Dummy Run
Aside

Two of our quartet of friends have birthdays in August; I am in charge of the first – Jackie’s treat. I decided to do a recce to Cannington - near Bridgwater – to a pub I visited some years back. We had a little difficulty finding it and I had to double back at one time – reversing round a corner- all good practice - and after a gentle reminder, MTL remembered to ‘keep it buttoned.’ whilst I was driving. Thank goodness it was sunny, after days of torrential rain.

Cannington is a pleasant village at the foot of the Quantocks.
“The name first appears in Saxon Charters circa 880 as Cantuctun and two centuries later in The Domesday Book as Cantoctona and Cantetone. Place name endings -tun, -ton etc., invariably mean a setrtlement or village, so as Cantuc is the British word for a ridge or chain of hills we have Cannington meaning the Quantock Village. This is evidence that well over a millennium ago Cannington was accepted as the premier settlement of the Quantock region. It is a lively village with many amenities.”

The pub was as nice as I remembered it. It had an enormous menu – which always worries a little – and the most memorable dish was the local honeycomb ice-cream relished by me. Two boys playing by the brook told me that if we walked past the red telephone box we would see a public footpath that would take us to a lake and ‘a nice house’ so after a large lunch we went for a stroll.

Two helpful boys. They told us they missed the flood this time but five years ago it was badly flooded.

There it is - 'The Friendly Spirit.'

We could sit in the garden...

...or the terrace.

That must be the path.

That's not a lake - that's a weir.