escape to the country

I occasionally watch these shows both the UK version and ozzie one. today I awoke from my arvo snooze to switch on buying properties in Sussex - east and west - county of rudyard kipling - Arundel Castle -I'd forgotten the geographies of adjoining the english channel and towns such as Ryde - beautiful pity they discuss houses all the time!! but I could live in sussex for a while

I rather like our little market town in North Herts.

small is good - cities not my style - but all those who move to the country seem to get one pub, one PO and they definitely need a car!

Very true but country pubs are fast disappearing I'm afraid.

I once lived in a small hampshire town in the 60's that still had 41 pubs and now in a small 'village' in oz that only has two!

We're not short of pubs in this semi-rural area. It would be nice to go to one but I have my beers at home now. Blinkin' virus!

Our town has lost nearly half of it's traditional pubs.#

Several gastro pubs and sports bars have been opened and some cafes have licenses now.

Some of the trouble is the price of a pint these days. When my brother and I used to go regularly to our favourite Pub, the cost of a pint of Abbot Ale was nearing £4.00. It's about £1.30 when bought in a can from the supermarket.

Nice to go to a Pub and of course, their overheads must be high but I think it can get to a point where people put a price on going out and drink that pint at home.

Most decent beers are approaching £4 a pint in our area and premium lagers and Guiness are nearly a fiver.

still makin home made beer 75 cents a pint ?

I've made my own beer using beer kits. I made 'Newcastle Brown' and bottled it rather keep it in a barrel. It was good stuff. A few of my friends brewed beer as well and we'd have some good sampling sessions. I brewed one lot in a plastic barrel and the barrel split. Beer leaked into the carpet and everywhere. The house smelled like a brewery for weeks. 

Brewing your own seemed to be popular in the 1970's and 80's. I'm not sure if it is so popular now. There was a shop near us dedicated to selling beer and wine making equipment but it shut some time ago. Maybe that shows people don't make their own beer and wine so much now.

There was a shop in our town that specialised in home brew kits etc.
That also has closed down now.

I once lived in a small rural town in OZ with a popn of 12,000 - rural and seaside. Full of tradesmen too who were building houses fast and loved their beer. lots of pubs too still - packed out for footie nights. we had a homemade brewing shop which I visited from time to time but his malt cans were always more expensive than woolworths etc. He also had some lovely stainless steel drums that he advertised for making sterile water but we all knew how to change that!

the best was $900 which I could have afforded in the day but never quite could let my mean north of england mind come to terms with. wish I had now cos he reckoned [and he would heh?] that I could make my choice of alcohol for $10 ozzie a bottle and I was paying $30 then. 

Just recently watching a doco with a liscenced local distillery who made wine and spirits and he demonstrated on camera making a good quality gin [small amount] in 10 mins - ffs!