Where To Find A Gastro-Pub In A Village Dating Back To The Norman Domesday Book: Yattendon Royal Oak Pub - Eton Mess

The Royal Oak Pub., Yattendon, Berkshire. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Historic pubs are found on the squares of many cities and town and villages in the UK. Here's one which combines the amusement of the old world with the cleanliness and comfort of the new. The Royal Oak pub restaurant at Yattendon in Buckinghamshire. An easy drive from London, along the M4 and down a winding road through trees reminding you of how William The Conqueror, the Norman conqueror, whose troops famously killed Harold at the Battle of Hastings (commemorated in the Bayeux tapestry), then planted the forest. 

On the doorway of the pub-restaurant-hotel is a plaque mentioning the anniversary of the compilation of William's Domesday book. 

The green heritage plaque is on many buildings in the south of England. William ordered the compilation of the Domesday book to find out the number of his subjects and how much tax he could collect to run his new administration. 

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

From the Normans came many French words used on French menus. Restaurant, menu, hors d'ouvres, dessert. Also we see many words derived from French on English menus, such as steak, from bifsteak, and beef from boeuf meaning cow. The menu here includes steak.

Starter

You had the options of having some of the starter selections as main courses, larger portions I presume, at higher prices. My husband chose the shellfish starter as a main course. I went without the starter in order to leave room for dessert. 

(Despite still occasionally eating out, I have slimmed down from 70 kilos to 50 over a year since Covid-19 because the two main factors making you vulnerable are weight and age and I could not reduce my age but I could reduce my weight.

Main courses

 My main course was chicken. A large portion. I would have preferred less chicken and more vegetables. Pizzas for one person were large enough to share. 

The nice pub meal would satisfy most people. My group was happy. (I was in a group of 12, a reunion of pupils from a co-education Grammar School.) The pizzas were fine for modern tastes.

Traditional dessert dish, Eton mess, was reminiscent of the old days. 

Dessert - Eton Mess

However, our meal ended with a very British traditional dish, Eton mess. This dish is named after the town famous for the Eton school, across the bridge from Windsor which is dominated by Windsor Castle. The Eton Mess ingredients are colourful. 

Cropped from a larger group photo.

The mixture consists of crushed white meringue contrasting with bright red strawberries. Usually with cream on the top. Fattening and sugary! Yummy. But where are the strawberries? Some of the strawberries might sink to the bottom.

Meringue is made from egg white and sugar. Yes, sugar. 

Almond Tart

If you are watching your weight or diet, you might prefer what I and the staff suggest, the almond tart with fruit. The ice cream was mango flavour.

Ambience

The main restaurant is a modern extension at the back, large and airy with an artificial tree in the middle under a sunlit skylight. The garden at the back is extensive with small shaped trees and smart garden furniture, arm chairs at proper tables, no perching round-shouldered on planks.

The toilets are modern with hand gel and moisturizer.

I liked our private dining room. 

Private dining room. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Another separate room had a screen for presentations.

Yattendon Village, showing the Royal Oak pub,and the old style bus shelter on the traffic island in front. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I could not find any details of a bus route. 

The back road from the M4 to Yatterdon, driving down from London. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Another plus point. Easy free parking. You could even park outside, on a midweek lunch time. Two of our group stayed overnight.

Also to see in the area:

West Berkshire Brewery shop and an old red post box painted Yatterdon Green. Photo by Graham Horn in Wikimedia.

On the way back to London, we passed Kew Gardens, and Kew is the area where the original of the Domesday book is kept. Crossing over Kew Bridge we were back in London in time to eat an early supper (of leftover chicken from my lunch at The Royal Oak pub).

(More photos shortly.)

Useful Website

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Domesday_Project

https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Reading-England/Yattendon

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

https://royaloakyattendon.co.uk/

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g9602275-d9747409-Reviews-The_Royal_Oak-Yattendon_Berkshire_England.html

https://guide.michelin.com/en/west-berkshire/yattendon/restaurant/royal-oak189742

Where to find an old pub restaurant,The Royal Oak, Yattendon, Berkshire

 

The road to Yattendon, Berkshire. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

You can find a fine old pub in almost every high street in Britain. If you want an old coaching inn, with beams and an old grandfather clock, you can go for the centre of one of Britain's cities. But if you are wanting to get out to the countryside, opt for a village pub.  Here's the special one I found this week. The Royal Oak, Yattendon. We took the M4 from London and approached this tiny village through a series of winding roads with trees meeting overhead and around every corner and bend yet another grand historic house and extensive farms with steeply pitched rooftops.

First, look it up on the map and if you are driving, set your Satnav. How do you spell it? I mis-spelled it several times, yatter, and den. Oops. I finally found the correct spelling and a memory aid. Yatten rhyming with batten, and don, as in a university don.

The Royal Oak is easy to find, dead centre of Yattendon's central square with parking outside or in the car park opposite. The sign on the pub shows an oak tree and a crown.

Inside are a series of rooms, each with an interesting feature such as a fireplace. At the back is a well kept garden with pristine benches and solid well-kept and cut small trees.

The Royal Oak pub/restaurant/hotel and bus shelter. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

I could not find details of a bus route. If you want to hire a car or a bike, you could travel here from London, from Heathrow airport to the west of London, from Reading, or Windsor.  

Our group of about ten were having a grammar school reunion, having found each other through LinkedIn and the internet. Several had kept in touch, and one of them booked a private room. The room it was laid in advance of our arrival with cutlery, napkins and glasses and menus for every person.

The advantage of a pub lunch is that I can always get a glass of Prosecco, usually reasonably priced. Restaurants not attached to pubs often ask silly prices or cannot supply drinks by the glass. One glass is enough if you are driving. Or the passenger navigating. Thank heavens for Satnav.

More details in next post.

Useful Websites

Wikipedia on Yattendon, its history and famous residents. 

https://moovitapp.com/index/en-gb/public_transportation-Yattendon_Road-London_and_South_East-street_5115961-2122

Where to Find & Photograph London Stations' Art Deco Architecture, History and Mystery Murals and Statues - London's beautiful, fascinating Underground and overground railway stations

 

1 Charing Cross Station has several murals. You can see the portrait of Shakespeare. And several more historical characters.

2 Baker Street - for Sherlock Holmes in murals on the platforms. Also see his huge statue outside on the pavement. (Americans say sidewalk.)

Sherlock Holmes statue. Red London bus in the distance. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

3 Hyde Park Corner has sloping walk-in and walk out entrances which are lined with many the historic panels along the walkways.

Hyde Park Corner underground railway station, descending approach walkway. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

 Once inside, you meet another internal corridor, going left and right, with more murals. The story of the battle of Trafalgar, and Waterloo. Learn about, and the queen who established the park. Queen C. 

Above Hyde Park Corner station is Number one, London, Apsley House, home of the Duke of Wellington, who won the battle of Waterloo. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Above Hyde Park Station, at ground level, you can see the outside of number one, London, home of the Duke of Wellington. Years ago I took a never forgotten guided tour of the house. We stopped by the giant statue of Napoleon in the hallway. Wellington had the statue made much larger than life. Wellington's intention was that when he saw Napoleon, the little Napoleon would seem much smaller and insignificant than previously imagined. 

On one of the panels you read reveals that Wellington admitted that Waterloo was a close-run victory. 

4 Leytonstone - Alfred Hitchcock memorials

A depiction of an Alfred Hitchcock film, in the station. The site of the place where he was born also has a mural.

Out in the suburbs:

5 Northwick Park - for the artwork on both sides of the stairs. As the trains enter and leave towards the centre of London, you see the floodlit Arch of Wembley stadium. Wembley Stadium, where the band Queen performed, as you can see on the biopic.

6 Rayners Lane, art deco exterior to admire as you walk or drive past. Opposite is another fine art deco building which has changed hands several times, becoming a religious centre, a gym. 

Some of the side streets have art deco houses, white with green tiled rooftops. Triple oblongs around the entrance door. Half semi-circle bay windows. Oblong windows.

Art deco house semi-detached suburban house in the Rayners Lane area. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Apologies for the poor quality. I took it late at night with a mobile phone from a moving car.

7 Hatch End - frequent winner of the best station for flowers. In the lobby is a bookcase for book swapping. On the platform going north to Watford is a plaque about the local walk.  You can look down on the platforms by walking along the main road from the station towards a large supermarket, the English Morrisons (on the other side of the road - with a pedestrian crossing if you want to go there).

Outside the station, parallel to the main high street called The Broadway, because it is so broad, the walk along Offa's Dyke takes you over a pedestrian bridge, looking down on the station from afar. It crosses the countryside and a big main road, leading alongside Grismdyke, once home of Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan operas. His former home, with a blue plaque, is a hotel and restaurant and they used to hold Gilbert and Sullivan operetta evenings.

Post being expanded - come back for more photos and stories shortly

Useful Websites

Wikipedia Tube stations art deco

About the author

Angela Lansbury is the author of 20 books including

Historic

Unforgettable British Weekends (travel)

Enquire Within Upon Travel And Holidays

Recent

Embarrassing Moments

See Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

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History and Mystery Discovered At the Cavalry And Guards' Club near Marble Arch, London

UK flag

If you walk along Piccadilly towards Hyde Park, or Buckingham Palace, or Hard Rock Cafe, you will pass the Cavalry & Guards Club. If you've walked along towards Hyde Park Corner many of the buildings and passageways hold secret treasures which I am about to reveal to you. Let's start with the entrance to the Cavalry and Guards' club. Walking back in the other direction but on the same side of the road it is just along from Hyde Park Corner from the underground station, beyond hard Rock Cafe. In the hallway of the Cavalry & Guards club is a patriotic painting showing her Majesty the Queen in a park beside the lake and pink flamingoes. What is special about the painting and the painter.

The Mysterious Mouse - Can you find it?

 The portrait was painted by a painter famous for including a mouse in all his paintings. Where is the mouse? 

I can tell you. Lower right hand corner. The man on the security desk told us. Even after he had told us, three out of four of us could not see it. 

I was visiting the club for the second time. Each time I discover something new. On my second visit I did not merely discover the mouse. As I descended the staircase from the private dining room on the second floor, on the staircase I found a flag, a German flag. Why?

The plaque said it was captured in WWI from the Germans at Ypres - by a man who won an award. It seems very sad, now that we and the Germans are friends again, that years ago a young man had to risk his life capturing a strip of land and a strip of cloth.

However, I also passed a grand piano. Downstairs, looking for the mouse in the painting was a distraction. It cheered me up. I left the building smiling.

Useful website

https://www.cavgdsclub.co.uk/

Filling Food And English Apple Crumble at the Civil Service Club - and postage stamp UK artwork of a red phone box

Civil Service Club entrance. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

How To Go There

The Civil Service club has 12.000 members and a great location within walking distance of Trafalgar Square and near central London underground train stations. If you know anybody who is a member, and the chances are that you do, you can get an invitation. 

We went to the club for a food and wine dinner organized by Central London Wine Society. We were in the main dining room at a T shaped table. The reasonably priced menu offered large portions, we already knew. The wine group meets there regularly. I know the venue well because I have also been there several times over a decade. I went there for events such as an annual Christmas dinner organized by a member who belongs to a writers' circle. He is also a member of a Toastmasters International group which meets in outer London. 

You sign in at the reception which has a sanitizer dispenser, and an orchid. Before ticking my name on the guest list, I took a photo of it on my mobile phone. That way I could check on the names of fellow guests. 

Before the meal started, we were each served a hot white roll covered with poppy seeds. The butter melted into it. Delicious. We went without ordering starters because we wanted to leave room for desserts.

I recommend the steak pie. Big portion of juicy steak. Three of us liked it.

My husband ordered it and I tried it. We always order different food and swap. The steak pie came with more vegetables, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, broccoli. He chose mashed potatoes, included in the price. My salmon came with a bed of spinach. I asked for chips, included in the price. 

BBQ sauce and a white cuff stain

I usually take the precaution of wearing brown or black when I go out to dinner. This time my outfit had a black bodice - but white cuffs. Big mistake. My lovely white silk cuffs have a brown mark. 

I tried washing, soap, cold water, hot water. No luck. Silk is too delicate for me to risk bleach.

I could cut out the stained part and sew up the hole. No. I could just sew around the stain. Maybe. I could sew on a sequin.

Grilled Salmon - Not again

I saw the word salmon and thought, what could go wrong. I missed the word grilled. That is what went wrong. Part of the joy of salmon is that it is a juicy fish. Hard and tasteless when grilled or over grilled. I won't have that again. I wrote it up on Tripadvisor to be able to locate my last visit in a hurry, next time, and check what to avoid ordering. If you are happy with a cold main course, have the cheese platter, which includes grapes. Eat the grapes second for dessert. Or indulge in a hot dessert.

Apple crumble. With custard. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Dessert - Apple Crumble - Yes, definitely

I like a hot dessert, not ice cream. I chose apple crumble. I also chose custard rather than ice cream to go with my apple crumble. The French call custard creme anglaise. Yes, it is not something you see a lot in France.

Yes, good apple crumble. Not the tops. But good enough. One of the joys of the UK. I can't say I have ever had apple crumble in the USA or Singapore or elsewhere. 

Toilets - Your choice

The toilets are upstairs from the main restaurant. (On the same level as some of the private rooms.) A steep staircase. With a wooden tubular hand rail. If you are ultra careful about Covid you might consider when to wash your hands, or wear gloves, or take a disposable wipe, or not drink so much that you feel unsteady on steep stairs.

Two cubicles. The good thing about the toilet was the moisturizer.

If you don't want to use the stairs, on the ground floor by the bar are more toilets, a larger area.

Make sure to see the downstairs bar indoors, not just the outside seating, because of the pictures, created from what look like tiny postage stamps from close-up. From a distance you see three classic views, the circle symbol of the London undergrounds, a red classic telephone box.

Brilliant Bar Picture

Accommodation

Yes, there is accommodation, and very conveniently placed.

Useful Website

https://www.civilserviceclub.org.uk/Membership/Ordinary_Member_Form/accomodation_2021_screen.aspx

Why Change Your Location Settings? On Laptops, Mobile Phones, Ipads

 Where are you?

Where am I? Who wants to know? The websites trying to sell to you.

Regarding website searches, if  my laptop says I am in Singapore I get links to sites in Singapore. This happens when I travel to the UK or elsewhere. The same things happens in reverse. I can travel from the UK to Singapore and when I arrive in Singapore all the websites come up as if I am still in the UK.

 If you click on a link which says a country other than where you are, you may have to change your settings to allow the laptop or phone to know where you are. I turned that off, wanting to disguise my location for security reasons. However, I then found all my websites were for the wrong country because all the websites I clicked on did not know where I was.

 If you have clicked on the links I have included in my blog posts, and you find a website for the wrong country, simply note the supplier such as Amazon, and do your own search with the keywords for the product. You might want to add the name of the country you are in or to adjust your settings.

Useful Websites

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/172165?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en#:~:text=At%20the%20top%2C%20tap%20Data,Location%20History%20on%20or%20off.

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/179386?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop

Plasters and Waterproof Cover For Insect Bites, Small Scratches and Sores - Where and Why You Need Plasters and Waterproof Cover

 

Boots Microproouse Tape Photo by Angela Lansbury

First I cut a large Elastoplast to fit over the two bites and swollen area.

Elastoplast is a brand name.

Updates

I had covered the two insect bites with  sealed the plaster with waterproof tape so I could shower.

I needed a large plaster I could cut to size. 

Two days later the swelling had gone down, leaving two tiny pink discs showing where I had been bitten.

Regarding website searches, if  my laptop says I am in Singapore I get links to sites in Singapore. This happens when I travel to the UK or elsewhere. The same things happens in reverse. I can travel from the UK to Singapore and when I arrive in Singapore all the websites come up as if I am still in the UK. If you click on a link which says a country other than where you are, you may have to change your settings to allow the laptop or phone to know where you are. I turned that off, wanting to disguise my location for security reasons. However, I then found all my websites were for the wrong country because all the websites I clicked on did not know where I was. If you have clicked on the links I have included, and you find a website for the wrong country, simply note the supplier such as Amazon,and do your own search with the keywords for the product. You might want to add the name of the country you are in or to adjust your settings.

This is really small and easy to pack when travelling. It is also hard to buy in countries when you don't speak the language so easier to take with you. Also it is something you need in a hurry if you want to shower once or twice a day, or more, in a hot or tropical country, or down under in Australia where the seasons are reversed. Or in quarantine.

Websites

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Micropore-Surgical-Tape-5M-1-25Cm/dp/B003CGBGE8/ref=asc_df_B003CGBGE8/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309964069570&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=277771192152911143&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045963&hvtargid=pla-563310503900&psc=1

https://www.amazon.sg/s?k=3m+micropore+tape

https://www.amazon.sg/s?k=3m+micropore+tape&s=price-asc-rank

https://www.amazon.sg/Nexcare-Gentle-Paper-Carded-First

Three pounds ninety nine pence in September 2021:

https://www.boots.com/boots-microporous-tape-2-5cm-x-10m-10112656?cm_mmc=bmm-buk-google-ppc-_-PLAs_HeroCompare-_-Health+%26+Pharmacy-_-UK_Brand_Shopping_Health+and+Pharmacy+