What you can see and do at the Wine Society in Stevenage

 

The Wine Cellar at The Wine Society. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The wine society is about wîne but there is lots to entertain and impress those who are not wine drinkers or don’t know much about wine.

So it is a good place to stop for a break on your way out of London going north or back on your way from Cambridge. 

1 I am always entranced by the spiral staircase under circular glass leading down to the wine cellar.

2 Another novelty is what you can do with cork or imitation cork. Make a stool.

Corks at The Wine Society. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

3 You can take them your old corks for recycling. The donated corks are sent to Portugal.

What's free or cheap?

At the door on Wed 29th October 2025 we were offered a tasting of two Greek wines. 

The Enomatic Machine

Except on special occasions, the enomatic machine is free offering you a teeny taste of several wine which they are promoting. 

Enomatic, which I have previously thought of as a generic name is actually a brand name, so it must have a capital letter for a proper name, and not be used for any device other than their own branded product. Eno is related to the name for wine, and matic as in automatic, a wine dispenser, operated by a card. In shops and restaurants or restaurant-bars such as machine is operated by a card which you buy. Like a train card, you can add amounts of money to the card, and keep using it until the money runs out, then top it up. 

The Wine Society has a well organized double room or shelving. You can look for a country. Or a style of wine such as Spritis or Sweet Wine, Red, white. Also beer. Low and no alcohol.

If you are not a drinker, or are driving and want to taste and spit, or sober up, or entertain a non drinking passenger, there are coffee dispensers which have drinking chocolate as well as fresh milk in a minifridge. Also water. And toilets. 

What to buy for yourself or non drinking friends to eat, or just general gifts? And chocolates. Seasonal items, for Christmas, when we were there. Boar pate. Duck pate. Olives. Crisps and nuts. The selection changes all the time.

They also have ends of stocks at reduced prices. And mixed cases of six bottles with damaged labels for about a hundred pounds or more. The tops of the boxes were open so we were able to look in and see what was there. You might not want to serve a bottle with a damaged label for a festive occasion, or in a restaurant to a VIP customer. But for yourself, or a friend who likes a bargain, that is an option. 

Useful Websites

https://www.thewinesociety.com/

Oktoberfest Is Over But there's Beer in Belgium and Britain, Book Oktoberfest in Germany Next Year and Christmas Markets

The flag of Germany.

Problem
I thought the German Oktoberfest started on the 1st of October and ended on the last day of October. Alas no. We have missed the Oktoberfest but there's still time to plan trips to the German Christmas Markets.

Answer
Oktoberfest started in September and it ends today, October 3rd 2017! It is the biggest beer festival in the world, attracting 6 million people, and I wasn't one of them. This year I have missed it. The good news is that now we know it starts in September, we can plan next year more carefully.

Oktoberfest in Munich in German iin 2018 will be held from September 22nd to October 7th. At least that's a bit more of October than in 2017.

So why the misleading name? According to their website, the original Oktoberfest was a week in Oktober to celebrate a royal marriage. In later years so that people could enjoy warmer weather, the festival was moved forward to start in September and end in Oktober. So why don't they call it the September fest? Oktoberfest has a good ring, doesn't it?

Plan to arrive on day one to see the morning parade of the horse-drawn carriages and bands.
If you are going there, entry to the tents is free. You just go in and sit down and order beer from the girls wearing the local Bavarian dirndl outfits. But at weekends the tents are often full by 11 am and once a tent is full nobody else is admitted. So arrive early.

Story
GERMAN BEER
I associate Germany with wine, especially Riesling, Black Tower, Liebfraumilch (wine so delightful it was called milk of the dear lady meaning the Madonna).
In many German cities you can find local food and wines in the Rathauskeller, nothing to do with rats. It's the German word for Town hall, usually a historic building, with at least one or two dishes at reasonable prices.

When we drove through Germany, it was always our first stop, if we had no other place in mind.

Meanwhile, various places in the UK are having their own little Oktoberfest German beer festivals.

Belgian Beer
Other great places for beer are Belgium.

UK Breweries
England has a septemberfest in Donington Park, I read about it on septemberfest.co.uk. If you want to see wenches in Medieval peasant costume, go to a Medieval Banquet. If it's beer you're after, and regional beer in the UK keep an eye on CAMRA, the Campaign For Real Ale.
Various breweries in the UK  are open to visitors and some are famous for the Shire horses which used to pull the delivery carts.

Travel Tips
Top German cities to visit
Berlin (the wall)
The Romantic Road (Rothenburg).

CHRISTMAS MARKETS
GERMANY
Rothenburg is a lovely backdrop for its Christmas market. Other cities for Christmas markets include Berlin and Nuremberg.

Nuremberg is associated in the minds of the British and many people with the Nuremberg Trials after the end of WWII. But the city has an old city, Durer's House museum, the expected historical museum and the Germanisches National Museum with stunning photogenic pillars outside covered in sayings in all languages about human right. (See Tripadvisor.) When I visited I did not understand the words in other languages. However, nowadays with Google Translate on your phone, this should be a problem you can solve more easily.

OTHER CHRISTMAS MARKETS
Austria: Vienna and Salzburg
Belgium, Brussels and Bruges
Bulgaria: Sofia
Canada: Toronto, Quebec, Vancouver
Czech Republic: Prague castle
Denmark: Copenhagen
England: London - Hyde Park, Bankside; Manchester
France: Rheims in Champagne region; Strasbourg in the Alsace
Ireland: Dublin's Twelve Days of Christmas
Latvia: Riga
Poland: Warsaw and Krakow
Scotland: Edinburgh; Glasgow
Switzerland: Zurich
USA: Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, New York, Washington DC and many more.
Wales: Cardiff

GERMAN WEBSITES
Plenty of time to learn some German on
www.Duolingo.com
Oktoberfest in Germany in 2018 is Sept 22 2018 until October 7th.
https://www.oktoberfest.de/en/article/Oktoberfest+2017/About+the+Oktoberfest/Dates+and+General+FAQs
More Information From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberfest
https://www.oktoberfest.de/en/article/Oktoberfest+2017/About+the+Oktoberfest/Dates+and+General+FAQs
https://www.christmasmarkets.com
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/germany
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/festival-travel-checklist

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
Twitter: @AnnaTheAuthor

Brasov's Urban Grill For Romance and Romanian Food

Problem

Where can I eat Romanian food in Brasov? I see Italian restaurants, Hungarian restaurants, Turkish restaurants and kebab shops, all from neighbouring countries. On a wait day we are inclined to take refuge in the nearest nice, nooky place.

Greater Brasov spreads for miles. You drive through an uninviting industrial extended city. Then you reach the old pedestrianised city centre. You can walk around it in half a day.You can spin it out for a week  by visiting the church, museums and synagogue. But the streets of the old city are filled with restaurants.

Answer

Gratar Urban. The Romanians put the adjective after the noun, grill urban. In English that is Urban Grill. 

At first I am not sure if I am going to like this place. I want healthy food, not grills which char the outside of the food . We are shown to a table in an arched, underground, windowless room. I do like arches. I like a private room - especially for a noisy group. I'm still not sure. Plaster walls and wooden tables will be hard and uncomfortable and noisy, won't they?

However, the friendly waitress, white light, bright walls, start me on an uphill path to liking it more and more.

The piece de resistance, if you'll excuse my French, is the dessert. I must admit it's actually a Hungarian dish. But what a dish! It features chestnut puree. We used to have that in Jersey. We bought it in the local convenience store as a distress purchase. But despite it being not Romanian but Hungarian (which I found out later) at first bite our distress turned to delight. Pureed, sweetened chestnut is one the world's most more-ish 'to die for', or to diet for, foods.

Gratar Urban (Urban Grill restaurant)

Brasov

Romania

Gratar Urban, (Urban Grill), Strada Michael Weiss, Brasov 500031

Tel: +40 731832033

https://www.facebook.com/GratarUrban/

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several more posts on Romanian restaurants, food, wine, wineries and places to visit, plus learning to speak Romanian. Please share links to my posts.