King Alfred's Tower

Back in 1762, a banker by the name of Henry Hoare II decided to build a tower in the middle of nowhere, and with no purpose. Bankers can do things like this, because they have so much excess money. Even back in 1762!

But before we visited the tower, we were booked for lunch. It was Kelly's birthday so we all went out for Sunday roast lunch at a nice pub. A lot of the pubs in the UK offer Sunday roast lunch on special, although in this particular pub you could also order off the menu.

We went to the Stags Head Inn, located in the tiny village of Yarlington.

The Stags Head Inn is one of those places that if you didn't know where it was, you would never come across it. But it has a good reputation with the locals and the food was really good. You had a choice of beef, lamb, or pork with your Sunday roast lunch. Ruth chose the lamb, and I had the beef. Served with ample helpings of veggies, yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes, we didn't need to take advantage of the dessert menu! Definitely a good meal at £8.50 ($13.86) each. 

From left, Paul, Rory, Kelly, Helen, Tony, Kevin, Ruth.

One of the things we noticed about the Stags Head Inn was that various menu options are all specified when they are gluten free, vegetarian, or dairy free. Ruth's roast lunch didn't include a yorkshire pudding, and the gravy she had was free of flour. We had a good late lunch meal at the Stags Head Inn, and we didn't need any supper last night!

Then we drove a short distance over to King Alfred's Tower to try and walk off some of what we ate!

By mid afternoon the sun was shining!

King Alfred's Tower.

It's not really King Alfred's Tower...it was named that as a monument to Alfred the Great, King of Wessex. The 161 foot high tower was completed in 1772. The three sided structure was built with 1.2 million bricks. It serves no purpose other than to give people a view from the top, which you can reach via a spiral staircase in one of the three round corners. The inside of the tower is vacant. We chose not to spend the £3.00 ($5.00) each to go to the top. We've had enough free views of things that we don't need to pay for a view.

Ruth, Chester, and Rory.

We did manage a nice walk in the forest surrounding the tower. Good thing, because although yesterday afternoon was bright and sunny, the rains have returned today. I know that much of North America is experiencing near drought conditions, but the exact opposite is happening over here in England. In fact, I checked the records, and there have only been 4 days out of the last 30 where it hasn't rained.