The lunch date that never happened

We were looking forward to meeting with the friend in Coleford at a community facility called The Hub where a group of good people produce lunch every Wednesday Thursday and Friday. You don’t have to book up, you just turn up the meals are supposed to be very reasonably priced and I’m sure cooked with love.

We arrived at the place at the agreed time of 12:15 to find the door locked and no one there. We asked someone who was passing and she said that the lady who did the cooking had to go and see her sister. It would have been quite nice for someone to actually make a note somewhere perhaps on the door, even a note of the apology would have been good.

We ended up at a place called The Bell Inn,  Leigh upon Mendip.  BA3 5QQ if you are interested in going. The bar man / manager was very attentive and affable and I was able to make jokes with him as I normally do  with anyone who lets me.

We had a very good large fish and chips for £16 per head and I had a very naughty cheese cake with ice cream and cream and custard for about £8. The batter on the chips was super thin and crispy. Yum Yum

Upon arriving home I wanted to give him a write-up on TripAdvisor  that was amazed to find that the Bell Inn was not even registered. No wonder there were only six people at lunch though. Of course TripAdvisor is not the only source of information,  it makes a difference and it doesn’t cost the establishments anything to be listed.

The website of the pub is non-existent and frankly off-putting  so the Wadsworth group may have ‘been in existence for 150 years’ and having the strap line ‘since 1875, traditions worth holding onto’, but I think they need to be a little bit up to date with things.

Anyway, I wrote to the pub though whether my letter will get through I very much doubt but I will definitely be speaking  to the manager when I return and asking what is going on.

An occasional visit to the cinema

We seldom go to the cinema because I find most of the material rubbish and often too violent containing swear words and I do not find this an uplifting experience so I decided to treat Francoise to a French film which was called ‘The Taste of Things’ which was described as ‘a sumptuous tale of food and love’. Juliette Binoche, shines as Eugenie a 19th century French cook whose passion for food matches her complex relationship with her employer, Dodin. Simply stunning.  Trailer here

We saw the preparation of the most sumptuous French food I have seen for some time and people’s reaction to eating it and this was woven into the plot. I read the reviews on IMDb as I always do before seeing a film and they were good. The preparation of food is very important and what a prostitution it is to see everything microwaved from frozen. this is a flourishing society and this evening over 100 people attended. See the website here.