Adventures need not take long!

The first few adventurers wait at Stamford station

As I reported recently, I have finally arranged a party in a brewery, that legendary event that is supposed to be as easy to organise as, well, a party in a brewery. It becomes difficult when you have to get the date and time to suit the brewery in questions (the Grainstore in Oakham in this case) and potential guests, and when I want/need to be available myself to go along and "make sure everything is OK".

There it goes - our train leaves us at Oakham

Every journey, they say, starts with a single step, but where to start? What step? I had ascertained that Tuesday evenings seemed to be best, so I consulted my own diary and rang the brewery. I made a provisional booking for their top package: a tour plus samples, followed by supper with unlimited (within two hours) ale. The train timetable decided the time: we'd need to get the last train home at 21:46 from Oakham, so we needed to get there on the 18:05 to ensure that we had sufficient time for all the activities - although that left only about 90 minutes for the unlimited ale, probably not a bad thing if we were to be allowed on the train home!

It worked well. A group of mixed ages, mostly men but with some women, set off from Stamford on a lovely February evening and had a very informative tour of this microbrewery, totally different from the huge Banks's Brewery I had visited in Wolverhampton a few years before. Usually the supper is a ploughman's supper and this was indeed on offer, but it happened that on Tuesday nights they have a build-a-burger evening at the brewery tap so we were allowed an alternative of a modest two-topping burger instead if we preferred, which some of us did.

Proof that I can indeed organise a party in a
brewery!

I can recommend a visit to the Grainstore, whether to do their tour or simply to drink and eat, and it is next to the railway station, so there is no problem getting home, so long as you either live near your local station or have a lift home from the station!

Cross Country Trains did a great job of getting us there on time (so not wasting part of our evening) and getting us home on time, too. All in all, a great evening.












If you live near Stamford, Oakham or Peterborough and are interested in joining me on some of these day trips, please see the "Come with me!" Page.

A party in a brewery!

It has been more difficult to organise than popular culture would suggest, but I have managed to arrange a "booze up" in a brewery. Well, it is really a tour of the Grainstore Brewery premises but the package does include unlimited ale with the light meal afterwards, limited only by our need to catch the last train home ... and be allowed to board it.

This is the first of what I hope will be a revival of the railtours I have arranged for the people of All Saints, Stamford and their families and friends and which readers of the blog may have seen in the past. It takes place this Tuesday evening, 21st February, and you will be able to follow our progress on the usual Twitter feed @mwtrips, perhaps with your own pint of a Grainstore Ale to hand! We shall gather at Stamford station in time for the 18:05 train towards Birmingham; the brewery is in Oakham, just one station away from home in Stamford, and is immediately adjacent to the rail station, so access by train could not be easier.

Previous outings have been to Ely, York and Lincoln, and I am hoping to arrange trips to Canterbury, Spalding and Wainfleet in the not-too-distant future.