First Among Churches

Every church tells a story or two. The architecture, ornaments, sculpture and names on the gravestones, pews, floors of the nave, plaques and  sarcophagi on display nurture seeds of knowledge – sketches of social history.

If the Brigadier General was interred inside the church yet his grandson was buried in the churchyard years later, maybe the family fell on hard times? Until the early 19th century only the notable (church benefactors, in fact), determined to be as close as possible to Christian piety, were buried inside the church. Not every body could be accommodated. Thereafter burial under the church floor was deemed insanitary; the smells were not that of incense! Hence, the origin of the term, according to the National Churches Trust, “stinking rich”. Good story?

Another enlightening church tale hails from the Church of St Michael and All Angels in Berwick, East Sussex. The church is resplendent with murals painted by Bloomsbury group members Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Vanessa’s son, Quentin, who all lived at Charleston, a farmhouse nearby. This artistic achievement came about because during the Second World War bombs damaged some of the church’s decorative stained glass windows. Rather than replace the stained glass, the Bishop of Chichester commissioned these artists to cover the walls with biblical scenes; the Sussex landscape is evoked; the models come from the locality, even the breed of sheep. The clear glass filling the windows allows light to filter in, illuminating the murals; and this is certainly a marvel to behold.

A most interesting ecclesiastical page-turner in Central London is St Bride’s, Fleet Street. This illustrious church, a stunning edifice designed by Sir Christopher Wren, has quite a distinguishing feature. For St Bride’s is known as the journalists’ church. Many people working in the press, printers and journalists alike, used to worship here when their offices and print works were located nearby in Fleet Street and the streets branching off. For several hundred years, Fleet Street was the ‘avenue’ of the manufacturing industry of the word. Incidentally, there was one rector, Prebendary Arthur Taylor, who had, unusually for a rector, a deep knowledge of printing and publishing. This was because he was a secretary of the Bible Society, which sends the printed – and now digital – gospel all over the world in every language. He served St Bride’s from 1918 until 1951.

The church still has strong links with members of the industry, some of whom still come to worship there, venturing often from far away. It holds an annual journalists’ carol service for all those working in the media industry, and a Remembrance Day service for them as well, commemorating the ones who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Readers are people who work in the industry. Both services are extremely well attended. Arrive early!

In the church’s journalists’ chapel, there are portraits on the altar of journalists who have died in the course of their work. Information underneath each picture details who they are and how they lost their lives. There are so many portraits for display, so the church ‘alternates’ them. One of the portraits shown is of Daniel Pearl, The Wall Street Journal correspondent who was beheaded in Pakistan in 2002. His gruesome death shocked the world. Another face is that of The Sunday Times journalist Marie Colvin. In 2010, she gave an address during a service to commemorate war reporters who had died since 2000. Two years later Colvin herself was killed during the slaughter of Homs, a city under siege at the time by the Syrian government. Another portrait is that of Jamal Khashoggi, the prominent Saudi journalist who was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. He was a contributor to the opinion page of The Washington Post. In the 1990s vigils were held for journalists John McCarthy and Terry Anderson, and Terry Waite, then the Archbishop of Canterbury’s international envoy, while they were being held as hostages in Lebanon.

The genesis of publishing in the church’s area began when the German immigrant Wynkyn de Worde, a pupil of William Caxton (known as the “first printer”), established a printing press near St Bride’s, in Shoe Lane, around 1500. Wynkyn is credited as being the first printer to use italic type. Another notable printer, Richard Pynson, who was born in France, also set up shop at the time, nearer to St Paul’s Cathedral, a short stroll away from St Bride’s. Pynson is credited with introducing Roman type to English printing. He was King’s Printer to King Henry VII and King Henry VIII. Both printers published works featuring a broad range of literary genres, such as romances, religious works, school textbooks and poetry. Other publishers and printers, following their lead, established themselves in the area. Some supplied texts for the legal world at the four Inns of Court nearby and catered for the fictional tastes of an increasing population of literate members of the public living in the City and its environs.

In 1702, Elizabeth Mallet, writing as a ‘him’, in Fleet Street, published London’s first daily newspaper, The Daily Courant. Within 100 years, there were 278 newspapers, journals and periodicals published in London, most of which were published in the region of Fleet Street. The exodus of the press from Fleet Street began in the 1980s, ending in 2005, with the departure of Reuters news agency. The offices of the major newspapers are no longer in one area. The Daily Telegraph is located near Victoria station; the Evening Standard is in Kensington. The Times is at London Bridge. Lawyers, accountants, the financial services industries, notably Goldman Sachs, have taken up the vacant property space.

If you walk along Fleet Street you will see several architecturally impressive buildings originally built to house the press. The Daily Telegraph Art Deco building, with its colonnade façade, bronze balconies and window frames and Egyptian ornamentation is especially impressive. Also of note is the building that was once home to the Press Association and Reuters. Edwin Lutyens, who is considered one of the greatest English architects of the 20th century, designed it. Among his many remarkable achievements is the Cenotaph in Whitehall. The ‘futuristic’ elegant black glass and chrome structure, designed by Ellis and Clarke with Sir Owen Williams for the Daily Express, is quite striking.

St Bride’s is the eighth church on the site of a series of reincarnations dating from the 6th to the 17th century. It is accepted that St Bridget (c. 451 – 525), a sixth century Irish saint from Kildare, founded the first Christian church. The skeleton of a woman who had been given a Christian burial has been found on site. Churches bearing the name of St Bridget are often found near wells, and St Bride’s well is known to have some religious significance.

In medieval times St Bride’s area was associated with several parochial guilds. Parish guilds were dedicated to supporting the worshipping life of a church. Members paid a fee and often gave property to the guilds. These guilds ensured that its members had proper funerals. Some guilds provided charitable services, such as schools or hospitals, for their members and the wider community.

The Guild of St Bride’s, established in 1375 and confirmed by a writ issued by King Edward III, is the oldest guild associated with the church. It  still survives today. Members, numbering one hundred, represent a cross section of interests and activities in the region of Fleet Street. They are distinguished at services and during opening hours by their livery gown of russet cloth, trimmed with black, and the medallion they wear around their necks. Each year the Guild funds a bursary of £3000 for a one year postgraduate MA in Newspaper Journalism at City University in London.

Notable historic parishioners have included the parents of Virginia Dare who in 1587 was the first English child to be born in colonial America. The parents of one of the leaders of the Pilgrim Fathers, Edward Winslow, were married at St Bride’s. Other remarkable parishioners were poets John Dryden, John Milton and Richard Lovelace, diarist Samuel Pepys and novelist Samuel Richardson, and the French physicist Denis Papin, who, in 1679, invented the first pressure cooker! The Edwardian novelist Anthony Hope, wrote his world famous novel, The Prisoner of Zenda, while living at the rectory; his father was the vicar at the time. Hope’s novel has been adapted for stage, screen, radio and television.

Today’s incarnation is quite breathtaking for its simple, dignified beauty. It is a measure and reflection of the genius of Wren, the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral, who was commissioned to design a new church on the site after the Great Fire of 1666. This church, alas, was again destroyed when it was bombed during the Blitz on the 29 December 1940. All that remained were the steeple and the exterior walls.

The archaeological excavations that followed after the destruction confirmed the existence of a series of churches on this site. One can view many of the remains in the Crypt Museum below stairs. There we see sections of the foundation walls that formed parts of the churches of the past, Roman coins, kitchen pottery and oyster shells – the Romans relished oysters – medieval window glass and floor tiles, gravestones, 16th century clay tobacco pipes, and an iron coffin, among other items.

Iron coffins were in use during the early 19th century. Their advantage was that, unlike wooden coffins, their lids could be secured tightly. This made it difficult for ‘body snatchers’ to steal the bodies for medical research. The fresher the body, the better, the snatchers reckoned! But, alas, iron coffins did not disintegrate as fast as wooden ones, so churches charged more for them if they were used as burial caskets, as they had to wait longer for burial space to be freed. As a consequence, iron coffins had a short commercial life.

Downstairs, you will also see a restored and redesigned 14th century medieval crypt chapel, which now serves as a war memorial chapel for those who worked with Associated Newspapers and lost their lives during the the two World Wars. The Harmsworth family, a newspaper dynasty, generously funded the refurbishment. There is a plaque on the south wall revealing the names of the 58 fallen inscribed in glass. The walls, ceiling and altar are for the most part chalk white and the lighting is subdued; the chapel has a very serene air.

If you attend the fascinating tour on Tuesday afternoons – the guide I met was extremely well informed and enthusiastic - you can also visit the charnel house (not otherwise open to the public), which contains some 7000 skeletal bones. When they were removed from the cemetery during the Middle Ages – to make room for more burials – they were arranged according to type, skulls with skulls, etc., and laid out in a checkerboard pattern. Also on view are numbered cardboard boxes containing the skeletal remains of 227 people buried between the late 17th to the mid 19th centuries, whose coffins, with identifying plates, were discovered during the excavations. The fact that the coffins were buried within the church confirms that the people were of a middle to upper middle social class. Students of dentistry, medicine and forensic science come to St Bride’s to study the bones in order to find out more about the health of a stratum of people who lived in the past. A pitted skull, for example, may indicate death from venereal disease. The distorted ribs of the women are the result of wearing tight corsets. Jelena Bekvalac, the curator of osteology at the Museum of London, is leading the research.

The present restoration, completed in 1957, is considered more akin to Wren’s original designs that what transpired in 1675. Godfrey Allen, the architect, “produced a faithful re creation” according to St Bride’s. As one discovers Wren’s churches, it is apparent that although each church has its own individual characteristics architecturally, and distinctive embellishments, paintings and sculpture, there are architectural characteristics distinguishing Wren’s style. Symmetry and Wren’s love of natural light are apparent at St Bride’s; we bask in his favoured clear glass windows with round tops. This is a sharp contrast to the stained glass windows of Gothic – or neo-Gothic - churches. The black and white marble flooring is also a distinctive Wren feature. Typically Wren, the Portland stone work is ‘clean’ and the ceilings are white washed with gilding; and there is a tower in the west end with an elaborate spire atop. St Bride’s spire is a series of octagons, with open arches, diminishing in size. As the church is not easily visible from the street, the art historian and former museum director David Piper has described it as being “like a hollyhock that escapes from the pressure of the undergrowth”.

The shape of the spire is the reason why the church is referred to as the “wedding cake church”. During the late 18th century, a pastry chef, Mr Rich, who lived in Fleet Street, modelled his wedding cakes on the tiered spire.

The collegiate arrangement of the stalls (with the choir sitting in the middle of the arrangement) gives the church quite an intimate aura. (St Bride’s is renowned for its professional choir and music.)

Above the east window are ‘illusionist’ mural paintings by Glyn Jones, designed to give the flat east wall the appearance of an apse, which is extremely effective. In front of the ‘apse’ is an exquisitely carved oak reredos – a screen - that is a copy of one in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace, in Richmond.

Whether you worship in a church, a mosque or a synagogue or even if God is not your thing, visiting St Bride’s is an enriching experience. We explore the past in a beautiful setting, learning about what we did not know there was to learn about. Our spirits will be lifted not only for a few hours. Good stories await you.

Article by Jenny Kingsley Please visit www.stbrides.com for information about services, events, opening hours and tours.

After you visit St Brides, venture westwards down Fleet Street and explore Dr. Johnson’s House, an enchanting 300-year-old house in Gough Square. Johnson compiled A Dictionary of the English Language, which to this day is considered an outstanding achievement. For further information, see www.drjohnsonshouse.org.

The images of the interior of the church are courtesy of St. Bride’s church.

In my quieter moments I sometimes ponder over why things are named the way they are. Why was chocolate named chocolate, why an apple and not something else, and so when presented with a restaurant named Wild Honey my interest was piqued. Is it owned by a fan of the Beach Boys (Wild Honey was their 13th Album), a fan of Checkov (a play based on a Checkov untitled piece), or are they just a lover of an organic sweet sticky substance? Having visited Wild Honey I am unsure it matters, as this is a restaurant with a name that will be ingrained on your memory, not for any other reason than its quality and amazing value.

Wild Honey is owned by celebrated chef Anthony Demetre, and is the sister restaurant to the multi award-winning Arbutus. It was opened in 2007, and since then has continued to wow restaurant goers with its contemporary European menu made with wonderfully fresh and seasonal English ingredients (a European collaboration that both ‘remainers’ and ‘brexiteers’ would approve of!).

Wild Honey is well located just off New Bond Street, near to Hannover Square just across the road from St Georges Church, and its discrete entrance leads you to a wonderfully proportioned oak panelled room which has an upmarket members club feel to it. Art Deco chandeliers look down on you, and on one side there is a marble counter where you can sample inventive cocktails and on the other red banquettes and crisp white tablecloths. There is a sophisticated elegance about the place that is welcoming and immediately makes you feel at ease.

We were warmly welcomed by the staff and taken to our table where, whilst scanning the menu, we nibbled on fresh white and brown sour dough bread, whilst deciding between the set 4-course menu for £39 or the treats on the à la carte menu. Although the set menu offered incredible value, there were a few dishes which I truly had to try, so we plumped for the à la carte, but either way I doubt we would have been disappointed.

There were 6 starters to choose from, and it is rare for me to say that I could have chosen any of them, as the creamy Burrata, crushed autumn Delicia squash, Brogdale pears and candied walnuts (£12) was nearly my choice, but instead we chose the Hare Ragu with fresh hand cut macaroni, olive oil and parmesan (£12), and the Grilled Sardines, wood roasted sweet pepper salsa (£9). I always have a soft spot for sardines as they are my Dad’s favourite, and they were a great tribute to one of his most loved dishes as the sardine skin was wonderfully chargrilled, and the bones I always remembered as a child, had all been removed, so I was left with crispy skin, oily fish and a robust salsa - my kind of heaven. The Hare Ragu was rich and truly gamey and the generous chunks of hare were moist and tender, and the macaroni slightly crunchy, creating a wonderful dish.

The mains selection is again a choice of 6 options, and once more I genuinely could have chosen any of them, so it was a really difficult choice. Despite the lure of venison and cod, I selected the Denbighshire Lamb, rump and slow cooked breast, grilled hispi cabbage and green vinaigrette (£24), and my wife selected the Ricotta Dumplings ‘Grundi’, Delicia pumpkin, olive oil and parmesan (£17). People think that dishes like lamb are simple to cook, but a meat as delicate as lamb needs tender loving care and this lamb was cared for very well! The meat was pink and just melted in my mouth. My wife’s ricotta dumplings were again a true delight, and the Delicia pumpkin treatment enhanced the sweetness of the pumpkin and that clash/marriage with the intense parmesan cheesy flavour made a dish that could convert me to vegetarianism, such was the intensity of the flavours.

Portion size is generous so we didn’t take up the optional cheese course (£14) as we wanted to leave room for dessert, and we were truly grateful we did. A number of restaurants have a signature dessert which is more hype than substance, but here that is not the case as the classic Tarte Tatin of apples is truly a must (£20 but serves up to 4 people). I still don’t know why apples are named apples, but when they are perfectly cooked, encased in moist layers of flaky pastry and covered in a rich caramel sauce I frankly stop caring and just delight in the explosion of tastes in my mouth! This is a masterpiece, so please leave room for it, as you will kick yourself if you don’t, although the honeycomb ice cream we also picked was also worthy of note.

Service is of the highest standard with highly trained staff attending to the guest’s every need, while a concise and eclectic wine list is available by bottle or by carafe, allowing visitors to try a range of different labels without breaking the bank. The selection of wines is extensive and with the option of selecting wines by the carafe rather than bottle you can select wines for each course which helps when your wine choice differs from your partner’s.

Wild Honey have thought of everything, from a wine dilemma to what food to choose, and this is all done in stylish surroundings with attentive but not pushy staff and I love it. Eating out should be an experience far more than just the food (although this is crucial), and Wild Honey delivers in spades, and for £39 for 4 courses in the heart of Mayfair this is really a steal.

 Wild Honey 12 St George Street, Mayfair, London, W1S 2FB Telephone: 020 7758 9160

Sometimes only steak will do, and for those times there is Smith & Wollensky. The New York Times described it as “A steakhouse to end all   arguments”, and this US steakhouse has certainly enjoyed a triumphant expansion, from its original flagship premises in New York (opened in 1977), across the US and now into the heart of London, where it opened its’ first UK steakhouse in 2015. In keeping with a brand which has become known for its elegant dining rooms in intimate or iconic locations, the London steakhouse is no exception. Located in the monumental art deco styled Adelphi Building, situated between the Strand and the Thames, it forms part of the London Skyline as you cross Waterloo Bridge. Former residents of the Adelphi building have included JM Barrie (author of Peter Pan), George Bernard Shaw and Thomas Hardy, all notable in their fields, as Smith & Wollensky are in theirs.

It is interesting to note that ‘Smith & Wollensky’ was founded by Alan Stillman (creator of TGI Friday) and Ben Benson. You may be wondering, as I was, how they happened upon the name. In fact, the story goes that “Smith” and “Wollensky” were names selected at random from a New York phone book, late one night!

One thing that hasn’t changed is the style, quality and service that were present then, and the attention to detail. As you slip from the hustle and bustle of the Strand with its’ theatres and shops, into John Adam Street, you seem to not only leave the crowds, but also to step back in time. This feeling is perfectly evoked by the Martin Brudnizki designed interior, decked in mahogany. The ceilings are high and the space extensive (15,000 square feet), but the clever interiors manage to still create a feeling of intimacy. The art deco features are impressive; from the lighting and patterned floor tiles to the wall art and furnishings - there is a wonderful feeling of being in 1920s New York.

On entering, my wife and I made our way past well-spaced out tables and booths to the bar, where we relaxed with a cocktail whilst perusing the menu. There is a fantastic range of speciality cocktails, and I enjoyed my Scorpion (rum based) whilst my wife sipped her Greenhouse Gimlet (gin based). There are also American- sized (80ml) Martinis and Manhattans available – next time! We were shown to our booth by a waiter dressed in a pristine white jacket, where we knuckled down to the serious job of choosing our dinner. The starter choice is extensive and is mainly dominated by seafood including Tuna Ceviche (£9), Seared Chilli & Garlic Shrimp (£14) and Octopus & Chorizo Carpaccio (£16), with Fillet of Beef and Chop. My wife chose the Hand-Dived Scottish Scallops with Garlic & Parsley Butter (£19), and I selected the Half Cold Poached Lobster (£16). If you really want a feast then you should look no further than the two sharing platters which consist of a tower of Lobster, Jumbo Lump Crabmeat, Jumbo Shrimp, Pyefleet Pure Oysters & Cherry Stone Clams paired with Classic Cocktail Sauce, Cognac Mustard Sauce, Ginger Sauce and Sherry Migonette, priced at £90 for the ‘Charlie Smith’ (2-4 people), or £125 for the ‘Ralph Wollensky’ (4-6 people).

The mains are unashamedly dominated by steak, (well it is a steakhouse!) but for the sake of variety, there are options including burger, fish, lobster, chicken, salad and pork chop. Let’s be honest, it’s the steak that holds the headlines here. There is an enormous amount of knowledge and pride amongst the staff when it comes to the steaks. The meat is butchered and dry-aged on-site, and is hand-cut in their in-house butchery by their own butcher; making it the only steakhouse in London which offers a cut of meat that combines all three. Sitting alongside the American steaks are patriotic British and Irish cuts and premium seafood together with locally-sourced ingredients from the very best UK suppliers. All of this is enhanced through a careful dry-ageing process lasting 28 days which intensifies the flavour and tenderness. I went for the USDA Prime Sirloin (250g, £36) as I just love the rich flavour. My steak was chargrilled to perfection and served with a Béarnaise Sauce. There is an impressive selection of enhancements and sauces to choose from including rubs, crusts and even lobster tail. Other cuts include the Chateaubriand 600g (£80; to share), T-Bone 500g (£58) or a Kansas City Cut Bone-In Sirloin (£64). My wife had the Seared Tuna (£26), which was served with a cauliflower couscous, and complemented with a citrus dressing. To accompany our mains, we ordered French Fries (£5), Creamed Spinach (£10) – for me a must- have with steak - Onion Rings (£7) and Truffled Mac ‘n’ Cheese (£10).

There is a comprehensive wine list, including Smith and Wollensky’s own Private Reserve from California available as Sauvignon Blanc and Red Blend. On this particular evening, we enjoyed the house Californian wine. Prices per glass range from £5.25 (125ml) for a Chardonnay Blend to £12.50 (125ml) for the Private Reserve Red Blend from Napa.

From a previous visit, I remembered not to eat too much before coming here and I advise you to do the same, as the portions are American size, not UK. That said, when the dessert menu arrived, I suffered from an immediate case of ‘eyes bigger than belly’. Smith & Wollensky do not do things by halves and have their own pastry chef who prepares the desserts daily on site. I opted for the Gigantic Chocolate Cake (£18) which truly lives up to its name. This can be shared between up to 4 people and consists of moist chocolate layers of cake brushed with Baileys Irish Cream, sandwiched with chocolate mousse and covered with chocolate ganache. This was my kind of pudding, with the cake being light in texture and the mousse suitably gooey, but even with my love of chocolate, there was not even the smallest chance of finishing this gargantuan slice of cake, and some days later I was still to be found carving off slithers from my fridge at home (they are used to requests for a doggy-bag!). My wife, in addition to sampling the cake, opted for cheese and biscuits from the cheese trolley (£14) and enjoyed some fantastic British cheeses.

Smith & Wollensky’s stylish dining room is split over two levels, each with a separate bar, meaning they are well equipped to cater for large private parties. If your party is more compact in size, there are 3 additional private dining rooms for those special occasions. With such large and versatile dining space at their fingertips it’s great to see that they run a range of special events including Thanksgiving and 4th July celebrations along with Wine Events. Keep your eye on their website www. smithandwollensky.co.uk to find out details of these and other events throughout the year.

Smith & Wollensky offers a timeless, vibrant, yet relaxed atmosphere that envelopes guests in gracious hospitality. It takes many of the features of the Adelphi Building and its art deco style and marries them with the distinctive Smith & Wollensky brand, the result of which is a dining experience that offers simple refinement in the grand tradition and justifies their claim of offering the “best steak in London”. I am not sure my waistband agrees!

Smith & Wollensky Adelphi Building, 1-11 John Adam Street, London, WC2N 6HT Telephone: 020 7321 6007 

Hopefully you are as intrigued as we were by the rather grand title given to this wine and tasting menu experience created by the Vineyard Hotel in Berkshire. First things first, whilst the Vineyard Hotel does not sit amongst its own vines, (surrounded instead by the Berkshire countryside), it does hold some 30,000 bottles in an extraordinary glass cellar that is visible from the floor of the hotel’s reception. In addition, the hotel owner Sir Peter Michael is a rather big name in wine production, having his own vineyard in California, from where many of his award- winning wines have been imported to the hotel. Wine is a huge focus for the hotel, and ‘The Judgement of Paris’ as we found out, was an important event in the wine world that had such lasting influence, it has been recreated here as a fun and enormously enjoyable challenge to anyone that enjoys a glass of wine – however, lacking in wine knowledge you may be (and we are as it turns out!).

The Judgement of Paris (or the Paris Wine Tasting of May 24 1976) is seen as one of the most pivotal moments in wine history. A blind wine tasting of French and Californian wines, nearly forty years ago, that forever changed the future of winemaking, when unknown Californian wines were chosen over some of France’s finest by some of France’s top wine aficionados. Organised by British wine merchant Steven Spurrier, excellent Californian Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons were tasted alongside white Burgundies and Bordeaux reds. For Californian winemakers, and for winemakers around the world, the event transformed the industry.

Those in attendance included journalists Odette Kahn: the editor of ‘La Revue du Vin de France’, and George M. Taber from Time Magazine who later wrote a book about the event. Years later, in 2008, a comedy drama film; Bottle Shock starring Alan Rickman, was released which tells the story of The Judgement of Paris. Indeed, the final result of this event was so shocking that some of the judges withdrew their ballots.

From then on Sir Peter Michael, owner of The Vineyard, was inspired. The Paris tasting set him on a journey to California in search of a suitable vineyard location, which he found in 1982 starting the Peter Michael Winery in Knights Valley, Sonoma. In 1998, he opened the five-star Vineyard hotel in Berkshire, now established as the UK’s leading wine hotel. Here, amongst some 3,000 bins in the Vineyard’s wine cellar, are over 800 Californian wines including a unique collection from Peter Michael’s own vineyard. The story of the Paris tasting lives on at the Vineyard. The hotel’s impressive art collection includes a huge canvas of the legendary 1976 ‘Judgement of Paris’ (not to be confused with the 17th century works of Art by Rubens of the same name) commissioned by Sir Peter in honour of the event. Steven Spurrier himself (the organiser of the original Paris tasting) was invited to The Vineyard to unveil the extraordinary work of art in May 2012.

The ‘Judgement of Paris’ wine tasting experience invites guests to recreate their very own blind tasting with wines matched to each of seven delicious courses prepared by British chef Robby Jenks. Traditionally, a French and Californian glass are served with each course and the diner decides which they prefer, along with a few guessing games. The tasting also includes two blind taste tests served in blackened glasses, the diners’ task being to guess the variety of grape, along with the origin - California or France? You’ll pick up clues and tips from the Sommelier along the way, helping you to make your best educated guesses - although where we were concerned we still only managed to successfully guess the origin of two of the wines! At the end of the dinner, guests raise a glass to California or to France. Which one gets your vote?

With so many delicious wines to taste you may think that the food would be overshadowed, but you would be quite wrong. The tasting menus are carefully constructed with each new season, using the highest quality, locally sourced ingredients. Chef Jenks aims to provide a ‘gastronomic experience’ and in our humble opinion, succeeds in doing just this. The food we were served was so memorable, it had us reminiscing for days afterwards. You may feel, as I have done in the past, a certain wariness when approaching a tasting menu - the element of choice has been all but removed, and the decisions are in someone else’s hands, which results in sampling dishes you may never have otherwise discovered. This can go one of two ways: you will either end up cleaning your plate and wanting more, or being glad that the portion is small! The menu we sampled on a wet, cold late November evening included such dishes as Loch Duart Salmon with beetroots, walnut and wasabi, Pan-fried Foie Gras with grape, hazelnut and pain d’epices and Venison Loin with blackberries, parsnip and cabbage and bacon. Each of these dishes was impeccably presented. The quality of the ingredients and high standard of cuisine was consistently apparent across all the dishes - with the result that our plates were clean after each and every course. My personal favourite was the Venison Loin, which definitely fell into the category of a dish I would never have otherwise discovered. The meat was perfectly tender and beautifully complemented by the flavour combination of blackberry, parsnip and bacon - it really was a delight to eat, and a complete surprise to me, as I have never particularly enjoyed venison in the past. My partner’s dish of choice was the Pan- Fried Foie Gras which he couldn’t help making satisfied noises over for the (short) duration of eating. He kept urging me to sample it, as I had chosen to substitute this dish for the hand- dived scallop with celeriac, truffle and apple.

The pre-dessert served as a palate cleanser, but was so much more than that with its classic combination of lime, coconut, pineapple and basil. The dessert itself made quite an impression with its decoration of long shards of spun sugar adorning the salted caramel, manjari (Madagascan chocolate) tonka bean and coffee concoction. A delicious way to finish a wonderful meal. Of course, the flavour and texture of the food is enhanced at every course by the wine pairings served alongside, and it must be this fusion of good wine, good food and good fun that makes ‘The Judgement of Paris’ a memorable experience rather than simply a great meal in a nice hotel. You may even come away having learnt a thing or two about wine - here’s hoping!

The Vineyard is a destination, and not just for the wine buffs among you. The hotel’s facilities include an award-winning spa, 49 suites and rooms and an impressive private art collection - so there is every reason to make the journey to Berkshire to experience it for yourself - if the promise of award winning wines and 3AA rosette standard food were not enough.

The Vineyard Stockcross, Newbury, Berkshire RG20 8JU Telephone: 01635 897589 Website: The Vineyard

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Matilda the Musical opened in the West End over seven years ago and is still going strong today. On the  night I saw it at the Cambridge Theatre in London, there was a happy mixture of families, school groups, tourists and adults on their own who just enjoy a great musical. There is much in this show to appeal to people of all ages and despite the presence of so many children both on and off stage, it is a very dark tale indeed. Adapted from the book by Roald Dahl, who understood that children like scary fairy stories full of revenge and violence, the musical makes a bold statement about the strength and resilience of children. Matilda may be misunderstood and unloved by her family but still manages to triumph through sheer willpower.

Matilda is the black sheep of the Wormwood family, a highly intelligent girl who despite just starting school has already read Dostoevsky and Dickens. Her mother is far more interested in her competitive dancing partner Rudolpho than in her children. Mr Wormwood is busy scamming Russians in a faulty used car deal and wishes Matilda were more like her TV watching couch potato brother Michael, who can only speak in one word utterances. Matilda feels more at home in the library where she tells stories to the warm-hearted librarian, Mrs Phelps. As if her life couldn’t get any worse, her father enrols her in Crunchem Hall run by the fierce Miss Trunchbull who delights in calling children maggots and hanging them by their ears. Her abusive behaviour is constant, yet little Matilda somehow keeps finding the courage to stand up to this harridan because her punishments “are not fair!”. It is Matilda’s sense of justice which leads her to rebel and discover within herself mysterious powers which bring about the evil Miss Trunchbull’s downfall.

Aside from Mrs Phelps, the only adult who believes in and appreciates Matilda is the lovely Miss Honey who, despite her kindness is too meek to be of much help. In this story, the children are the only ones brave enough to make a difference and kindness is not going to cut it with the likes of Miss Trunchbull.

Unlike more contemporary children’s authors, Roald Dahl didn’t bother to look for psychological reasons why people are horrible, they just are. The only way to defeat them is with a strong sense of morality and a lot of pluck. Dahl revelled in showing the wicked, silly and stupid getting their comeuppance and many of his tales are revenge stories. In Matilda the Musical the baddies, Mr and Mrs Wormwood and Miss Trunchbull are cruel yet ridiculous figures, wildly entertaining in their outrageousness. Matilda’s parents scream and shout at her because they don’t understand her intelligence and find it a bit scary. They are cartoon characters who are too self-involved to notice their younger child is exceptional, seeing instead a threat to everything they know and love. A metaphor for our times?

The book by Dennis Kelly is brilliantly funny, full of witty dialogue but enough pathos to bring tears to your eyes at the end. The changes to the original story, such as Matilda’s ability to make up involving stories which turn out to be true, work well for the stage. Tim Minchin’s music and lyrics are all one would expect from this extraordinary comedian, full of surprising twists and turns. He has said Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes were a great influence on his own work so this project was a dream job for him. In the first number, Miracle, where each child sings about the love they receive from their overly doting parents “My mummy says I’m a miracle!” poor Matilda sings “My mum says I’m a good case for population control”. It was difficult to catch all the lyrics in the group numbers which is a good reason to buy a cast album.

The performances are first-rate. Haydn Tee is hilarious as Miss Trunchbull who seems to truly believe that all children are horrible creatures out to get her and make her life a misery. She is in many ways a panto villain, so will make children laugh as much as she frightens them. Holly Dale Spencer and Rob Compton as the Wormwoods were also very enjoyable. I especially liked the father’s ode to television, Telly, which opened the second act. Malinda Parris as Mrs Phelps and Gina Beck as Miss Honey lent the production much needed warmth and sweetness. In the performance I attended, Olivia Wells played Matilda with just the right amount of determination and spirit to make her a complex character. She is not the loveable angel of so many children’s stories but a wilful, clever child who gives almost as good as she gets. All of the children were exceptional performers, Sadie Victoria Lim as Lavender and Archie Lewis as Bruce Bogtrotter were stand outs.

This is a show which is perfect for the entire family and deserves to be seen several times. It is currently touring the world as well as the UK, so wherever you are you have no excuse to not catch Matilda the Musical.

Photography: Manuel Harlan