The Ensign Ful-Vue

Last weekend I had the most wonderful time in the West Country visiting my very best friend the Magpie. We spent an afternoon in the beautiful town of Bath, sampling the fine public houses and their ales and perving on the magnificent Regency architecture, and upon browsing in a little street market I came across this delight... the Ensign Ful-Vue.

Some time ago I watched a fascinating documentary about Vivian Maier, the American/French nanny/photographer who went about in the 1950's and 60's snapping New York and Chicago's streets and it's people with her Rolliflex. Ever since then, I've been keeping an eye out for a box camera with a viewfinder on the top and this baby was just the ticket. 

It's a very simple camera with a 1/30 shutter speed (note to self: keep a steady hand) and takes a medium format 120 film - an added bonus as I've just found a local photo shop in Hastings that sells and processes 120 film in-house! Woo! I'm going to load it on up and I can't wait to see what it produces!

Dark Star

Last weekend I was taken on a tour of the Dark Star brewery - a much welcomed birthday surprise from Simon! Originating in the cellar of a Brighton pub, The Evening Star back in 1994, the Dark Star Brewing Company takes it's name from the strong dark strong bitter brewed by the young Rob Jones (Dark Star's head brewer) for Pitfield Brewery in London back in 1987 which was subsequently named after the song of the same name by The Grateful Dead.  

The brewery has since grown in size and relocated twice to where it is now; Partridge Green, West Sussex - a bus ride through the beautiful Sussexian Downs from Brighton. Upon arrival to their warehouse brewery we were greeted with a "please make your way over to the crates where the talk will take place and start drinking." Well OK if you insist..

 

The talk was very interesting, informative and we learned all about the history of the brewery and the brewing process..

 

Whilst sampling a great many of the delicious Dark Star ales on offer..

And for afters we had a table reserved at the brewery tap in the village, The Partridge for a lovely lunch in the sunshine..

 

And of course, we procured a couple of pints to take home!!

Hastings Seafood and Wine Festival 2012

This weekend the 15th/16th September was the Hastings Seafood and Wine Festival. The festival is now in its seventh year, however it was our first time to visit and I have to say we got rather over excited about all the delicious fresh locally caught seafood, locally made wines and locally brewed ales and ciders on offer and wanted to try everything! 

We managed a rather decadent 4 delectable lunches; fish soup with bread, hot smoked salmon with bread and salad, Pollock goujons with samphire and home made chilli jam and Caribbean barbecue jerk fish with jollof rice each washed down with tasty local tipples from Battle Cider, F.I.L.O, Dark Star and Sedlescombe Wine. Simon then got hungry again later on and finished up with one of Tush & Pat's Famous Fishermen's Rolls.

Phwoar. Looking forward to doing it all over again next year!

Bodiam Castle, East Suusex

Last weekend we visited Bodiam Castle in East Sussex. Bodiam Castle was built in 1735 as a defence against the French during the Hundred Year War and also served as comfortable home. The exterior is pretty much intact and the castle sits in a beautiful moat. The interior features fireplaces, spiral staircases, a well, walls and window frames, even medeival toilets(!) enough of which survive to really get a feel of what it would have looked like...