Tag: Nottingham

A Weekend In Nottingham To See Middlesex Win The One Day Cup, 19 to 21 September 2026

Can you find us a really good AirBnB in Nottingham, within walking distance of Trent Bridge?

…asked Daisy, the day we learned that Middlesex had qualified for a one day final for the first time since 1990.

How’s about this one?

…was my reply, finding a really nice-looking modern apartment, just across the water from West Bridgeford, overlooking the River Trent. Very conveniently located for the Trent Bridge ground, especially now that there is a new footbridge across the river enabling a walk through the park to the ground. I quickly secured two nights there.

I also booked us a table at Cleaver & Wake for the night before the match.

The thing I didn’t take into account was the fact that Nottingham Forest were playing Coventry City that Saturday, which caused a fair bit of extra traffic driving into Nottingham. I also worked out that we wanted to walk to the restaurant a little early, ahead of the heaving crowd that would be emerging from The City Ground around 7:20/7:30. We just about achieved that.

As we walked towards Cleaver & Wake, we heard very loud house music, which seemed to be coming from the Island Quarter – the exact vicinity to which we were heading.

Oh yeh. Binks Yard.

How come we weren’t invited to the party?

…I asked the receptionist as we arrived at Cleaver & Wake.

You’re dining here, so you are invited.

The restaurant itself was quite well insulated from the noise, but we could see the amazing light show through the windows, which we rather enjoyed.

Excellent grub and very good service at Cleaver & Wake.

We shared a light smoked fish salad starter, then we also shared two amazing mains:

  • BARBECUED MONKFISH Ratte potatoes, kohlrabi, dashi & Champagne Beau Blanc
  • SIGNATURE BEEF WELLINGTON Pomme purée, Lincolnshire Poacher, Roscoff onion, Cabernet Sauvignon

We decided to take up our invitation to party at Binks Yard, but then got cold feet and watched from afar, you can click here to see what it looked like, before ordering an Uber home.

The next day we took that lovely walk across the footbridge and through the park:

We went to the cricket and had a great time. Everything we want to say about that is contained in Daisy’s match report, which will be published on the King Cricket site in the fulness of time. Once that has happened, I’ll link that piece here.

Spoiler alert:

Nottingham, Wormleighton and Yorkshire – a Short Break with Multi-media Relics 10 to 19 April 2013

A rather unusual round trip, taking a week or so off work, for cricket, walking and stuff.  This short break was a substitute for the longer trip we had planned for Malawi, which we ended up deferring to September and was well worth the wait.

But back to our Midlands and the North trip.  We started with a couple of nights in Nottingham, in order to enjoy the second day of the county cricket season as guests of Nottinghamshire CCC.  I wrote up our Nottinghamshire day, 11 April, for King Cricket – click here for that King Cricket (cricket-free) report.

Just in case anything ever goes awry with King Cricket, here is a scrape of that piece.

Here’s the match card – in case you want to know about the cricket.

Then on the 12th to the village of Wormleighton, in Warwickshire the spiritual home of Janie’s family.  No-one knows how the family came to have that name. Probably because someone in the dim and distant past came from there and probably not because Janie is descended from the Spencer family (which pretty-much owned the village), despite the Churchillian and Princess Diana resemblances in Janie’s family.

Wormleighton Village Scene
Wormleighton Village Scene

There is an ancient video of “the Worms” visiting the village of Wormleighton en famille in 1971 – here or below

On this trip, Ged and Daisy made a little video of their own search for the ancient village of Wormleighton – here or below.  

For the uninitiated, Ged and Daisy are our pet names for each other and have been so for over 20 years.

We stayed at Wormleighton Hall, which is a rather grand farm house just outside the  village – formerly the squires residence I shouldn’t wonder and now the home of the tenant farmers who make the whole thing work commercially by running the place as a small hotel as well as a farm.  Lovely family; into all the local countryside stuff.  We visited the Mollington point-to-point which they were attending on the 13th and took some excellent pictures of the local tribes at leisure.

Sighting of local tribesfolk at the Mollington point-to-point
Sighting of local tribesfolk at the Mollington point-to-point

All 80 pictures from the whole round trip are contained in this Flickr album – here and below.

01 Wormleighton Hall P1000515

On 14th we went to Chipping Norton to visit brother-in-law Tony and his lovely second wife Liz.

Hockney says you cannot properly photograph these Wolds scenes

Hockney says you cannot properly photograph these Wolds scenes

On 15th, off to North Yorkshire, driving the eastern-side to see and photograph Hockney country before reaching The Star, where we stayed and ate in great style for a few days.

arndale, the lower, less visited part
Farndale, the lower, less visited part

On 16th we went on a Farndale walk in search of daffodils, surprisingly successfully as the cold start to the spring had delayed the daffs, but they were just starting to show well our day – good fortune.

Some more nice pictures in the Flickr link above; also another little Ged and Daisy video – the attack by a savage sheep (mistaken for a ram) and the skipping lambs at the end being delicious highlights – click here or below .

Saltaire view
Saltaire view

17th we drove South-West to Saltaire and had a look at the town and some art gallery-style Hockney stuff.  18th we spent at leisure and walking around the Star’s vicinity (Harome).

19th we drove home.  Middlesex were again in action against Derbyshire (Day 3) and as we drove home we realised that an improbable early result to the match was on the cards.  After stopping off at the house, I went on (alone) in the car to catch the end of the match and witness a Middlesex win – here’s the card.   Quite a week for us and for Middlesex.