Grain Barge, Beer and Chocolate

The Bristol Beer Factory is celebrating Cask Ale Week from 30 March until 5 April and they want you to celebrate with them. The specials on offer are drink based: buy three Bristol Stout and get one free, and there’s a tasting.

The tasting is of Beer and Chocolate, the price is £8 and the event is held on April 1st at 8pm on the Grain Barge in Bristol. The Grain Barge is moored at Mardyke Wharf and serves local beer from a harbourside location facing the SS Great Britain. It has only been open since July 2007 but was already voted Venue’s “Best Bar in Bristol”. There is seating upstairs on the deck and tables inside. I’ve only ever tasted Bristol Stout and Milk Stout from other drinkers but they were enjoyable enough to have me excited about going on Thursday.

Contact Andrew sales@bristolbeerfactory.co.uk or The Grain Barge gb@bristolbeerfactory.co.uk for further information.

Grain Barge, Mardyke Wharf, Hotwells Rd, Hotwells, Bristol, BS8 4RU

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The Adam and Eve, hidden away

The most beautiful view of Bristol I encountered recently was from the top floor of a house up and past Clifton Vale Rd. The sun was shining over the fields and houses and even from the dank and smoke-stained worn down top floor apartment, the sight was breath-taking. Hope Chapel Hill is a steep road not far from the previous site but provides a hidden away pause from the brightness by keeping itself to itself. Insular and quietly settled in the shadows of the houses and trees, it provides a comfortable, albeit opulent, embrace just before the glamour of Clifton.

Before you get to Hope Square, when heading up the hill, there’s a pub on the right called the Adam and Eve. The outside is white and that’s always a surprise to me because I recall it as a cosy, softly lit but dark little space. The pub inside is one room but there are corners and hidden away nooks that provide a subtle privacy if you want it.

The privacy worked beautifully well last week and the hidden away space was in the corner by the window right by the fireplace. Social also works there and the first time I visited I moved tables to sit with a friendly group at a nearby table while my companion was outside. Intimate and friendly can be interchangeable at the Adam and Eve and it’s a relaxed pub which is inviting on most nights of the week.

Next time I’ll have to go there for a meal which a few of the other people seemed to be enjoying and the wasabi peas probably need sampling as well. The view may not be of Bristol from up high but being there makes me happy just to be there.

Adam and Eve, 7 Hope Chapel Hill, Hotwells, Bristol, BS8 4ND

Heaven and Earth

Saturday morning is my favourite time of the week. My body hasn’t yet realised it’s the weekend so I am awake at 6am and waiting for the world to light up. By 6.30 I’ve decided to replace what would have been a morning run with a cycle around the city. So quiet outside and the light is golden but thin. I find my helmet in the living room, hidden behind some books still in a box and I find a pair of gloves right next to it. I take both and head out the door.

I take the lock off the bike and put it in my bag but half way out of the car park I realise that my right hand is colder than my left. I look down and I’m only wearing one glove. I retrace my steps and can’t find it so I put my second pair on and leave the rest to confusion. I’ll worry about it later.

I head out towards Bristol Temple Meads so I can time the journey. I spend the next nine minutes cycling through Millenium Square, over Pero’s Bridge and through Queen Square.

I saw the sun shine golden behind St Mary’s Redcliffe, and icy frost on the Bridge past the Welsh Back.

I hadn’t realised that the road leading up to the entrance of the station had such an incline (tiny probably!) and when I walked through the station and towards the exit on the left my legs felt like they’d been doing some exercise.

Back towards the harbour and I circled Queen Square before cycling towards the water. There was no one around Hotwells apart from some rowers who were putting in a lot of effort for that time of the morning and a couple of women who looked like runners but were walking on this leg of their journey.

By the time I got home an hour had gone by and my little glove was lying next to the bike stand. I must have been so excited to be out and about that I hadn’t waited to put it on. Intriguing but unsurprising. I couldn’t go out running so cycling was a second choice but in retrospect and as Ben Taylor sings “as luck would have it, it just so happens there’s nothing I’d rather do”.

I had my breakfast looking out towards the Bristol Cathedral and trying to think of something fun to do for lunch since it’s looking like a beautiful day. Tonight’s dinner will be at the surprise pop-up restaurant in Daydream Kitchen’s living room. So many hours to fill between breakfast and dinner however.