Day 2 Melton Mowbray and Langham (Sept 17)

After a good night's sleep we were able to get up at a decent hour and start exploring. Since it had been closed the day before, we made a stop at the famous Hambleton Bakery in Oakham on our way out of town. We had looked for another of their locations the day before and got confused by our GPS, so I was happy to find one of their satellite locations right in town.  This little bakery has been selected as one of the top 20 best bakeries in the UK! Everything looked so good and it was hard to decide what to get. I opted for a carrot /cardamom cake. I could smell a hint of orange zest in it as well. It was delicious

Morning treat from Hambleton Bakery

on the road to Melton Mowbray via the beautiful English Countryside

We decided to head out about 24 miles from our hotel to explore the town of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire County. This town is a little larger than Oakham, but has just as much charm. It has been a market town for over 1,000 years and is the third oldest market in England.

After we found a place to park we headed out into town and immediately found ourselves right in the middle of some very awesome Tudor history. The sign on the building caught my eye as it is called the "Anne of Cleves" and had a picture of King Henry the VIII on it. Upon reading the sign out front, I learned that it had once been the home of a famous advisor to Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell, and then after his execution it was given as part of the divorce settlement to Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Eric wasn't at all interested in the Tudor history, but the fact that it had been turned into a really cool pub good enough for him! We decided to stop back by a little later in the day for a pint.

It's a pub...ok, now he is smiling!

Former home of Thomas Cromwell

The town has a really cool heritage trail. You can wander around and see trail signs that explain some of the different buildings around town. There is an old hunting lodge, several market crosses , a beautiful parish church and many other historic buildings.

I had done some reading online about the town before our visit and found out that two things they are very well known for are their pork pies and their cheese, so as we were wandering around town we kept our eyes open for the pie and cheese shops. We found Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe which is housed in an old bakehouse from the early 17th century. In 1851 it was taken over by John Dickinson and became the home of the Melton Mowbray famous pork pies. Eric got a small pie for lunch and a larger one to take back to the room for dinner.

Dickinson's Pie Shoppe

Famous Pork Pie

Since I don't eat meat, I selected a delicious vegetable pasty. I noticed that the English love wrapping their food up in yummy pie crust! Works for me!! We sat down outside in the town square for some people watching while eating our pies.

vegetable pasty

Melton Mowbray Town Square

After eating our pies, we headed back over to the Anne of Cleves pub for a pint. It was very quiet in the pub and we had the opportunity to have a very nice chat with the bartender. She asked where we were from, we chatted about the US, the UK, traveling and of course, British cask ales. It was a very traditional looking pub and had a great selection of local brews

 Next we headed down King Street in search of the Melton Cheeseboard. We found it a few blocks down, and arrived about one minute after closing. Since I was in full toursit mode, I peered through the window to see what I was missing. The lady inside motioned me inside and said if I had something quick she could stay open for me. How nice! I told her we were on holiday (that's what vacation is called in the UK) and asked her what is their most popular cheese. She said they are famous for their Stilton Blue Cheese. Honestly, she had me at Blue Cheese!! We bought a block and headed off to Anne of Cleves pub. 

Stilton Blue Cheese

The Cheese Shop

The arch at King Street

 Cheese in hand, we headed back to our hotel. On the way back, we stopped in the very small village of Langham where we discovered "The Wheatsheaf Pub" and made a reservation for Tuesday night's dinner.