Hops' Hikes & Bites

Saturday, 25 April 2015

Bite 11 - Weymouth

Bite 11 - Weymouth

Weymouth. Fun seaside town with one of the prettiest bays on the south coast. More bars than you can shake a stick of rock at, and a thriving music scene with some excellent food choices, enjoying the bounty of Dorset on land and sea.

Weymouth has a choice of marina berth or harbour mooring. An ever popular summer stop-off whilst heading west or great holiday destination, especially if you have the kids on board, as there are oodles of things to do here. I berthed at the ever friendly, warmly welcoming Weymouth Marina, asked the boys for their best bites and headed into town.

Weymouth is a free spirit. The bunting is always up in the back streets. The shop owners and restaurant runners, always chipper. They loved the Olympics, eventually, and they are the family face of the Jurassic Coast. Yes, this is fresh fish heaven

And the usual question I ask the locals first is - best Fish & Chips?

There are two camps here - Marlborough, adjacent to the town bridge (famous for introducing the mackerel bap and earning huge support from Hugh FW in the process) or Fish n Fritz, lovely clean, tiled restaurant a couple of streets back

Top end/ top dollar fish can be found at the Dining Room, and if you ever get the chance to try their 'You catch, we cook', grab it. Thought up by dynamic duo Em and Clem Carter (Emma runs B+B Weymouth, Clem is a professional fisherman) he takes people out and what they bring back into port is cooked by Taher. A wonderful day out with excellent edible results - a very special treat. Owner Taher Jibet weaves his magic here and runs a cookery school too

And for in between you have one of my favourite, small, local chains - The Stable, right on the quay, serving pizzas and pies, made from Dorset produce and a huge range of ciders. The George next door shares the same fabulous views over the commercial fishing boats and a percentage of sales goes to the RNLI, a very important service here, especially since losing the Coast Guard.

Dorset Burger Company, conveniently near the station

The review –

Dorset Burger Company, 6 King Street, 01305 780888

DBC comes out as favourite friendly, reliable Best Bite in Weymouth. Following their growing success they have now relocated to bigger premises near the station. Opposite the Dorset Real Pie & Ale Shop - also worth a visit

DBC is always busy, and no wonder. All burgers are made from quality meats sourced only from Dorset Farms. They have a few secret, homemade extras, like the paprika seasoned chips and a wonderful pickle type relish - all recipes secret squirrel. No wonder they won Best South West Café TOTW Gold Award 2014

The staff are excellent and families with youngsters had the added bonus of the kids receiving an Easter Egg over the festive weekend.

Hops choice: The March Burger of the Month - The Dirty Moo - see photo

This homemade beef burger is topped with Monterey Jack cheese, that secret 'dirty sauce' and BBQ pulled pork to finish! Juicy, flavoursome, the meat still with a bit of bite and top crunchy coleslaw. Fabulous

The Dirty Moo - home made Dorset beef burger with local Pulled Pork

Other favourites are the Red Lion with great pub food and well kept beer and live music on Sundays. Lots going on in the convivial Hope Square

The deli on Charlbury Corner

The busy harbour, something always going on...

Charlbury Corner – deli, local produce, cheeses etc Rossi’s Ice Cream

Enzo’s Italian – out on the seafront overlooking Weymouth’s beautiful bay.

Best coffee in Town?

Coffee#1 - Now I know this is a chain, but so is the Stable, which we all love. It's a nice clean building, good meeting place and the pastries are really fresh - I recommend the Portuguese Custard Tart and you have a choice of blends

But I think Bibi’s (a jewel of a fashion shop, with some excellent bags, boots and shoes) tiny café called Coco’s, serves a very good cup of Italian roast and the landmark, traditional coffee house Suttons is best stop for an early caffeine hit.

Proper Fish Market - on the Quay and open every day except Sunday, run by friendly family firm Weyfish. Top quality wet fish and seafood.

Weymouth Marina, Dean & Reddyhoff. Tel 01305 767576 www.deanreddyhoff.co.uk

B+B Weymouth 01305 783008

Other favourites that have recently closed are Floods and Waffle On - so watch this space to hear what happens to the creative people involved here ...

The bike – 2 miles + as long as you like - take the Rodwell Trail out past Asda to Chesil Beach

Bike hire delivered direct to the marina from www.weymouthcyclehire.co.uk 07973 751393

or Jurassic Electric and Signpost Cycling do some interesting tours in the area.

The Rodwell Trail

If you make it up the hill this is the well deserved view

The hike – 1.5 – 3 miles. Wonderful walks through the Wetlands over the road from the marina. More info on Visit Dorset site below.

Useful sites:

www.visit-dorset.com

www.jurassiccoast.org

Rodwell Trail and many other cycle routes – www.gps-routes.co.uk

Weymouth to Dorchester option:

http://www.gps-routes.co.uk/routes/home.nsf/RoutesLinksCycle/dorchester-to-weymouth-cycle

Well connected? Twice-hourly trains to Dorchester (11 minutes) and Bournemouth (50-60); to London Waterloo at least hourly (160-190).

From the readers....

Mark Packer "Bournemouth has a beach, Poole has a harbour, Weymouth has both. Helen's Wholefoods is a local treasure. For more traditional seaside fare, head to Fish'n'Fritz in town, then stroll along the prom for ice-cream at Rossi's, opposite the Jubilee Clock. For history, visit the Nothe Fort, at the entrance of the harbour."

Andy McLaughlin "Best thing? Proximity to Portland

Saturday, 28 March 2015

No 10 Beaulieu

Home to the Boat Jumble (Sunday 26th) and Lord Montague's country seat, along with one of the few privately owned rivers in the UK

The Boat Jumble comes to town on the 26th April, bringing bargain hunters and traffic chaos to this picturesque village in the New Forest, home to the fairytale Palace House, the Michelin starred Montague Arms and the succulent Fairweathers Nursery, and my Primary School.

The breakfast: Steff's Kitchen. Cyclists and gardeners, hungry hikers and limber locals flood into this airy, barn like building attached to Fairweathers Garden Centre – which has been at Beaulieu as long as I can remember. The breakfast is very popular and there is a good choice from the full English (£7.50) to Eggs Benedict and bacon & egg sandwich – all eggs free range and local. There is always a choice of hot lunch specials – I love their club sandwich – but it’s the queue for home made cakes and scones that always impress me.

The full English

Topiarysaurus

For lunch – if you partook of the full English above you might consider a scenic stroll along the river bank to Bucklers Hard

The Hike - This unspoilt river is still alive with the calls of Curlews and Green Shanks: walk quietly and you may see a Kingfisher on the branches overhanging the waters edge. An easy 2 mile walk along gravel path. Reward at the end? The Master Builder’s is a cosy hotel with bar attached. The restaurant looks out over gardens to the river and you can while away some happy hours before hitting the path home to Beaulieu.

Hops choice: the steak, ale & kidney suet pastry pudding, followed by the lemon tart

The Sunday lunch at £19.95 for two courses is a pretty and popular choice.

Bucklers Hard Marina

The Master Builders

The bike - I carried on by bike form Buckler’s Hard and passed the skeletal remains of what was once an important base for the Cistercian Monks, having been gifted the land back in 1204; with the Abbey at Beaulieu, the Lay Brothers based here at St Leonards and the monks keeping their fishing boats at Gins Farm, now home to the RSYC, this was quite a prize for Henry VIII to ransack during the Reformation – that darned Cromwell again, I hope you’ve been watching Wolf Hall?

However, the quiet road that runs along to Sowley is a great ride. The sea to your left and farmland all around you, in no time at all I whizz into East End.

For those who haven’t heard of the East End Arms, its claim to fame, firstly is that it serves way above average pub food and secondly that it is owned by bass guitarist John Illsley, who played for Dire Straits and owns the George at Yarmouth as well as this warm hearted pub. The cosy dining room has a log fire burning and some great black & white photos on the walls, fun to recognise the faces, and some classic portraits by David Bailey.

For dinner…

Hops choice: It has to be the beer battered fish & chips for me, this time Whiting, with crisp calamari to start, with a paprika mayonnaise. The fish was white and flaky, just perfectly cooked.

Super crisp calamari with paprika mayonnaise

And for dessert – the treacle tart. Total with drinks £31

Luckily for me a bunch of regular diners came in just after me and nearly left the building when they saw that the fishcakes weren’t on and the treacle tart had gone. But John is a convivial guy and had soon checked with the chef who pulled forward some haddock and chive fish cakes that he’d made for that evening and a new treacle tart – it was divine! Short pastry, just the right depth of golden goo and a tickle of lemon on the taste buds, but not too much – superb with their homemade vanilla ice cream.

Now, to the wine list. We already know that Ringwood Best and 49er are on tap and very well kept, as is the Thatchers, but the wine list has been selected by a local girl Helen McGinn, of some fame. You may have heard of the Knackered Mother’s Wine Club blog?

And now Helen’s book has been published if you don’t have time to follow her blog or on twitter @knackeredmutha

She has pulled this wine list together using three local suppliers – we like that! And even more to like is the fact that she has selected my wine of the moment – Gruner Veltliner from Austria, fresh as the hills above Saltzburg and so clear you feel it must be bathing the liver…. enjoy.

If you're having too much fun and haven't even started on the wine list, I’d book room No 2. B&B starts at £95 - £120

Too tired to cycle back to the boat - why not stay the night?

Mileage – from Beaulieu to the East End Arms 5:2 miles

Interesting facts – Buckler’s Hard Shipbuilding

Did you know that the Agamemnon Yard is named after Admiral Nelson’s favourite ship, and that it was built at Buckler’s Hard in 1781, one of three naval ships built here that fought at Trafalgar.

Shipwright School IBTC – opening this year. What better place to set up a hands-on facility than here at Buckler’s Hard. The students will work with large sections of timber, using pit saws, side axes and period tools, once commonly used here. This is part of Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard’s 47 week course, more info at www.ibtcportsmouth.co.uk

Wednesday, 4 March 2015

No. 9 Southampton

- home to the Boat Show.

Contributing £990 million to the UK economy through it's Container Port & Cruise Ships. Voted 'Best UK Departure Port' from the 1.5 million passengers that pass through Southampton's Ocean Terminus

And celebrating 50 years of being a city – without a cathedral.

During the chillier months it's good to take the boat out for a short run, fire the engines, flap the sails, but with something hot at the end to make it all worthwhile. I have a soft spot for Southampton, as I spent my formative years down on the Beaulieu River (see April issue of All at Sea) and if you are Solent based it makes a good day trip to take in a movie, do some shopping or stay over and do it all, plus dinner and a light flutter maybe?

I'm thinking steam up to Ocean Village where Picture House's Harbour Lights has a great view over the marina. The staff are fun, the wine list well researched and the pizzas not bad at all. Film quiz once a month on Tuesday nights is great fun and their cakes and cookies go down well with a nice cup of tea.

Harbour Lights, great wine list and you can take it in to the movie

I was working in Southampton when Ocean Village was born, we built the Royal Southampton Yacht Club and the traditional townhouses on the pier. I now look on with admiration and incredulity at the high rise apartments that thrust an 'I told you so' digit skywards. According to the Sunday Times, Southampton boasts one of the best returns in buy-to-let in the country, and Ocean Village is the top earner.

Skyscrapers & Solent racing

Once you’re tied up there are many choices: the afore mentioned Harbour Lights, the waterfront bars of Banana Wharf and Pitcher & Piano – the latter being my favourite; a clean, fun place to watch the sun go down and enjoy happy hour or something more nourishing..

Cosy interior of Pitcher and Piano

Lunch deal at Pitcher and Piano

No 4 Canute Road is my absolute favourite in this area and I would head here for a great coffee (Anvil for those who notice) or perhaps their range of nibbles and drinks before heading off to the cinema; but my top tip is to get up early on a bright morning and do Jane Austen’s walking trail that takes you around the more interesting buildings of old Southampton, then have brunch here at No 4. All you can eat from the buffet, the teen made short work of it and returned…

No 4 Canute Road

This area is seeing some dramatic building and the area around Queen’s Square some pleasant gentrifying – I approve.

Elegant Queen's Square

The choice of restaurants found along Oxford Street has always been good but my favourites remain The White Star and Simon’s at Oxfords (used to be simply Oxfords)

Simon's at Oxfords

If you stay at Town Quay you have the ever buzzing Margharitas on-site, but can step over the road to Regatta for tapas or to Ennios for one of the best value Sunday roasts cooked by an Italian restaurant – cosy and friendly. Further you have the Pig in the Wall – mentioned in our Southampton Boat Show round-up – just piggy bits here (cold meats & cheeses) and a decent drink from the bar, nice surroundings, quite like the afternoon tea and slice of cake but they have competition with Harbour Lights chocolate and chilli cake and No 4’s fresh pastries ….

La Regata – Spanish olé and tapas

Ennios Sunday lunch

If you want a more sheltered night, then a quieter destination can be found at Shamrock Quay, tucked up the River Itchen, where the Yellow Welly Café and new kid on the block Quay 15 are based. I worked at Shamrock Quay back in the day when Dean & Dyball's development wing was based here and it was an unexpected oasis of productivity in the ugly docklands area that now is home to Saints Stadium.

Saints stadium at St Mary’s

Shamrock Quay and Quay 15

The Waterfront Bar at Shamrock Quay

Quay 15 is rated No 1 on Trip Adviser, and I know we need to read reviews with intelligence and a pinch of coarsely ground, locally sourced rock salt, but Quay 15 is worth booking. If you can wait for a free Saturday and try their taster menu then you are in for a treat. Some serious young chef’s here that know what they are doing and enjoy working with seasonal, quality produce. Here’s the menu for their next taster menu: http://www.quayfifteen.co.uk/menus/thursday-12th-feb-quay-fifteens-1st-birthday/

Full review will be on the blog later in Spring – as I can’t get in yet either.

hopshikesandbites.blogspot.co.uk

Look out for - New micro brewery opening at the Wool Museum, this fabulous building will open its doors on the 27^th Feb so do give it a go and try their home crafted beers, which you may have already tried at the Dancing Man bar, down the road. The building is worth a visit on its own!

Also, if you have time on your hands there is an interesting photo exhibition on at Southampton Solent University showing the City celebrating 50 years since it was awarded City status by the Queen – it took five years for the petition to succeed. Ends 28^th Feb

Hike or bike?

More info on http://www.discoversouthampton.co.uk

Bike - Join Route 2 and head on to Portsmouth, but maybe stop at Warsash for refreshment?

http://www.gps-routes.co.uk/routes/home.nsf/RoutesLinksCycle/southampton-to-portsmouth-cycle-route

And if you fancy a brief walk round the Old Town before heading to No 4 for the 'all you can eat' brunch then pick up a leaflet on Jane Austen’s trail or do the Old Town walk

http://www.discoversouthampton.co.uk/uploads/media_items/old-town-walk-map.original.pdf

Or the Titanic trail

http://www.discoversouthampton.co.uk/uploads/media_items/titanic-trail-map.original.pdf

Sunday, 1 February 2015

No. 8 Gosport

Having survived the Boat Show and been inspired by the plans on the BAR (Ben Ainslie Racing) stand, my thoughts move to a sun drenched, fresh breezed Portsmouth Harbour this July.

Visitors coming to watch the AC45’s race from their HQ in the Camber, might like to consider the nourishing delights that the Rive Gauche offers, in spades.

BAR team in the Solent

There is a life force to Gosport that is seen in the way Alex Thomson strolls up a 30 metre mast, or how Caroline Dinenage MP sends a steely look over to the opposition at Question Time; Gosport produces some fine stars and is fondly dubbed GosVegas by it’s rocking residents.

Converts that move here have made quite a splash and contributed hugely to charity and the community - I'm thinking Tanya Brookfield here (Toe in the Water) and Endurance Swimmer Anna Wardley, with her Five Island Swim Challenge; both raising funds, changing lives and putting smiles on faces.

It's a great place to keep the boat or visit, any time of the year, as there is just so much to do here - sun or rain - museums galore, shops, cinemas, restaurants, lashings of Naval history, both sides of the harbour, but connected fluidly by the super efficient green ferry - £3.10 return, runs from 5.30 till midnight.

Gosport Ferry

Now, to the food....

If you stay at Haslar Marina, marked by the big green Lightship 'Mary Mouse', you have two great choices on-site :

Haslar Marina

Hardy's has been run by Sarah Conchie and team for 3 years. They run an efficient ship with a very popular happy hour from 5-7pm from Monday to Thursday, buy one drink get one free.

A great gathering place for berth holders, those working at Haslar and people dropping by for an early drink before dinner in a convivial setting near the water.

They have recently launched a supper and wine tasting club, meeting every couple of months with Spain being the first port of call. Berth holder’s receive a 10% discount for parties of four or more.

Food is of very good quality, most popular dishes being the rib eye steaks and home made burger, which changes daily. The chef, Paul Thompson, cooks local fish and steaks quite perfectly.

Hops choice – the salt n’pepper fish – usually squid, scallops & king prawns – lip smacking!

Hardy's Happy Hour

Their ever popular fish cakes

Trinity's at the Lightship is on the fantastic green landmark at the end of the pontoons - access for non-bertholders is via the gated entrance, buzz the marina office for entry.

Maria Hodgkins took over the Lightship last spring and along with her inspiring chef Geoff, has completely transformed the ship and the quality of food on this amazing piece of nautical history. Sun decks, providing ever changing views over one of our busiest harbours; bar, breakfast, lunch and dinner – berth holders get 10% discount and the Wardroom is ready to hire for private events.