Well, this morning we travelled to the true "Navel of the Universe." The ancient Greeks foolishly believed that it is at Delphi, the Incas believed it to be Cuzco, but in truth it is in the heart of a little farm town in Leicestershire, Melton Mowbray at this very spot.
Seriously. They have been making pork pies here since the middle of the 19th century, and there are NONE in the world better. It is part of Dickinson and Morris Sausage shop which is next door.
Their recipe is so treasured that it is registered as a Protected Geographical Indicator which means that they and a couple of other pie shops in town are the only ones in the WORLD who can call their product Melton Mowbray Pork Pies. Those of you who know us know that we make a pork pie every year for Christmas, and they are pretty darn good if we do say so ourselves, but they are nothing compared to these. And, they will ship anywhere in the world--for a fee.
Melton Mowbray's most famous "resident"--as opposed to food item--was undoubtedly Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth "wife," whom Henry had married in absentia and upon first seeing her labeled a "Flanders mare," i.e. a Clydesdale. Now, by this time, Henry was no longer the dashing young thing he'd been and was at least as rotund as she was and reportedly had a huge running sore on his leg that refused to heal. So it is probably no surprise that she jumped at the chance to escape from Henry and settle in to a property he gave her along with the title of the King's Good Sister after divorcing her. The place had been Thomas Cromwell's until he fell out with the king for having arranged the marriage to Anne in the first place. Henry thought it would be funny, I guess, to give Cromwell's old place to her.
No one knows whether she ever actually lived there or not, her main residence being Sussex, but she certainly got possession of the place as part of the divorce settlement.
After that, back to the Gregory in Harlaxton for a well deserved pint on a spectacular autumn day. We had snow flurries last night, and the temperature today stayed at below 40, but with absolutely gorgeous sunshine--and a pretty stiff breeze with gusts up to 20 mph or so, which made sitting by the fire at the Greg the perfect end.
I'll make another post soon about a country house near here that we visited yesterday.
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