Hairy Snacks and Pies

The Pie Tribe headed to Shrewsbury by train for a day out in the Salopian capital. Not having been there for quite a while we were extremely pleased with what we found and experienced.

The trip to Shrewsbury started well .The Male Trolley Dolley on our train having an unusual sales pitch to shout as he moved between the passengers, "Soft Drinks for Saints and Alcohol for Sinners". After arriving we headed into town passing a sandwich bar en route.

At this point the Pieman spotted a huge pork Roast waiting to be sliced in the window and an overflowing tray of Pork Crackling. The owner of this emporium noticed the Pieman drooling and provocatively waved the crackling at the window under his nose. This was most unfair and too early in the day, so we ran away!

For the next few hours we wandered around this delightful town enjoying its shops, market, river, medieval buildings, museum and people. A number of interesting pies and sausages were spotted in the market hall which also had some excellent 2nd book stalls. The Pink Princess also discovered live lobsters and was not impressed by the fishmonger who noticed this. He picked one up to let her handle and she ran off quicker than the Pieman after crackling.

After Lunch we found the excellent Appleyard delicatessen which stocks a vast array of meats, cheeses, sausages, olives.......and PIES. As soon as you stepped over the threshold into this delightfully crammed emporium of fine foods you were hit by a Pan Galactic blast of odours to make any person giddy with anticipation.


As well products by organic Bridgend piemaker "Jones The Pie" they had Pies by a Bridgnorth based award winning Piemaker Reg May. We were spoilt for choice and particularly tempted by the Ploughmans Pie a Pork Pie with Pickle, Cheese, Spring Onion and Cherry Tomatoes. We settled on Reg's standard Pork Pie and a Pork & Stilton Pie variant. Both I can subsequently report were excellent. Along with some home made fudge some Wild Boar Sausage was purchased by Toutatis.

From here we headed down to the English Bridge and spotted two pairs of Goosanders diving in the river. We have only seen these once before in Dovedale,Derbyshire and they are beautiful. With so much walking Mrs Pieman wears out her shoes and we have to stop to purchase new ones. Also if your looking for wine try Tanners down by the river who have an amazing selection.

After bumping into various colleagues and friends we made our way past the fire eater back to the crackling sorry station. Yes a visit to Castle Banquets was in order for a Pork Roast, stuffing and apple sauce bap with a side dish/order of Crackling (Actually a bagful of the stuff which we were still eating a few days later and weren't charged for! O Happy days). A thoroughly excellent day and worth a visit again some time.