Essex Days Out

About 20 minutes drive north of Colchester, 10 miles into Suffolk, is the small village of Edwardstone. It’s tucked away in the countryside, off any kind of main route (unless you include the Great Waldingfield to Boxford traffic!). We had heard good reports of the White Horse Inn, and our first visit was in February 2011 to see what their Winter Ale Festival had to offer. We were impressed!

It was a dark drive, with the large church in Boxford looming at us out of the dark, and with a glimpse of some lovely old houses along Swann Street.

The pub interior has a huge amount of character. The original part of the pub has a small public bar at the front with a bar billiards table and a dart board, and on our first visit a local with a cute and friendly dog. The lounge is larger, and slightly more open, with a newer back room for eating and (I guess) for the music that is a regular feature at the pub.

public bar at the Edwardstone White Horse

lounge at the Edwardstone White Horse

The pub has their Mill Green Brewery out the back of it, and they have several of their own beers on tap, as well as guest ales. They had another seven beers on for the festival on the evening we went, with another seven lined up to replace them. The night we were there the choice was : Brewdog 5am Saint, Thornbridge Jaipur IPA, Blue Monkey 99 Red Baboons, Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild, Adnams Tally Ho, and Harviestoun Old Engine Oil. It being a Monday night, we limited ourselves to a half of the Old Engine Oil, which was very nice, but the pint of Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild (quite strong for a mild at 6% abv) was beautiful. So much so, we took a two pint carry out carton home with us!

Our next visit was in August 2011, on a Tuesday, as we felt in need of a bit of fresh air. There is a benefit to going there on a Tuesday, as it’s a £2 a pint night. The drive there in the light this time had us seeing a lot of the country lanes around the pub, as there was a small section of road closed, and the diversion takes you around the fields!

The good news beer-wise was that their Mawkin Mild was on, so we had a pint of that with our food. There was a good range of food on, and we opted for the venison burger (really rich and robust and delicious) and boar sausages with mash and gravy (every bit finished by the member of the Essex Days Out team who doesn’t generally eat all of her meals!).

And as we were driving back, we opted again for a two-pint carryout to take home, and the Mawkin Mild, a dark, flavoursome ale, was our choice.

Our next visit is likely to be at Eddyfest ’11, their beer and music festival over the bank holiday weekend (details on our Beer Festival diary).

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