Earlier this year here on this blog, I started writing about my favourite pubs in both the UK and Ireland. This got me thinking about local pub guides because to me there just don’t seem to be any county guides that list pubs simply for been good pubs.

For me, as I guess for anyone, there has to be a number of things really special about a pub that makes me want to go there and keep returning; these include and in no particular order; the beer offering, the food, atmosphere, or “craic” in Ireland and the location etc. But a good pub means different things to different people; so why restrict a guide to one or two elements.    

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Last Sunday Ian and I managed to get away from The Anvil and the office, respectively, to South Wales for a couple of days; to Llest Farm, Llantwit Fardre, Pontypridd to be exact. The reason for our travels was to meet the people behind multi award winning  Gwynt y Ddraig  cider with whom we have recently established an agency.

We arrived at Llest farm around 4 p.m. on Sunday, when the second day of their Summer Cider Festival was in full swing. The farm is thrown open two times a year, in late April and then again in August. In recent times the gates, as they were again this weekend, were closed early on the Saturday with over 600 people turning up. Visitors can camp over on the Saturday night in an adjacent field.

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I’ve had a busy time of it the last few weeks with the Group Auditors down from London, finalising and filing accounts etc, so I was glad to get out of the office the other day, even if it was on business, to my beloved Lake District, mind, only for a few hours.

On the way back and in need of sustenance I called at a super little pub, chosen from the Good Beer Guide,  The White Hart, Bouth. As soon as I walked in I knew it was a good real ale pub, however I was too late for lunch. I think I recall four hand pulls all with interesting beers on and an enthusiastic landlord running it and well worth a visit, but no food for me.

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