The Pandy Inn & Bull's Head Free House

 The Pandy Inn, Dorstone

In 2012, because airfare is not coming down any time soon, I will be traveling back to England in photos alone, and reviewing some of my favorites with you. If you tire of seeing these photos, feel free to send airfare from MSP to LON. I'm not picky; either Heathrow or Gatwick will work for me. I will be happy to fly there and take additional photos of the enchanting English countryside, then return to Wisconsin and write blog posts to share with you. It would be a tough job, but I'd be willing to make the sacrifice. :-)

Think about it: This place has been a free house (a pub) since the 1100s!  What else happened in the 1100's? Well, for starters, William the Conqueror's son became King of England, the Crusaders captured Acre, Saint Bernard founded the Abbey of Clairvaux in France, and in the United States of America, we were...oh wait...

The twelfth century was a long time ago, but that doesn't mean the people were less intelligent than today or carrying clubs and grunting at their toothless women with straggly hair. Don't believe it. People were going places and doing things! And some of them were busy establishing this cool little pub in Herefordshire (above).

The village of Craswall is near the Welsh border (see map below).






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photo from The Bull's Head

Photo from Bull's Head, a 17th century pub

Famous old drovers inn in the superb country of the Black Mountains south of Hay on Wye. Now a pub restaurant concentrating on serving good food. Open Friday, Saturday and Sunday lunch. 'The Bull's Head pub in Craswall is one of the best rural pubs in the UK with great food.' Owen Sheers, The Daily Telegraph. - from Facebook






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Point A represents Craswall. Point B represents Dorstone. Now you can see why it took us twice as long to get anywhere in England than what we had planned. At home, if the place we wanted to visit was 60 miles away, we'd figure that it would take about an hour. In England, we would have to figure at least two hours. But I'm not complaining. The journey by car through the English countryside was always worth it!

These aren't the only pubs in Herefordshire, of course, but they're the only ones we visited. We had  lunch on a Sunday at the Bull's Head and dinner one night at The Pandy Inn with friends. There are lots of other places to see, such as cathedrals, castles, and ancient burial sites  - and, of course, the beautiful Golden Valley!

P.S. I'm hoping to keep Fridays as a Travel Blog day. Sometimes England, sometimes Wisconsin, etc. We'll see how it goes.


Have a great weekend, everyone!

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