Wednesday 1 March 2017
A new month and time for a holiday. The driving is shared out today – I take the first chunk down to Leigh Delamere services for a quick stop. Then Jackie takes the wheel and we take the old route over the First Severn crossing (now the M48 but of course the original M4) and we continue into the Wye valley through Tintern; this section is all a bit twisty. Then we take the turning for Whitebrook and it gets much narrower. Progress is slower and the sat nav is convinced we have gone past our destination but we do find it and park.
We are at the Whitebrook Inn. It is almost in the middle of nowhere – a pretty, wooded valley. We agree that the starters are good but the main courses are a little bland – we both have the local lamb and it seems to lack taste.
Here is the duck confit and liver partfait starter from Jackie Whitbread’s photos:
Post lunch it is my turn to drive onto our final destination of Penpergwm near Abergavenny. The first bit is quite narrow as I continue west on the back roads from our lunch break – but some lovely views of the local countryside, as we descend from the hills on the west side of the Wye Valley we can see in the distance the Black Hills.
Our little holiday home is small – but should meet our needs for the next week. We are in Penpergwm which is a couple of miles east of Abergavenny and which is in Monmouthshire. For a long time Parliamentary Acts referred to “Wales and Monmouth” as if it was not part of Wales or England – it is now very definitely in Wales with bi-lingual signs and even though the population is not heavily Welsh speaking. It is not an area we have visited previously and there are a good number of decent restaurants to be visited this week which is the prime attraction.
And it is not utterly remote either. As if we were at home Tesco turn up with a delivery so that we have the basics on hand. It saves having to take the large car if we have the groceries delivered when we arrive. Another benefit from the internet I suppose! The owner lives in the main house adjacent – we are in an extension and the chickens are in the enclosure next to us. There is space to sit outside but we are unlikely to use that this week. The cottage has two bedrooms but we use the other one to put our cases out of the way. It has been a longish day!