TETBURY / TROUBLE HOUSE

Although I live in London, I wasn't brought up here, and am a country girl at heart. So I jump at any opportunity for a weekend away, and we quite often head to either Tetbury in Gloucestershire or East Somerset to see parents. I kind of take it for granted how beautiful both of those areas are, but thought I would do a little blog post on each of the local towns, Tetbury and Castle Cary, in case you're ever looking for somewhere pretty and quaint to visit for a weekend away. Both towns are small, set down one main street, and are full of gorgeous little independent shops and businesses. So this post is about Tetbury, and an excellent local pub, and I will blog about Castle Cary in the not so distant future.

We last went to Tetbury a few weekends ago, when it was gloriously sunny, and felt like Spring had arrived. Fields were full of sheep with lambs, the sky was blue, and we wandered into town without even taking our coats.

Someone had put this sign in the pub window, which made me giggle as it was such a nice day!

Tetbury really is just picturesque:

The shops are full of nik-naks, bits and pieces that I could buy all day long - just imagine all the food styling that could be done with these pieces!

And the clothes shops are amazing too. They stock loads of different independent labels, and the selections, particularly in Qetty Bang Bang are divine:

All so pretty!!

Tetbury has its fair share of places to eat and drink as well, and I've blogged about The Priory a few years ago (and have been back many times since), but there's a new place to eat that has to be my favourite so far - The Trouble House, about a mile outside of Tetbury. I've actually eaten there before, and was pretty impressed then with their really good pub food, using local ingredients. However, the pub has recently changed hands, and luckily for everyone it seems to have got even better!!

Sadly, it's the same old story with my photos - it was very dark in there so really hard to get good shots! Roll on summer!! (At least with the clocks changing this weekend it'll be lighter and brighter in the evenings).

The Trouble House is on the A433 out of Tetbury, towards Cirencester. Rather than a traditional pub, Trouble House is more like a cafe during the daytime, serving homemade cakes and breads, and lunches that they have queues out the door for.

We were there for serious food though, supper! Trouble House is only open for supper on Fridays and Saturdays, and every table was full when we went, so make sure you book ahead if you want to go.

The menu is what I'd consider typical gastro pub food, but it was the quality of the food that really stood out. We started with starters, as you do - mine was confit salmon with braised baby gem, roasted pepper sauce and capers; the boy went for smoked duck salad; and his ma chose the beetroot and goats cheese salad, which was the only useable photo I took of the first course:

The food tasted fresh, with really well thought through flavours. Very impressed with starters it was on to mains. I couldn't resist the ribeye steak with chips and 'steak butter'. The meat was melt in the mouth, and the chips nice and crunchy on the outside and soft inside.

The boy chose (I think) the beef shin - bad blogger that I am, I can't remember if it was definitely shin, but I do remember it was slow cooked in local Uley Ale with little shallots punching through the rich, moreish sauce. The beef just fell apart, and I almost got food jealousy - which was retracted each time I had a bite of my steak!

I also can't remember what the boy's ma had to eat, oops, but I know that we all went home happy, and full of delicious food. Prices were reasonable and what I'd expect to pay for that quality of food, although we were treated by the boy's ma, so thank you Brenda :) The menu at Trouble House changes seasonally so I recommend you just go and check it out yourselves!

If you do fancy a trip to Tetbury, Brenda actually runs a lovely B&B just outside Tetbury. She can accommodate 4 people at a time, and full details are linked above should you need them (a few friends of mine have stayed with her, and have had the most wonderful time).