Near, a little further and a glass of wine

Favourite pubs/restaurants come and go, change hands, become familiar, lose their specialness, and so new pubs/restaurants are found and enjoyed - the cycle of many patrons, us included.

This is the case for us with Miller's - a country pub/restaurant/hotel just 6 miles away in Sibson that we have visited many times in the past but sporadically - meals before having the children with parents and grandparents, special occasion meals, treats with the children, tribute nights with work colleagues, always a good time. However in recent years we just haven't been ....

.... until a few weeks ago when I discovered them on Twitter (and again since which shows in itself how impressed we were). I booked online through Twitter DM and our table was ready, reserved in style rather than a plastic triangular notice.

Reserved in style

The bar area has been decorated and feels so relaxed. The fireplace, with it's logs, leather armchairs and barrel tables add to the pubs ambiance with the gentle sound of the waterwheel turning actually in the pub adding to the atmosphere.

Fantastic fireplace

Turning waterwheel inside the bar 

Miller's has a variety of menu's including their 'value menu' with prices starting from £4.99 and their 'Golden Years' menu for over 60s; 2 courses for £5.99

Over our two visits we've enjoyed a sharing platter, fish and chips, lamb shank, sizzling fajitas, and salad nicoise - all delicious, nicely cooked and served in good time. We'll certainly be visiting again.

Our 'little further' visit was to Melton Mowbray, no reason other than a Saturday drive and a place we had not visited before. Just under an hour away it was a mixed journey starting with motorway driving and ending with a country A road over rolling hills.

As it was lunch time when we arrived we decided to pop into Mrs B's Deli - to be honest it looked almost closed from the outside as the windows were low and the interior appeared dark. All became apparent upon entering as you go down a few steps so the shop/cafe is lower than the road. Such a lovely shop filled with homemade deli specialties including a variety of scotch eggs. There's a small cafe at the rear but we decided to eat at the table in the deli area so we could look around at the many delights.

A lovely array of homemade goodies

Coffee time  

Our lunch platter with stilton cheese and pork pie

 Lunch was really good, we both chose a mixed platter so we had stilton cheese and pork pie, both delicious. The variety of scotch eggs was amazing and we decided to bring home a Stilton one, they are huge so one is plenty. I also spotted my absolute favourite crisps - Brown Bag Crisps - so they had to come home too !

Stilton Scotch Egg

My favourite !

 After lunch we had a stroll round the small town that's full of history. The Corn Cross in the middle of the town is where farmers used to lay out their corn samples on market day. It was market day when we visited but I didn't see any corn samples - lots of pie stalls though

The Corn Cross

Just across the way is Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe, a lovely black and white building standing along the row of shops in Nottingham Street, next to The Corn Exchange. Inside there's quite a lot of information about the origin of the pork pie and how it's made. The shop was built in the early 1600s and pork pies have been made here since 1851.

Melton Mowbray is famous for its pork pies

'how they are made' display inside the shop

Our stroll took us down Burton Street along the rear of St Mary's Church. On the left was a beautiful old building named Bede Houses and was actually almshouses founded in 1641, and on the right a building that is now a pub but in the 1300s was a Chantry Priests' House. The house was given by Henry VIII to Thomas Cromwell (Lord Chancellor of England) until his fall from favour when it was given to Anne of Cleves as part of her divorce settlement.

Bede Houses

Founded in 1641

Anne of Cleves house

History of the building

Thomas Cromwell fell out of favour with Henry VIII

Beautiful plaque on the building wall  

St Mary's Church was in a very old lane with small cottages opposite, picture postcard setting, very quaint. There has been a church on this site for centuries, some of the oldest stonework dates to 1100. It's a Norman church with beautiful stained glass windows.

St Mary's altar

The window above the altar

Intricate patterning 

We had a really lovely day in Melton Mowbray, sometimes impromptu visits are the best. Of course we could not come home without bringing the traditional pie - delicious it was too !

Melton Mowbray Pork Pie 

And so to the third element of my blog title ... wine! This actually relates back to my previous post Cuvée Reserves Wine Weekend and my mystery bottle, Gran Montana Malbec from Dave.

Gran Montana Malbec decanted 

I decanted the wine about an hour before drinking. The colour was an inviting rich red with flashes of scarlet as it flowed into the decanter. Once poured the nose was full of dark fruit with a background hint of spice. A lightly oaked palate revealed more fruit with the hint lingering on the finish.

Malbec is one of my favourite wines being fruity with spice but without heavy tannins and this was a Malbec I really enjoyed, thank you Dave.