So where the Sam Hill is Bramham, I hear you ask?
It is up in Yorkshire in the north of England. It is in Rugby League country near cities like Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Hull - although given that Wigan won the FA Cup (soccer) Final a couple of weeks ago, the locals would argue that up here is now very much soccer/football country too. It is about three and a half hour’s drive north of London.
(a) beautiful and extensive rolling grounds,
(b) ideal weather both in the lead up and on the weekend itself leading to a lush carpet of deep green grass on forgiving ground, not to mention pulling in tens of thousands of spectators
and (c) last but not least, the imaginative, some have said slightly sadistic, course design by Ian Stark.
All but the first and last few fences caused problems at some stage for some riders - each of them asking a different question that only the best could answer in the time allotted. And the relatively kind first few fences let the horses ease into the swing of things while the kind last few fences let the exhausted horses come home safely, having done their duty. Ian Stark is The Man!
Also very impressive were the rapid repairs to the jumps during the Cross Country. But wait a minute, aren't the cross country jumps meant to be big solid indestructible brutes of things? Yes - they are certainly not show jumps and most are solid but many now have Frangible Pins.
Pins? Frangible? Please explain.
The idea is that if the horse and rider misjudge and go lumbering into a jump, it'll be the jump that gives way rather than our much loved athletic steeds. Sure the horse gets a thump but the pins are designed and tensioned so the horse gets to compete another day.
However, it means fence repair crews have to be spread about the course on standby ready to swoop when a jump breaks - and this they did amazing rapidity at Bramham. By the way, according to my good friend Wikipedia "a material is said to be frangible if through deformation it tends to break up into fragments, rather than deforming plastically and retaining its cohesion as a single object" i.e. the pins break, they don't stretch.
Bramham is a fine stately home with some classic touches about the grounds including these fountains
and the "Round House"
One very pleasant surprise on the junk food front was a BLT Baguette:
which must be, Concorde aside, one of the few successful Anglo French collaborations - the bread was fresh, light and crunchy and the bacon thick and smoky.
We nipped out for lunch to the nearby town of Thorner and had a top quality meal at The Beehive, a very upmarket pub, taking advantage of the warm weather to sit outside. I had a Smoked Chicken and Bacon Salad:
you can tell they take their food seriously by the balsamic scribble around the edge of the plate. This was followed by a very English cheese board:
One thing that is hard to miss are the decorative carvings the course builder David Evans sprinkled sound the Bramham course:
Owl carving, near the Owl Hole, of course.
Dragonfly carving and ........
... a carving of Duck, Ducklings and Ugly Duckling, Trailing, appropriately near the Kidney Pond water jumps.
Jonathan Paget (who just happened to win Badminton last month) seeming to think "this huge ditch and jump we can handle, but what about these random carved rabbits?"
Finally wrapping up with some local junk food from the North Yorkshire sea port of Whitby
Scampi and chips
which seem to be either very short fat prawns, battered, or prawn chunks, battered. Nice but in a subdued, understated, let's not go overboard, we are English after all, kind of way.
Next stop The Continent: Luhmuhlen 4 star horse trials.
A Short Digression on Europe
Most Brits would write "Next Stop: Europe" but most Continentals think that is a contradiction in terms as the UK is in Europe, as evidenced by its membership of the EU, the European Union.
This doesn't stop most Brits thinking "we're not European, we're British!", the consequences of which are still to play out as a referendum on EU membership has been promised. The most noticeable influence of the EU that I've noticed on this trip is the EU's beating up the phone companies about their rip-off roaming charges - not much point being European if your phone sends you bankrupt every time you cross your national border.
So year by year over the last 6 years, the EU has forced roaming charges to be brought back towards domestic charges, so in a couple of years they should be comparable. About bloody time (now if only the UN could do something practical like that for the rest of us outside Europe!)
A Very Short Digression on Flat White
We actually found a coffee cart at Bramham, not only with "Flat White" listed, but as the very first option! Australasia Uber Alles.
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Copyright © 2013 Phil Diacono
You can read our reports from Bramham Horse Trials here or view the photo galleries here
There's more to come from our eventing foodie blogger Phil as he and wife Jose of CrossCountry App continue their grand tour. While Jose will be glued to the horses and working on virtual guided course walks at Badminton, Houghton, Tattersalls, Bramham and Luhmuehlen, Phil will report on the food at and around horse events
Phil recently retired after 30 years in the computer industry so he and Jose are taking their trip of a lifetime, touring Europe by rail. Having worked and travelled for many years on business in Western Europe, they are exploring further east - Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Budapest interspersed with some wwoofing (willing workers on organic farms) in the countryside.
