RSPB hopes for corn bunting

RSPB hopes for corn bunting

For me, bird song is an integral pleasure of any walk, not only out in the countryside but in towns too when away it can be a welcome distraction from the traffic noise. So I am always pleased to hear when hopes are rising that another songbird's numbers could be on the recovery in an area.

Now there is excitement at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) over the sighting of a small group of corn buntings in the Scottish Borders. It is significant because the bird had been thought to have died out in the area after the last sighting a few years ago had been of a single calling male.

If you think you see any corn buntings in the Borders, the RSPB would like to hear from you. You can find out more at RSPB hopes for corn bunting.

Today's pub walk: The Red Lion in Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Essex Community Pub Saved

Essex Community Pub Saved

Ye Olde Cherry Tree in Little Oakley, near Harwich, Essex has a story to tell. Despite having a history of excellence, it has recently had to really fight for its survival against a backdrop of forced periods of closure over the past couple of years - changing hands and landlords several times.

Now however it is under new management and is proud of its chequered history and the valiant efforts and campaigning that has kept this community pub alive. It is an inspiring story and you can read more about how this Essex community pub was saved.

I am very pleased to see them join in the Quest for the Nation's Favourite Pub Walk and I have selected them as "Today's participating pub" below.

Today's participating pub: Ye Olde Cherry Tree in Little Oakley, Essex.
Prizes offered: A 3-course Sunday Lunch for two.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Free Pub Walks

Free Pub Walks

I asked someone if they would like to add their own walks to MyFavouritePubWalks.com to get free access to all the other pub walks on the site and share in the site profits. His very public response was that his pub walks would remain free "rather than be prostituted to inane gimmicks and money grabbing." Ouch!

OK, time to set the record straight.

Firstly, I will let every pub walker in the country download as many of the pub walks as they like, completely free of charge! All I ask in return is that they add at least one of their own favourite pub walks to the site... one pub walk = one year's free access; two pub walks = two years' free access; and so on. As soon as their first walk is published, all the other walks become free.

Secondly, those who just want to download other people's favourite pub walks but not add their own are welcome to do so, but then they do have to pay. This is their choice - they could buy a book instead (not free) or they can search for other free pub walks online (not quickly in my experience). I aim to bring hundreds if not thousands of pub walks into one place for instant download and enjoyment, and create a community that shares a common interest in all that pub walking offers.

Having said all that, the response I received from this person stood out because the general reaction from walkers has been incredibly positive and supportive across the country. This offers great promise for the growth of what I hope will become the biggest and most up to date collection of pub walks anywhere!

Today's pub walk: The Filly Inn in the New Forest, Hampshire.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Bank Holiday Pub Walks - Local Competitions

Bank Holiday Pub Walks - Local Competitions

The great thing about bank holidays is they give us chance to both get out in the fresh air and to indulge ourselves a little. Sounds to me like a pub walk is calling!

With a growing number of pubs participating in the Quest for the Nation's Favourite Pub Walk by organising local contests of their own, this is a great chance to maybe win a meal for two as well as one of the national prizes simply by submiting your favourite pub walk.

Even those who just vote can win prizes too. To find whether there is a participating pub near you, click on local competitions.

Today's participating pub: The Good Companions in Surrey.
Prizes offered: A bottle of champagne or top quality wine (3 winners).

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Rural Pubs to offer Postal Services

Rural Pubs to offer Postal Services

We've all seen it. Alistair Darling, Trade and Industry Secretary, trying to convince us all that the planned closure of 2,500 post offices is actually a good thing and that we'll all reap the benefits. Well, I'm not so sure of that. Readers of my blog will know what I feel about the loss of services in rural communities.

But this time, there could be a few winners. The organisation Pub is the Hub champions the rural pub and is looking to open up post offices in rural pubs across the country. It has already done this successfully in 100 pubs over the past 5 years as it helps pubs expand their businesses into wider community services.

Today's pub walk: The Boringdon Arms near Plymouth, Devon.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

2 for 1 Gastro Pub Meals

2 for 1 Gastro Pub Meals

The Telegraph and Gordon's Gin have teamed up to give this great 2 for 1 offer which can be redeemed in 500 gastro pubs across the country. Plus of course a 2 for 1 offer on the Gordon's G & T!

All pubs will have at least 4 main course options to choose from and you can take part as often as you like as long as you have collected the tokens. You need 1 form and 4 tokens for each 2 for 1 meal. Forms will be printed in the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph on selected days until June 3, and the tokens will be included every day.

Although the list of pubs was included for free in Saturday's Telegraph, you can still get one now by sending a £1 cheque payable to Telegraph Guides, to: Telegraph Gastro Guides, PO Box 29, Colchester, CO2 8GZ. Go on, its got to be worth £1!

For details click on gastro pub meal 2-for-1 offer.

The offer ends 30 July 2007 which could not tie in better with the closing date for voting in our Quest for the Nation's Favourite Pub Walk (but remember entries have to be in by 30 June 2007 though). So why not combine the two - enjoy your meals and give yourself a chance to win one of the competition prizes too!

Today's participating pub: The Hill Tavern in Stourbridge, Worcs.
Prize offered: A meal for two.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

South Downs Wind Turbine a Monstrous 230 ft High

There simply has to be a better way of generating alternative energy than by destroying the views over one of our few remaining wilderness areas in England. With the South Downs already designated the UK's 15th National Park, who can possibly justify building a monstrous 230 feet high wind turbine in its midst?

Apparently a company called Glyndebourne Productions Ltd can. However, they have a battle ahead of them as some of the strongest countryside campaigners have lined up to take them on: the Ramblers' Association, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Council for National Parks and the South Downs Society.

Although wind turbines are sited on National Parks elsewhere, it is the shear scale of this one that is causing immense concern. Expected to be visible over an area of hundreds of square miles, it's 230 foot height dwarfs the 40-50 foot ones previously used.

So let's support renewable energy sources but not at any price. We need to protect our natural environment as well as the planet for enjoyment today as well as in the future.
See update...

Today's pub walk: The Green Dragon in Cambridge.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Perfect Pub 2007 - The Turf Tavern, Oxford

The Abbot Ale Perfect Pub 2007 award, run by Greene King, has been won by The Turf Tavern in Oxford. This historic pub dates back to the 14^th century and is just outside the city walls.

What makes this special is that this is the only national pub award voted for by members of the public (excluding our very own competition to find the Nation’s Favourite Pub Walk of course where the public vote for the walk as well as the pub!)

The results are reported in today’s The Publican, which goes on to say that The Turf Tavern also won both the regional and national prizes for serving the best cask beer. So fancy a historic pub walk from The Turf Tavern? Hopefully someone will submit one to MyFavouritePubWalks.com soon.

Today's participating pub: The West Bay in West Bay, Dorset.
Prize offered: A meal for two including a bottle of champagne.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Countryside Communities Under Threat - Cornish Village fights back

Well you have to hand it to them. Many people complain about the impact on their village of the loss of their post office, pub, school or other focus of the community. But the residents of Lanreath in Cornwall did much more than complain, they took concerted actions.

In Monday's BBC2 "Power to the People" series, we saw the invasion of Islington Green by a small Cornish village protesting at the closure of its treasured school. This was the final straw following the demise of their post office, pub, shop and dairy farm. So they transported a cross section of the village to the centre of London, including a few cows, sheep and the morris dancers, all coordinated by the WI with help from the BBC reporter.

Sadly their protest fell on deaf government ears but the effort mobilised the community of Lanreath to the extent that they then successfully re-opened their local pub and post office as community projects. There was a strong message in here to any villager feeling they are powerless to perpetuate the village way of life.

For anyone interested in fighting to rescue their local pub from the threat of closure, see this earlier post How to Save Your Community Pub.

Today's pub walk: The Beaulieu Road Inn in The New Forest, Hants.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Smoking ban good for pubs

The smoking ban is on its way with less than 50 days to go now until 1st July start date in England. And this is going to be great news for business, for many pubs. Cheers indeed!

The Publican tells us that a Deparment of Health survey found that 36% of people cite a smoke-filled atmosphere as the main turn-off for going to a bar or pub. And what's more, 71% of regular pub-goers support the legislation and 76% of the general population see it as having a positive effect on health.

For me, this is a good reason to revisit some of those pubs that I walked out of as soon as I entered due to the smog filling the bars. Roll on 1st July!

Today's participating pub: The Hatton Arms in Gretton, Northants.
Prize offered: Sunday lunch for two.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)>

Cider making the news

Cider is in the news. There is no getting away from it, the popularity of cider is rising rapidly with some seeing it as a relaunched with a new image. This is much to the credit of Magners advertising campaign which has repositioned it away from teenage and vagrant drinkers and brought it into the mainstream (simply by pouring it over ice!).

In the past month, we've seen Aspalls launch a pink cider in an attempt to woo women in the 18-45 age range, reflecting the growing popularity of rose. Next, Magners featured on the Radio 4 Today progam following its astounding 225% growth in sales in 2006. Now CAMRA have just announced their National 2007 Champion cider as "West Croft Janet's Jungle Juice (great name!) from Somerset. With the Guardian branding it "the new beer", I expect this will be a phenomenal summer for the British cider industry. Let's hope so.

Today's pub walk: The Poacher's Pocket in Saxmundham, Suffolk.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Participating Pubs and Prizes

My last posting highlighted an article in The Publican, promoting the use of pub walks by pubs to generate new business from the walking community. Pubs are already starting to register as Participating Pubs so I thought it would be good to sometimes include a "Participating Pub" at the foot of my blog instead of a "Today's Pub Walk". So here we go with the first one ...

Today's participating pub: The King's Head in Swaledale, North Yorks.
Prize offered: Meal for two.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

The Publican encourages Pubs to Find Best Walks

The Publican magazine for the trade includes an article in today's edition showing publicans how they can use a pub walk to market themselves to the walking community. It includes a 10 step guide showing them how to maximise the publicity they get from the event and includes quotes from yours truly! It is a well presented article and if you'd like to take a look just click on Walk into new trade.

If you are a publican who would like to participate in the event and benefit from the free advertising, you should also take a look at MyFavouritePubWalks.com/publicans to get further details.

Today's pub walk: The Rising Sun in Warsash, Hampshire.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Campaign For Real Ale celebrates National Mild Day

Today is "National Mild Day" and May is "Mild Month" for the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) as they aim to revitalise interest in what used to be Britain's most popular type of real ale. They have produced a map showing the location of breweries with an award-winning mild and is encouraging us all to seek these out in our local pubs and give some of them a try this month.

Oh and while you're there, don't forget to work up a thirst with a pub walk first! And of course, Write it down, take a few photos and you have the chance to enter the competition to find "The Nation's Favourite Pub Walk".

Check out MyFavouritePubWalks.com/competition to see all the prizes on offer including copies of The Good Pub Guide, The Walkers Companion and Blacks vouchers.

Today's pub walk: The Chester Arms in London.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Bill Bryson Protects The English Countryside

One of our favourite travel writers takes up the mantle of President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). Although born American, Bill Bryson has developed such a strong love of England that we happily adopt him as our own. I am sure he will be a great ambassador for the CPRE and during his presidency will no doubt help to raise the profile of its valuable work.

Today's pub walk: The Green Man, in Grantchester, Cambridgeshire.
The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)

Pollen Count is not Linked to Rapeseed

The swathe of brilliant yellow across the countryside has for more years than I care to recount been one of the heralders of Spring. For some people, however, rapeseed has also marked the start of the Hay Fever Season, accompanied by the suggestion that the pollen of the rapeseed iteslf is a sigificant irritant to sufferers.

According to this morning's Farming Today, rapeseed is not the "yellow peril" of its reputation and in fact very few people have an allergic reaction to it. The pollen is heavier than air and therefore is hardly airborne compared to grasses and tree pollen. So we can enjoy our fields of oil seed rape now without any legitimate concers.

Today's pub walk: The Ship Inn, in Saxmundham, Suffolk.

The Pub Walker
MyFavouritePubWalks.com
Free 2-monthly newsletter (NO spamming)