The Bell Inn - Waltham St Lawrence

On the Reading Ale Trail - Part 3

A couple of weeks on from our last train ride down to Berkshire and we're back on the mission to complete the 24 pubs in the Ale Trail, as devised by the CAMRA folks behind the Reading Beer Festival.

Today began with grey clouds and rain so I was delighted that by the time we alighted the train at Twyford station the sun was out and the sky was blue.  Ideal, as we had a few miles of footpaths ahead of us.
We found a route through the fields which took us to the village of Waltham St Lawrence. 
Having made it faster than expected, The Bell Inn was still shut when we arrived.  
We took the weight off our legs and grabbed a bench next to the spectacular yew tree in the nearby church yard.

Waltham St Lawrence Parish Church

By the time the front door was opened there were a handful of visitors loitering around, waiting for 12 o'clock.  Typically we were first to arrive at the pub, last in the queue at the bar.

The Bell (The Street, Waltham St Lawrence, RG10 0JJ - web)
The 16th century publisher Ralph Newberry who lived nearby at Beenham's Heath gave this pub to the church in 1608, although it appears to have operated as an inn as early as the 1400's.

The front door took us past the stairs down to the cellar and into a cosy room with the main bar.  To the rear there is another room set up for dining which I didn't poke my head in, whilst through a doorway (complete with chunky wooden step to trip over) there is a second great pub room with wooden beams and wood panelling on the walls.  We settled here, next to a fire burning in the hearth.
Four hand pulls offered up a pleasing beer range, with ales from Wild Weather, Loddon and Branscombe Vale on offer.  Not seeing Branscombe in this neck of the woods very often I picked this and enjoyed a pint of their 'Golden Fiddler'.

Checked carpets, wooden beams and a real fire greet us at the Bell 

There's also a good-size pleasant garden to the rear of the pub, which would be great in warmer weather.  From the traditional charm of the pub interior, to the friendly locals who commended us managing to spend so long in the same room as them, to the great beer, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to recommend finding your way out to the Bell.

Leaving the pub, we opted to follow several footpaths to take us in a loop back to Twyford rather than simply retracing our steps.
Recent storm Freya had left added wind-fall for us to negotiate along the path.

Obstacles

We couldn't spend too much time prancing around avoiding the muddiest bits as our next pub had a closed period in the afternoon, with 12-3 and 6-11 opening hours.  But we made it in ample time onto the lanes of Ruscombe, just to the east of Twyford.
The Royal Oak (Ruscombe Lane, RG10 9JA - web)
I'm struggling to work out the identity of this place.  Is it really Burrata's at the Royal Oak as the pub-sign says, or has the Royal Oak become Burrata's?  It certainly has more the feel of a restaurant than a pub, albeit one which is pretty relaxed where we didn't feel too guilty about wandering in with muddy boots.

There's an eclectic collection of ornaments and furniture in here, from guitars and corkscrews hanging on the wall to a display case full of vintage photographic equipment.  
I think we were the only customers not eating a meal this afternoon.  But I did have a great pint of Bingham's 'Twyford Tipple', which has travelled just a few meters from their brewery in the industrial estate across the road from the pub.
Being so close, we called in to Binghams and took away a litre of 'Bricks & Mortar' stout.  One for the road.
In the meantime, just across Twyford and close to the train station, was our next destination...

The Golden Cross (38 Waltham Road, Twyford, RG10 9EG)
Now this is a proper pub, no doubt about it.  No food - just drinks and crisps.
It was doing a good trade on a Saturday afternoon, helped in part by the televised Six Nations.  But there's a pretty wide range of punters in the pub, not just a crowd hooked on the TV screens and all-in-all this has a good atmosphere of pub that is doing things right.
I was expecting beers from Upham Brewery at the Golden Cross, but the two hand pumps were both dispensing Ascot Ales on this visit.  Which was great as I had a marvellous pint of 'Gold Cup', their very drinkable 4% session IPA.

Twyford's Golden Cross

There's a handy TV screen above the bar showing live departures from the nearby railway station.  Yet even aided with this technology we managed to arrive at the station just in time to see our train pulling away from the platform. 

Note interchangeable sign, in case something
other than beer is good next week.

We made the irresponsible, but highly predictable, decision of getting off the train at Reading, which led to Brewdog and the Castle Tap. Then the Nags Head, then the Greyfriar - so much for a quite day out (for the record, none of this was my fault - I was all for getting home early and watching Pointless Celebrities).
With 26 days left to return our completed Ale Trail booklets, we just have the Flower Pot to visit now.  Then we have to find something else to do with our weekends!

Reading Ale Trail Part 1  (Woolhampton-Sheffield Bottom-Tilehurst-Shinfield)
Reading Ale Trail Part 2  (Tidmarsh-Woodley-Reading)