Day 2: It's 5pm somewhere and the kitchen is closed.

Another day, another big breakfast. We managed to find an amazing cafe just south of the Thames near our apartment called 'The Watch House'. I had some shakshuka reminiscent of my favourite Sydney institution, Shenkin. It was tip top. Dylan had some delicious mushroom and haloumi toast with eggs. 10/10 would recommend. The coffee was also excellent. We're two for three.

After this excellent breakfast experience we checked out and headed into town to pick up a car. I think Dylan was secretly pleased we were able to get an automatic so that he could drive (I was definitely prepared to drive a manual around the busy London streets. Definitely.). We got a Toyota hybrid, a sort-of camry. It was actually pretty easy to drive out of the city.

It was an hour and a half to Salisbury, where we planned to have lunch and then go to see Aunty Betty. The drive was very picturesque, especially going through New Forest. There are wild animals just off the road, including ponies!

For many years Dylan has been telling me about the Wooden Spoon pub in Downton. Thankfully it lived up to its name much better than FergBurger. It's owned by a local guy who actually recognised Dylan and remembered Betty. Small town life! I had an amazing fish and chips while Dylan had another pie. Just as good as the first one. We also had dessert, and it was my turn to have pie. I had an apple pie experience while Dylan had a toffee pudding.

The drinks. 

The PIE and the pudding. 

Then it was on to see Betty. We had a lovely chat with her. She's lived her whole life in Downton and is now in a nursing home nearby. It's a gorgeous village area.

We drove on through Downton to Salisbury. We were staying at the Old Mill, which is a super cool old building which, yep, used to be a mill. It's got running water outside. A lot of these old buildings have low ceilings, but this place took it to a new level. Even I had to duck at some spots.

After we checked in we went for a walk through Salisbury. First off, most obviously, was the cathedral. Over 700 years old, it's a gorgeous building. Of course, by this point, it was after 3pm, so the sun was setting... Dylan took some fancy photography. 

 

Dylan is clearly much better with the focus, lighting etc. than I am... 

The first pub we went to for a drink was called the Wig and Quill. It was shortly before five and the lady warned us that the kitchen was closing soon. That's fine, we thought, we'll have a beer here and then move on for dinner elsewhere at a more normal time. 

We relaxed near the fire for a while, and then picked another pub to go to called George& Dragon. Now closer to six-ish, it was more like dinner time! Unfortunately we were unlucky again, their kitchen had closed at five. Turns out, every kitchen closes at five. They had this ironic sign:

Yep, it's five o'clock somewhere and the kitchen is closed...

By now we were hungry and worse, open mic night was about to start. We defaulted to the restaurant bar back at the Old Mill. I was keen for a Sunday roast. The chicken and beef were already gone, but they had turkey. It tasted like Christmas and was an appropriately large serving. 

Dylan has decided to take pictures of the signs of all the pubs we go to, so please enjoy these:

Cheerio!

A+D