Friday we saw the amaze-anti turned down somewhat. Our last full day of the holiday and our first stop was the Black Sheep Brewery in Masham. Smaller than I thought it would be yet no less impressive for it we arrived an hour early for the next available tour so took advantage of the restaurant and beer tokens you get on entry.
The Portobello mushrooms with blue Wensleydale Sauce were out of this world but I was glad of the deep cut fries that I shared with Simon as they weren't particularly filling. We washed them down with our free three thirds each. I had a microbrewery third chosen randomly at the bar by Simon, a blonde brew and the dark Riggwelter which I later found out meant 'rolling over' and at 8.5% I can see why. It was my favourite being smoother and having a less bitter taste than the others.
The tour takes just over an hour and is well worth doing. The family history is interesting with Black Sheep being set up by Paul Theakston who is part of the Theakston brewery family who still have a brewery in Masham also.
We'd not visited Masham itself so far so drove into the centre and had a wander around the town square and visited the church. Simon had his wits scared half out of here when a horse came up behind him and nudged him whilst he was taking a photo. We had locally produced Brymor ice cream from the local cafe which was just lovely and so creamy.
We headed back to the cottage for a few hours and to see where the owners recommended eating for an evening meal then headed out to The Three Horseshoes in Wensley itself another place we had only driven through thus far. The pub was bristling with folks, one of the locals remarking to me that they'd never seen it so busy. On leaving later on we spotted the 'happy hour' sign which not only explained the pubs popularity but also why the 2nd round of identical drinks cost nearly £3 more than the first. Had a lovely veggie pizza which was huge and I ended up asking for a doggy bag and Simon a steak and ale pie he said was out of this world. Well he would have said that if he was one for superlatives but he isn't so I'm translating for him :-)
We took the long road home over the tops and parked up on the top of the Moors to watch the swifts and swallows again. I sat and finished off the pizza whilst overlooking Wensleydale in one direction and Coverdale in the other.
Soundtrack today was Springsteen then Simon's shuffle which included Bad Company, The Kinks, Dr Feelgood and Echo and the Bunnymen.
Haven't managed to find out what this is yet but by its weather beaten appearance it looks very very old
St Mary the Virgin, Masham
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