Breakfast

We only paid £30 each for our 'luxury' B&B which didn't entitle us to a cooked breakfast - we were cool with that. It didn't entitle us to the posh cereals either and we got the cheap seats. So funny - we got the (sticky) table in the kitchen with the super market own (Waitrose Essential , allelujay!!) cereals. The other guests got the posh room with the granola cereals. We did get to try the local honey but that was quickly moved to the other table too.

That said, we enjoyed our chat over breakfast with the owner: Mrs Reid. She is quite a gal - a 70 year old endurance rider who looks 60. She told us she was schooled at Hartwell House (near Pollicott!!) and got into endurance riding because her father wouldn't buy her a horse trailer (so she rode her horse back to school - through Reading and on to Hartwell) - I now forgive her the double bed faux pas!

We also heard that Sue MacGregor (Radio 4) was a Hartwell girl and interviewed her ex school mate, Mrs Reid, about her late husband's biography of Marie Curie. (Later research suggests this was Robert Reid - and his 1974 biography). If we had had the time methinks Mrs Reid would be an interesting story in her own right.

'Unfortunately' we had to leave so we said our goodbyes (to the dog, the geese, the pigs, the chickens and the lady sleeping in the horsebox). Then, one nice moment: as we set off up the driveway Mrs Reid chased behind us to take a photo. So we think she really cared about our mission - Hartwell must have simply bashed tact and diplomacy out of her. What a character. And, there are more adventures and characters to come - we will be back...