Out and About - Winter 2021

GERALDINE GARDNER

Editor

T his season seems to be all about getting the Covid booster vaccine and /or the flu jab to stave off more winter misery. Hopefully this edition of Out & About will give you another kind of boost. After almost a two-year hiatus things are gradually returning to normal and we can look forward to enjoying the festive season with family and loved ones. To get you in the mood, if you’re struggling for gift ideas, we’ve got a few suggestions as well as a selection of winter fashion and some tips on looking after your skin and maintaining a fitness regime. If you’re looking for a celebratory tipple, UK sparkling wines are holding their own on the world stage says The Vineyard sommelier Romain Bourger. He has also selected some world wines he thinks you will enjoy. I paid a visit to a new independent café in Newbury and got ot sample their delicious homemade cakes, and Angela Knight gives us a review of chef Dom Robinson’s latest venture, Renaissant in Bagnor. The food and drink section is packed full of tasty recipes and party food ideas, as well as a feature on Walters Turkeys, a local family supplier of free-range birds, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary. 2021 is also the centenary of Newbury department store Camp Hopson. Digging into the Newbury Weekly News archives, I found a selection of pictures of people camping outside the store waiting for the January sales to begin – something you don’t see any more, with sales seemingly on all the year around.

Lovers of cars will enjoy reading Hinna Aamani’s acount of her visit to the annual Ferrari Day at Silverstone. She describes the thrills and spills of the perfect day out – and it’s not just for petrolheads. Continuing the sporting vibe, SAS Auctions in Newbury will be selling some memorabilia from the estate of the champion jockey Joe Mercer, who died earlier this year. The collection includes paintings and trophies accumulated by him over the years and which adorned the walls of his farm at Cold Ash. Rookery Farm, Newbury, is the home of Eleanor Gilbert, aka Berkshire Farm Girl, and we are fortunate that Eleanor continues to bring us informative seasonal accounts of life on a working farm. Barton Court river keeper Nick Richards also keeps a seasonal diary about how he maintains his particular stretch of the River Kennet. With the plight of rivers very much in the news his work is more vital than ever. We also have some gardening tips from allotmenteer David Coles, a motor report from Maurice Hardy, what to look out for in the night sky, as well as some book recommendations for Christmas and a look at the latest trends in interiors. Last, but by no means least, it’s great to see so many events taking place in villages and towns across the district. After last year it will be lovely to stroll among the Christmas markets and enjoy the annual lights switch ons. You’ll find a four-page round-up of things to see and do. Wherever you are over the festive period, I hope it is happy and peaceful and that 2022 is the start of a brighter and hopeful future for us all.

Editor’s picks

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Cover picture

Need for speed

Stress less in the kitchen

32 SILVERSTONE

38 TURKEY TIME

46 FESTIVE FOOD

The Walters family have been supplying turkeys to family across the UK for 50 years

Find out what happens on a day out at the home of the British Grand Prix

Be party-ready with these quick and easy ideas to impress your friends and family

3