The Royal Oak

On Sunday, we enjoyed a real English Breakfast in our adorable boutique hotel, the Bloomsbur The breakfast buffet was really lovely, we were gung ho for some runny eggs, baked tomato and black pudding. Our agenda was to join a London Walks tour of Greenwich, a short boat ride east on the Thames. Greenwich was touted as London’s Venice and the Christopher Wren-designed Naval Academy looked beautiful. Sure enough, the boat was a fluke and our tour was going to run about 3 hours late, so we made our own way to Greenwich on the light rail. It turned out well since we went through the newer part of the city, quays with brand new apartment and office buildings, umbrella-ed cafes next lining the inlets of blue (not brownish gray) water. Even through Canary Wharf, where the Olympic Village in 2012 will be set up.

On reaching Greenwich, we surveyed the hospital, Naval Academy and church in nearly stifling heat. The Cutty Sark was completely covered while work is done on it, not that I would have known what I was looking at should it have been at full mast. It was a nice adventure somewhat outside the city, and we had some great pub fish and chips (and cask beer) in the little town.

Then we were off to High Wycombe, Buckinhamshire. 4 train changes later, we were met by a colleage of my mom’s and her husband who took us to tour the location of their future house. Now, there was a currently established house on the property, supposedly even built within the last 60 years, but it was so unlivable I was sure it had been erected around the 1500’s. There was a lot of work to be done. I was most impressed by plans for the backyard which were to include a pond, chicken coup, vegetable garden, sun room with fig tree…it was impressive. And ambitious, in my opinion!

They took us to dinner in their current hometown of Marlow at a gastro pub situated on a rolling green grass hill like a bed and breakfast cottage only better. The Royal Oak’s doorways were built for hobbits they were so tiny and we were informed this was because most of the local buildings had been erected in the 1000s and 1100s! we sat on a picnic table outside sipping local beer under an apple tree.

Dinner was surprisingly good. I didn’t mean to have low expectations but we were at a pub in the middle of nowhere! My pork belly was nicely crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Al dente green beans and fried polenta rounded out my side dishes, a smart combination of not-too-rich flavors and textures to complement the succulent pork. It was the kind of pub I would love to spend a Saturday afternoon at, with a blanket on the grass followed by country bread with roasted garlic. We wrapped up the evening with the “Boozey Rhubarb” a dessert of mostly whipped cream that was meant to have spiked rhubarb compote somewhere at the bottom. It was an impressive country evening, a nice glimpse of the gourmet standards outside of London.