31st December 2011
It seems like an eternity ago but I wanted to make note of the two very fine dog-friendly pubs we found at the end of last year….
We celebrated New Year with Gil and Nick – they are not boaters or houndie people, but they will put up with any number of our eccentricities in order to spend time with us – old friends are so precious 
Lynx joining in with our New Year festivities...
Despite their lack of boating enthusiasm, Gil unwisely suggested that we have lunch at Marlow before going on to the evening’s destination. Marlow – one of our favourite places on the Thames – as we raved about it, Gil rolled her eyes – the phrase “giving the monkeys the keys to the banana plantation” springing to mind…..
We had lunch at the Royal Oak – a little way outside of Marlow – I thought that the food was superb (if a little pricey) and it is dog-friendly – result! I’d go there again, but Richard would order something different from the menu – being a ‘cheffy’ place, eggs come with runny yolks and liver is served rare (this was not on the same plate I hasten to say) so if you like your food well-cooked then let them know. The chef was prepared to cook some sausages for the hounds but as they were posh sausages he’d have to charge £2 each so we declined.
We then went into Marlow town and had a walk along one of our favourite waterfronts – Ty was a jellyboy but Lou enjoyed weeing where she’d wee’d before (I’ve lost track of how often we’ve moored here with her) and Lynx just enjoyed weeing where she’d wee’d – hounds are easy to please!
We had booked to celebrate the New Year in the Fox Country Inn, just outside High Wycombe – it was a cosy pub with just a few hotel rooms; it was superbly dog-friendly – we had anticipated leaving the hounds in our room while we had dinner, but the staff prepared us a special table with enough room for the hounds to relax with us – how thoughtful. There was also a huge field at the back of the pub (with access from the pub so I’m not sure whether they own the land) where the hounds could have a good off-lead rummage (not Ty, of course, too many places for him to scarper).
The food at the Fox was quite amazing – possibly the best I’ve ever eaten – all with a little twist of originality – a traditional scallop and black pudding dish served with a ball of tangy apple sorbet; the most tender fillet of beef and the unique “deconstructed” banana and coffee pavlova – a plateful of delightful mini-bites which bore as much resemblance to a traditional pavlova as the royal corps de ballet to a beginners line-dancing class.
The Fox Inn is apparently owned by Russians, and is mainly staffed by Russians – they were having their staff party that night (I think we were the only paying guests) – suffice to say that vodka was drunk (but not by me – I was on the fizzy wine – big mistake!) [Ed. It would have been rude not to have a shot of vodka or possibly a touch more].
