Lighthouses and Ale

 

A nine-legged lighthouse!

Here's an interesting lighthouse! This is at Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset and it's on the beach. We'd just been up to Bristol for the day and on the way back we decided to stop for a walk and a run by the seaside, we'd done a parkrun here earlier in the year and we knew it was just off the M5. I galloped along the promenade through the middle of town and moved onto the beach on the north side of town heading up for this unusual structure. Burnham faces the Severn Estuary across sandbars and the like and the two strategically sited Burnham lighthouses performed a vital function. This is the Low Burnham Lighthouse which was decommissioned in 1969, but after the High Turnham Lighthouse was sold as a residence they had to switch this one back on in 1993. You can if you like stay at the holiday let in the High Lighthouse! 

Thirsty work pitching forks!

You will know of The Waldorf Hotel in New York, The Ritz and The Savoy in London, even Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter ranks with these historic rooming houses as it was the first establishment to be called a hotel in England in 1770. However The Royal Clarence Hotel that I ran past was in Burnham-on Sea and is slightly newer dating from 1792. The reason I am dwelling on this fine establishment (as opposed to dwelling in it!) is that it was the home of one of the earliest microbreweries in the UK and I recall driving down from Bristol in the 1980's to enjoy a fine pint looking over the sea at a glorious sunset. The brewery has moved and changed hands but some of the excellent ales are still in their portfolio including Pitchfork, a golden light ale which won Champion Beer of Britain in 1998. This was a regular on the bar during our stewardship at the George and Dragon, Macclesfield - always in fine form and a firm favourite with the locals!

Whilst on the topic of lovely beer another of the pioneers of micro brewing from the last century is Roosters from Knaresborough in Yorkshire. Roosters was founded by Sean Franklin as Franklins Brewery in 1980, he was one of the first to bring hops from the US over here and his regular bitter was fabulous - I came across it at the Bridge Inn in Otley and thought that couldn't be beaten, Ian Botham said the same in his autobiography a few years later, he'd also been to the Bridge Inn. Roosters under new owners has gone from strength to strength and here's a tinny of theirs named for a Manchester United football manager!