Meeting family at Fleur De Lys

It took 9 locks to get us up from Wooten Wawen to Lowsonford, but it was a pleasant rural journey with interesting features such as the barrel roofed lengthsman's cottages. We also had a meet up with Will's sister and brother and their partners to look forward to!

Mooring was easy opposite Fleur De Lys pub. We could even have moored at the beer garden, but walking the dogs would have been difficult.

The following day Will met Sue and John in the car park and they all came back to Rainboat for a cuppa before we set of in their car on a special mission; to visit sites connected with their Uncle Bernard and Aunty Dorothy.

We met Pete and Maggie on the road to the little chapel in Henley in Arden where their Aunty and Uncle are buried. Sue arranged some flowers at their grave. It has been years since Will, Sue and Pete have spent time together and it was a beautiful day so we lingered in the churchyard, catching up and enjoying the sunshine.

Next on the tour was the old farm nearby that Bernard and Dorothy used to own. It had been turned into a grand looking house now, with tall iron gates across the gravel driveway, but the old conker tree still stood in the grounds.

Towards the end of their lives Bernard and Dorothy moved to a corner bungalow not far away in Ullenhall. We chatted to a friendly neighbour who moved to the area just after Dorothy passed away.

Will, Pete and Sue had time to reminisce and Sue filled her younger brothers in on a few things she remembered but they didn't.

Returning to the Fleur De Lys we settled around a large table indoors and ordered a tasty lunch. Of course Will and Sue had to order two different dishes and swap half way through! 😂

Vicky had no clue about the pub's history but apparently between 1950 - 1958, Mr Brookes the landlord began to bake and serve Fleur De Lys pies. They were so popular he moved to larger premises and began distributing them nationally. This pie empire was eventually bought out and turned into Pukka Pies!

A smaller but in our opinion tastier pie maker called Lowsonford Pies has now been established to supply the pub and even had some ready boxed for us to take away; thanks Pete & Maggie!

With full bellies we toddled back to Rainboat for coffees and a nip of whiskey. Sue and John had brought grapes, tomatoes and a marrow from their garden for us, for which we were very grateful. Despite it being September the sun was so hot we needed to take the windows out to get a bit of breeze. It was a relief when we got under the shade of the tall trees lining the towpath on a short afternoon walk.

Vicky said her goodbyes and went to bed while Will walked back to the car park to see everyone off. Nearly two hours later he still hadn't returned and she couldn't get hold of him on his mobile. She was worried enough to leave the dogs and make her way towards the pub to look for him. He hollered at her over the canal from the beer garden; they'd all decided to have another drink and had settled down at one of the big circular tables under the marquee. Time had obviously run away with them 🤣 Vicky joined everyone for one last drink and then we really did part ways!

Thank you everyone for a wonderful day. See you at Christmas!Leer más