We remained in Huntingdon and walked over the bridge to explore Godmanchester. It was founded as a town by the Romans in 1212. There are some remains but the town has some lovely more 'modern' buildings to see.
This was one of my favourites on Post Street. Island Hall was built in the 1700's. It was so named as the 2 acre ground run down to the river and are connected to an island by a Chinese bridge, hence the name. I loved the colour contrasts of the red brick and stone plus the beautiful weather vane and railings.
We found a space on the moorings at Hemmingford Grey that was between the villages of Hemmingford Abbot and Hemmingford Grey.
We walked back to the lock at Houghton to visit the NT mill there. On the way the affluent suburb of Hemmingford Abbot was well worth a gander at. The houses were great to look at and the thatched roofs all seemed to have these figures or finials on. Thatchers originally put placed them on to scare off evil spirits but now they are off all sorts, including hats and cats etc.
Houghton Mill was built in the 17th century and extended in the 19th. It became redundant in 1930 and the National Trust took it one. It was leased to the YHA as a hostel, and as it was a wooden building it was the only hostel that was No Smoking! Not long ago it was taken back, and opened to the public. It is well worth the £6 entrance fee.
We walked into the centre of Houghton which has many picture book homes around the Green (that has no green, but a buttercross, and one of them is the Three Horseshoes. The building dates from 1622 and looks to have been a long house that has been altered. There are several rooms to choose from and had two or three hand pulls on the bar. The name Three Horseshoes may come from the coat of arms of the Worshipful Company of Farriers that has them on it, or maybe the Earl of Derby's family quest, the Ferrers, that also has them.
I tried a pint from the Colchester Brewery. The original brewery opened as Christopher Cope and Sons when they started a brewery in the town that became the Eagle . They were bought out in 1887 by the Norfolk and Suffolk Brewery of Ipswich. They promptly closed the old brewery and moved to the Eagle and changed the name to Colchester Brewery. Ind Coope got their hands on it in 1925 and closed it down. It wasn't until 2011 that the names was resurrected when three friends from the brewery business decided to set up a place of their own. They desperately wanted to set up in the cntre of the town. Unfortunately the old brewery was still standing, but had been converted to 10 homes, with more in the yard. They settled to a a place on the outskirts at Wake Colne Business park. This is just to the north of the Chappel Viaduct and hence the name of the brewery is the Viaduct Brewery. They wanted to brew using traditional methods so, despite it being more expensive, they have used the 'double drop; brewing method. This is when the wort is started fermenting in one vessel and then is 'dropped' to another vessel to finish off. This means that the much of the lees and sediment is left behind in the first tank which means a clearer beer. The moving from one to the other also adds aeration to the wort that gets better fermentation of the yeast and a better culture to collect for the next brew. It can also add flavours to certain brews too.
It was a beautiful day and it turns out that a pint of Metropolis was perfect. At 3.9% it is a session beer that meant I would be feeling good for the walk back to the boat. It is a golden hoppy ale and had a nice white head. There was the floral nose of the Cascade hops and enough depth to be satisfying despite being a 3.9% beer. All in all a very satisfying pint.
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