Me A Firkin Pint", they don't make them like that anymore... 

Not only were they extremely friendly, but Dan's mobile phone/computer thing had run out of juice, and Tracey went out to her car and brought in an adapter he could use to charge it up, and Oliver allowed Dan to plug in at a socket behind the bar, now that is service, many thanks! Oh, and there are 6 or 7 real fires here too, scattered round the rooms, one of them photographed here.

Well, we left, envious of the chap and his two lovely ladies chomping their lunch, and, well, frankly, we got lost again, but not until a couple of miles later, but that's another story for another place...

This is a pub I definitely recommend if you are in the area, cheers! 

I received an update from Martin Farley, today (19th August 2013), many thanks Martin. Tracey is now the landlady at the Scarlett Arms, and has carried out work on the interior and garden of the pub since taking over. Martin has praised her work and recommends this as "the 'inn' place to be!"  Cheers!!

The Junction to Wandsworth

The Woodman, Battersea High St, SW11 3HX (www.woodman-battersea.co.uk) has reopened, after a refurbishment, on 30th March. This used to be a smaller pub when I was a youngster, togther with the 'Original Woodman', and was where us school lads used to sneak our early years ale, it being very close to school ;-)

It has recently been taken over by a chef, James Rogers, and his partner, Annie Broom, consequently, some interesting food options here, and not too expensive either. But it remains a pub too, with 3 ales usually on offer, but with handpumps for 4, should their trade increase in that area, and I hope it does.

We visited on Thursday afternoon, quite early, so it was fairly quiet, it's clean and very neat, a pleasure to visit. Friendly barman, and with 2 ales on offer, we tried the Badger First Gold at 4.0% (nice easy to drink bitter); they also had King & Barnes Sussex (3.5%). I loved sitting on a stool at a barrel turned on its end. I will re-visit when they've had a bit more time to settle in.

The Hope Pole, Wandsworth, is a Shepherd Neame pub, the first of their pubs I ever drank at following drinking at the Bishop's Finger in Smithfield Market, many years ago! It's a real pub, sells Shepherd Neame ales, and Bishop's Finger is a crackin' pint...