Cheese Rolling and Woolsack Racing

So a traditional weekend in the country as requested by our Australian friends which would take in such normal bank holiday activities as hurling oneself down a hill chasing after a piece of cheese.

The rolling takes place in the Cotswolds at a place called Coopers Hill on the outskirts of Gloucester.We set off with plenty of time - or so we thought, but after getting stuck in a traffic jam we knew it was going to be a little tight to get up to the rolling route.
We followed the crowd and that was our first mistake - there was a big queue to get through a gate and an even bigger queue through the footpath leading in a roundabout way to the rolling site. We ended up climbing through fences, through a paddock with some rather unhappy looking cows and then squelched our way through a muddy forest just to get to the bottom of the rolling hill. I was nearly dead by that point - so even if it hadn't looked like suicide I wasn't in any state to do it!
So the actual cheese rolling was mental up a ridiculously steep hill this guy in a white coat comes out with a big round lump of cheese - presents it to the crowd, before chucking it down the slope.At which point a bunch of nutters hurl themselves down after it,skidding on their backsides, and head over heels - it looked virtually impossible to get down keeping your feet, although in the last race one guy seemed to just about manage it
Then we went to Tetbury where they had woolsack racing - a relay race where guys run up and down a hill with a 60lb sack of wool on their backs. We were there just in time to catch the final, the whole town seemed to be out and lining the course as commentators placed in various spots down the hill kept us up to date with proceedings.The town also had a fair on with flaming jugglers and Morris Dancers and other traditional fare We bought some fudge, jam and chutney and went home happy.The Australians left having had a fun day - and wanting to go again next year - safe in the knowledge that the English are mad.

Archipelago Restaurant, Blue Elephant Fulham, Percy Arms, Surrey.

Three meals out in the space of four days - and wildly different in terms of service, food and décor.

First on Wednesday we had a lastminute.com offer - two courses at the exotic restaurant for only £15 each - although as usual extras were added - not least a bottle of wine. A £7,650 bottle on the menu was a bit out of our price range but we settled down in the small and intricately decorated space next to each other. A nice touch is that all of the plates and glasses are different - so a red goblet for wine or a nicely decorated plate will be different for each person. I started with the Crocodile in Vine leaves, served on a block of stone, carved in the centre to hold the chili dipping sauce. Now I have had Crocodile burgers in Australia but this was a different class. Meaty but also slightly fishy they were tender and delicious.Moving on to the main course we had a Caribbean style curry and fish with a Strawberry salsa, both of which were good. The house speciality though is the Love Bug salad, added as an extra, we had fried Crickets and Grasshoppers - the locusts had run out apparently.. They were crunch and tasted of the chili oil and garlic they had been fried in - it was an interesting touch but its not something I would go wild over!We were too full for the Chocolate covered scorpions and a little too tipsy for A Visit From the Doctor - where a tray of rare drinks is brought out for you to sample.More expensive than we planned but overall a very pleasant evening.

Friday it was the Blue Elephant in Fulham for a large group of food lovers to try out some quality Thai cuisine.This is a big restaurant - in fact a lot bigger than you think from outside - it has a stream running through the middle and bridges to take you through the maze of tables. It has a nice atmosphere though, with palms and the water taking you away from the Broadway to a different world.Having said that they did seem to be a little overrun - there was a lot of staff about but we didn't seem to have someone particularly allocated to us and it was a case of grabbing who you could. The buffet dinner that had been ordered was decent quality - but it was somewhat overpriced at £35 per person - especially considering the stingy portions of rice.I always enjoy Thai food though so it was a nice night - I couldn't help thinking that we could have had something very similar a lot cheaper elsewhere.

If I thought the service was a little slack on Friday though it was nothing compared to the disastrous Sunday Lunch we had at the Percy Arms, near Guildford in Surrey.We have been to this place on various occasions and had some excellent meals - the South Africans who manage the place put on an excellent Carvery with a wide selection of meats, served generously and with a help yourself approach to the rest of the dinner it isn't often one goes hungry.I don't know what has happened to the place though. Understaffed, or just badly organised our lunch was a shambles from start to finish.One of our party, as a vegetarian, was not having the lunch - as there was no veggie option, after being given the wrong menus though she was told that she couldn't have the Ploughman's she wanted - the only ones available were meaty. This seemed odd - why it is hard to put some cheese on a plate is beyond me, but she eventually decided on one of the few veggie options - a Mediterranean stack. We waited for our ticket to collect our roasts as we could see the queue getting longer.One of the several girls serving us brought out the stack and asked if we would now like to get our lunch - a bit late really since by the time we had queued up the (starter sized) stack had long gone. The queue itself was a joke - the carver kept getting pulled off to do other jobs - not least by the guy we later discovered was the manager and who should have been organising things. The food was disappointing too, no pork and only the arse end of the gammon left, the lamb was tender but the beef was like leather. The Cauliflower cheese wasn't ready - with grated cheddar unmelted on the top. There were almost no roast potatoes, the peas had been mixed in with an old lot and the gravy was lumpy.The vegetarian complained about not getting served at the same time - this after waiting for half an hour at the bar, and was told she could have her meal for free as an apology.When we eventually came to get the cheque - after asking three times, her meal had not been taken off and the next girl serving us didn't know how to override it. She went looking for the manager but couldn't find it and so brought our card back to us, telling us it would be sorted by someone else.We had just about enough of the passing the buck and so promptly walked out without paying. What a disappointment - we won't be going back.