Sorting Hat

Big thanks to family and friends who contributed to Superpie girls surprise pictures. We had a great time collecting images and everybody was very generous and creative. We put the pictures in a photobook and hid it amongst the new students luggage to be found after we had dropped her off at her digs.

Talacre, Chilli and Custard

For the first time in ages we went to Talacre beach to enjoy the view, stretch our legs, enjoy the breeze and find some Pie! The excellent Clywd Bakeries which have a minimal number of outlets has a branch close to the beach.

We tried a few different offering including a chicken and cheese slice, sausage roll and as pictured below the chunky Steak Pie (8.5/10) which was the Pieman's choice. A very respectable offering well priced and quite tasty.

After this we made our way onto the beach for a walk to see the lighthouse which has just be recently placed on the market for sale with offers over £100,000.00 requested.

To complete an enjoyable day we went to visit Chilli and Custard in Rhyl ....oh and Chris & Gilly as well.

Penrhyn, Otters & Pancakes

For the first time ever we visited Penrhyn Castle a National Trust property just outside Bangor. It is in fact a country house built in the style of a Norman castle. It was a slightly refreshing change to some of the National Trust properties we have visited.

Helped by the start to the tour being close to the grand hall where a staff member was playing a grand piano beautifully and it echoed around the place as we wandered through various rooms. Younger than a lot of NT properties it was quite interesting and the gardens were worth a vist as well.

From here we headed into the hills in search of the Dutch Pancake House at the Conwy Water Gardens. With savoury and sweet Pancakes (Both of which we tried......well some of us did!!!) the Pie Tribe can thoroughly recommend a visit to this culinary delight a few miles south of Conwy.

Finally we were delighted to see two of their shy but very playful otters towards the end of a most enjoyable day.

Cambrian Rail Cruise

What an excellent day. Starting early morning from Deva General heading to sunny Llandudno junction following the Cambrian rail tour which was to take us on a circular journey around North and Mid Wales ending back in rainy Deva early evening.

We saw some fantastic coastal, river, mountain and estuary landscapes. The journey from Llandudno to Blaenau being a pleasant surprise particularly getting to numerous sightings of beautiful white egret (Little Egret I think which though rare in UK is becoming quite common along the Conwy Estuary). At Blanaeu we changed to steam to head to Portmadog. One slightly embarrassing moment when Hammy the Guard stopped the train to get an additional payment above and beyond our pre paid ticket due to some administrative changes Arriva had no knowledge of!!

Porthmadog was bathed in sunshine as we arrived and stayed that way while we ate our Fish and Chips from the award winning Allports in Snowdon Street. A quick walk across town get us back onto the National rail system. From here it was all along the coast through Barmouth to Aberdovey before heading inland towards Machynlleth and on towards Shrewsbury.

At Shrewsbury we get on the wrong train (via Crewe) to the right place arriving home a few minutes early! Altogether an excellent day out.

Rat Snake

The Pie Tribe en masse enjoyed a grand day out in Colwyn Bay starting the day with a visit to the mighty family run Fortes Cafe in Rhos-on-Sea with the sun beating down between the showers. Excellent coffee and cake to get us going. A quick visit to the second hand bookshop across the road and then onto Welsh Mountain Zoo.

Not a huge collection but interesting nonetheless and amongst a great setting overlooking the Irish Sea.

I have always had a healthy interest in animals that can do me harm, particularly when travelling abroad. This obviously includes snakes, spiders ...etc.

Britain until our visit today, had I thought, really only two snakes the harmless grass snake and the venomous adder. Well now you can the add the sometime 5 foot long Rat Snake to that number as the Colwyn Bay area has its own "gone native" population. Having escaped from the Zoo's collection ( some 30 years ago) they have adapted and thrived in the surrounding area no doubt to the detriment of the local vermin and pet owning population.

This was confirmed by a lady we bumped into whilst walking around the tropical house who had one of the actual gone native population wrapped around her! She happily informed us that she had just inserted a tagging device into the Guinea Pig eating varmit before releasing him back where she found him outside the Zoo.

Some light relief was provided by the falconry display later. Whilst watching from the balcony of a cafe overlooking the arena a long taloned individual got a bit distracted, missing his preferred landing spot and nearly took out the two Pie tribe youngest. Fortunately the plate glass window they were standing next to stopped him in his tracks !!! He was okay but I was laughing myself silly.

Big Country In Another Country

A welcome opportunity to see the magnificent Big Country at The Central Station in Wrexham came along recently, supported by Glenn Matlock and The Philistines in preparation for some festival appearances. Can't remember going to the venue before and would have no problem going there again. Big Country were excellent and live, I liked the new single which I hadn't previously.

The evening was best summed up by the review from Record Collector -"A packed, intimate, humid venue welcomed the return of Big Country with local boy (and long-time ally) Mike Peters taking up vocal duties. The evening kicked off with A Thousand Stars and that familiar, harmonised twin guitar attack that instantly propelled us back into yesteryear. The likes of Harvest Home, The Teacher and Driving To Damascus had the crowd bouncing, and proved Mike Peters to be an engaging, more than capable frontman. Steeltown preceded the haunting refrain of crowd-pleaser Chance, where even drummer Mark Brzezicki left his drum-stool and took to a mic to sing along with the crowd! Restless Natives and a blinding rendition of Look Away set the place alight. Fields Of Fire further fanned the flames and led to a full tilt jig on Inwards. Mike Peters launched himself into the crowd for a storming In A Big Country, rounding off a triumphant 90 minutes of uplifting, impassioned Celtic rock. Stuart Adamson surely would have been proud."

Sids Cafe and Salford

On our way home from Lincolnshire we had to make a vist to sunny Salford so went via Holmfirth, the pretty little town on the edge of the Peak District National where "Last of the Summer Wine" was filmed.

A pilgrimage was made to the wonderful Sids Cafe where the pieman, forgoing Pie, waded into some serious jam, cream and scones mmmmmmmmm. Pictured below, giving her best Nora scowl, is superpie girl sitting on the steps between Nora Batty's house and Compo's.

Imps, Louth and Pie

A week after climbing the heights of Snowdon we headed for the lowlands of sunny Lincolnshire and Louth. This gave us the opportunity to visit great friends in Lincoln and Cleethorpes. We stayed in a self catering barn conversion surrounded by fields on the edge of Louth.

We had a great time with the Greens in Lincoln and and a smashing time with the Grimsby contingent. We would thank them both for their hearty welcome and tips about what to see and do whilst in the fine county of Lincolnshire. Except we did ignore all advice and visit Skeggy, briefly.


Recently "The county has just been voted the UK's favourite food spot (pipping Cornwall) in a public poll to mark the start of British Food Fortnight " and it is easy to see why. Being one of the capitals of pork production in the country leads to a high standard and quantity of pork related products especially in the PIE area!

We came across Browns Restaurant & Pie Shop on the appropriately named Steep Hill close to Lincoln Cathedral/Castle. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to sample their wares and instead consoled ourselves with purchases of Pork and Stilton Pie, Lincolnshire sausage and Pork scratchings by the the bucketload from an extremely convenient Butchers shop (Elite Meats) nearby. They also do a 2lb Pork Pie reason enough in itself to revisit Lincolnshire!

We also enjoyed some splendid walks, Fish/chips, Star gazing, Magna Carta, Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Castle, Skeggy, Scartho, quietness, XXB and great company.

Love, Hope & Strength

Many thanks to all our sponsors who pledge monies for Mr and Mrs Pieman to walk up Snowdon in August to raise funds for the Love, Hope and Strength foundation.

"Love Hope Strength Foundation UK was registered as a charity in 2007 and co-founded by Mike Peters, two times cancer survivor and internationally acclaimed singer of Welsh rock band The Alarm. The charity promotes innovative, music related, outreach and awareness programmes for leukaemia and cancer sufferers, survivors and their families."

The day was very long, tiring and rewarding. Starting from Llanberis village the route followed the Llanberis Path to the top with pauses at certain appropriate points for a few songs from Mike Peters which was excellent. Knees and feet were sore by the time we made it back to the car. But Pie, songs, great views, good company and sponsors kept us going.

The Oggie, silly hat and paper were some of things I ate, wore and carried to raise money from my sponsors which also include giving Mrs Pieman a passionate kiss right at the top of the mountain.

World Ranked

Happy 50th birthday to Marky Boy who celebrated in style with a fantastic party at his home and neighbour Stus. Great food, great organisation and brilliant company with pictures, poems, speeches, many courses and a very generous sprinkling of laughter.

We hope you had a brilliant time Marky Boy because your guests certainly did! Congratulations on your rise into the top 300 ranked Croquet players in the world , after been World ranked as a friend for many many years.

The Shining

What a joy to witness the wedding of the year! Luke and Anja shining together on a beautiful day in more ways than one.

We wish them the best for the future after a fabulous start to their married life.

The weather behaved, lots of guests from all over, GOOD service, brilliant music, Stayin Alive car, fantastic venue for the reception, great speeches and the second best cake I've ever seen for a wedding. No marzipan, icing, fruit or sponge issue, a Cheese Cake, not a cheesecake but a Cheese Cake with layers of Cheshire, Lancashire, Edam & Caerphilly? Absolutely brilliant.

White, Red & Yellow

Plot 109a has sadly been missing the pieman an awful lot this summer but we have had a bumper crop of onions, shallots and potatoes this year. In fact were still digging the tatties up! Still managed to grow a few new things and have particularly enjoyed the courgettes we grew for the for the first time and the larger marrow ones have now been converted into enough chutney to last a millennium.

Also if any of you Pie munchers like pickled onions let the Pieman know and you'll solve a EEC mountain and Christmas present list in one. Pie and Pickle can't be beaten!

Ships, I See No Ships

We can thoroughly recommend a trip to the annual River Dee Raft Race. Pack a picnic and a few beers, find a spot on the meadows and watch the fun unfold. Obviously it helps if the sun comes out, which it did for us.

Chilling and watching people dressed in silly clothes getting wet, dirty and messy all in aid of charity. Very funny too watch as a spectator sport.

Crusty Pie Company

One of the attractions of the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power were the various exhibitions, displays, catering and retails stalls dotted around the site.

One particularly favourite found by the Pie Tribe was the Crusty Pie Company from Halifax. An excellent array of pastries was on offer to tempt to any hungry pie muncher. We took advantage of one of their special offers to try various Pork Pies.

The Pieman was quite impressed by the Pork and Stilton pork pie very tasty (8/10). Also worth noting is that they appear at various events and also supply large bags of the finestkind hairy snacks, pork scratchings. The staff were friendly and chatty as well. Well worth another go.

Pageant of Power: Cholmondeley

Superpie Girl and the Pieman made a first ever visit to the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power a while back. We chose to go on the practice day when the crowds are a bit smaller and more bearable (and cheaper!).

What a brilliant day we had. The weather behaved itself apart from a few spots and we got to see some fantastic vehicles in action.

Superpie girls’ favourite being the Veyron and the various Lamborghinis dotted about. Checked out the rare and gorgeous lime Green Lamborghini Miuri from Cheshire Classic Cars. My own favourite was the Mercedes 300SL which was just so beautiful.

There was plenty to see and do whilst there, although on practice day not everything is running or arrived. They have, like Goodwood, a timed track which the vehicles run on in different classes. To see and hear Classic/new/2 wheels/3 wheels/4 wheels/race/rally/GT/Supercars/endurance/F1 vehicles blasting around was fantastic.

An unmistakable Audi Quattro spitting fire from its exhausts evoked many cold wet memories of welsh forests during the RAC Rally!! Pieman even got to meet 4 times World Rally Champion Juha Kankonnen, who was a really nice guy.