Friday 3 March 2017
The plan today is for a much quieter day than yesterday. We bumble into Abergavenny and find both the cheese shop and the market where there is of course a cheese stall. A number of smelly cheeses are acquired. The weather is nowhere near so nice today and there is ongoing drizzle and it is not as warm. Burton have had a shop in the town for many years and it is possible to record evidence of the attractive signage that used to be used and its incorporation in the building structure. It makes the current one word “Burton” seem very stark by comparison.
The main plan for today revolves around taking lunch at a place which has been on our “to eat at” list for many years. The Walnut Tree Inn at Llandewi Skirrid has been famous for a very long time. The original owner (Franco Taruschio) retired and sold on and the restaurant had a few bumpy years before being bought by Shaun Hill in 2008 and has returned to good standing. The chef we last encountered in Ludlow when it was the centre of restaurant excellence a few years ago.
We both choose the same starters, a Lancashire cheese souffle, and main courses, confit duck, black pudding and pigs cheeks. Eating the same meal used to be a little more common than it is these days. As we eat the restaurant steadily fills up and the kitchen keeps the meals coming. Here are Jackie’s photos of the two courses mentioned:
With lunch complete we return back to our cottage. I admit to Jackie that the last time we ate the chef’s food it was in Ludlow and we had not been terribly impressed at the time compared with our other meal there. Certainly this was not lacking in any way. I know it was a Friday and the restaurant is just a few miles outside Abergavenny but the place steadily filled up with at least one celebratory party and meals were also being delivered to people sitting in the bar so the team were working very hard. And I have no doubt it is like that most of the time.
Discussing it after the holiday we agree that this was probably the best meal of the week.