A Gastronomic Accolade for Pub Grub
Something is stirring in the dell at Lesser Tidmarsh, Great Titherington and Little Wallop. The wayside village pubs of ye olde Englande are gathering rosettes for their food as well as acclaim for their real ales. This year, for the first time, a village pub has won a star in the prestigious Michelin Guide Gourmet Awards.
It is only four years since any pub in the Isles of Britain was even considered worthy of inclusion in the Michelin Guide. Three cheers then for the Stagg Inn at Titley in Herefordshire. This year it joins 87 other restaurants in Great Britain and Ireland with a Michelin star for gastronomic excellence. This is no easily won accolade. Proprietor Steve Reynolds gave up photography to learn his kitchen skills as a trainee chef under Albert Roux. Photography's loss - gastronomy's gain
As well as offering such rural game dishes as venison with wild mushroom and celeriac, wild duck in a port sauce, hare in madiera sauce, he has fresh fish brought up from the quay at Newlyn in Cornwall. Spring and summer will see him offering locally farmed lamb and beef. At the bar Mr Reynolds draws regional beers such as Hobson's from nearby Cleobury Mortimer and ciders, (Ralph's from Radnorshire and Dunkerton's from Herefordshire).
Titley is right on the Welsh border. It lies between Hereford and Ludlow in interesting and wildly beautiful countryside that is steeped in memories of ancient border battles between marauding Celts and Romans, their Saxon successors, the 11th century Normans and the 13th century Plantaganets. The Welsh on their stark hillsides found the nearby lush English valleys across the border full of worthwhile plunder.
But the valley sheep are fatter;
We therefore deemed it meeter
To carry off the latter.
Peace here was disrupted again during the 15th century Wars of the Roses and the 17th century civil war between Charles Stuart and Cromwell. The stones of a number of ruined castles nearby bear mute witness to the passing of armies and the cannonades of siege warfare.
Hereford's 12th cent. cathedral, (Norman, Early English, Gothic Decorated and late Victorian restoration by Gilbert Scott), with its remarkable chained library of 1500 volumes dating back to 800 AD, is worth a visit. It is probable that Hereford was part of an ancient Celtic bishopric before St.Augustin visited England. It is certain that Offa, King of Mercia founded the present cathedral in 794. It stands over the expiatory shrine he built for the body of King Ethelbert of East Anglia whom he murdered in that year. The city boasts two historic hotels, the 14th cent. Booth Hall and the later Jacobean Green Dragon.
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