Rotary Club of Elthorne-Hillingdon

Drink up thy Zider (aka President John's Weekend Away)

As is our custom and this year was no exception, we trooped off for the weekend on our President’s whim.This year’s whim was to base ourselves in Yeovil and explore the surrounding areas of South Somerset and Dorset, where our President John and wife Joan got engaged some 41 years ago!   Our hotel, the Yeovil Court, set just outside the Town Centre on the way to West Coker was ideally placed for our weekend – good accommodation, good food, pleasant staff – highly recommended!After dinner Friday night we sampled some of the local produce – with speaker James Crowden entertaining us on the history and traditions of cider making (produce courtesy of Bridge Farm Cider).  

Saturday morning (and the rest of the weekend) saw us in the company of Ron, our extremely patient driver from Taylors Coaches.Firstly to the Fleet Air Arm Museum where our guides led by Keith Saxon enthralled the entire company (yes, the ladies too!) with the history of the air service of the Royal Navy – well worth a trip – could be worth more than the 2 hours or so that we had.We can recommend the food too – we had a splendid buffet within the museum – suffice to say there was ample even for the most determined eaters.An afternoon at Clarks Village at Street satisfied the ardent shoppers – it was actually quite noticeable that there were more purchases by the men in the party than could be considered normal!We took a trip into the country for dinner at the excellent Kings Arms at Charlton Horethorne, where we were well taken care of and extremely well fed and watered – most certainly worth a detour if you’re in the area – they have rooms too.   

Sunday began with some drizzle, which definitely hadn’t been ordered.Nevertheless, we set off for Forde Abbey, by which time it had stopped precipitating, where our private guided tour was well worth the trip.The former monastery has been lovingly preserved in private hands – we all agreed that we wouldn’t want a) to cut the grass or b) to pay the heating bill!Lunch – terrific bread and cheese – at the picturesque Haselbury Mill, which boasts a newly constructed tithe barn (we did wonder who pays the tithes these days, but then it is licensed for weddings………).And so to Lyme Regis, where the weather really let us down – just when we could have done with a bit of sunshine the heavens opened for most of our couple of hours – however, if you find yourself in the same position, we recommend the museum, worth a look, and the many coffee and tea houses.We rounded the weekend off with dinner at New Farm Restaurant, a little off the beaten track, but worth seeking out, where Jane & Crispin have tastefully converted this lovely Ham stone building, originally a working farm run by Jane’s family since the late 1800’s, into a delightful restaurant.They’re not normally open on Sundays but nice people that they are they opened up just for us and proceeded to fill us with excellent food and drink – in complete privacy!  

All in all, a great weekend, super company, terrific food – we’d all recommend the area and all the places we went to.