Back in London as we pause on our travels before we head to France later this week, there is time to recall not just the sights and experiences but also the past five weeks of holiday breakfasts.
The last week was a welcome break self-catering at our holiday cottage in Cornwall, but for the previous four weeks we were having breakfast made for us. While this is a treat one does tend to eat more because it is there rather than to appease hunger.
Now after more than two years living in London the concept of the ‘full English breakfast’, along with bacon butties, is one we are well used to.
In Australia when we dine out for breakfast we may have a ‘fry up’, but more often than not I tend to go for something else such as fluffy ricotta pancakes. If I do have eggs it will always be with avocado on the side.
We find on our recent UK travels that the English don’t own the ‘full breakfast’ by any means and are given a run for their money not just by the other countries but even the counties.
In Yorkshire at Wilson’s of Haworth (the Brontes’ home town) we find there is a ‘full Yorkshire’. This can be any or all of sausages, bacon, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, eggs, beans. I think what makes this particularly ‘Yorkshire’ is the Taylor’s Yorkshire tea.
Who would have known there is a ‘full Northumbrian’ breakfast? Well we find it at Bow House, Alnwick. Here most of the meal is made from locally sourced ingredients (listed on the blackboard in the breakfast room) including sausages and black pudding made by the local butcher. There are some delicious alternatives to the black pudding based breakfast (just can’t bring myself to eat this) – local smoked salmon (a stand out) and eggy bread with maple syrup. Staying true to local is the wide selection of Northumbrian Bari leaf tea from the Bari tea brewery and shop in Alnwick. Free local ale in the fridge and sherry in our room top it off – although we don’t indulge at breakfast.
At Orwin House, Arran Isle, Scotland we do our best to tackle the ‘full Scottish’ breakfast – eggs, mushrooms, bacon, link sausage, Lorne sausage, tomato, beans, (pass on the black pudding) and potato or ‘tattie’ scone. An added bonus when we opt for a smaller selection the second morning – two double-yoked eggs!
Back in England in Windermere in the Lake District we discover the ‘full Lakeland’ breakfast at The Hideaway – Lakeland free range eggs, Cumberland sausage, Lancashire black pudding, bacon, tomato and mushrooms. An alternate option of smoked haddock and poached egg is very tasty.
Across in Ireland we are offered the ‘full Irish’ but I don’t find it much different to the English variety, except perhaps for the brown soda bread and the Irish charm that comes as it is served. However at Killiane Castle, Wexford after a selection of fresh fruits and ginger stewed rhubarb, you can opt for porridge with whisky or yummy pancakes with maple syrup and bacon.
Back across the Irish Sea at Cliff House, Saundersfoot in South Wales we can choose a ‘full Welsh’ – a selection from the local Heywoods butcher of dainty pork sausages, bacon and black pudding, along with free range eggs, baked cherry tomatoes, baked beans and the piece de resistance for the aficionados – home made laverbread cakes made from seaweed cooked down into a green slime texture mixed with oats, honey, lemon juice into little patties and fried. After the many weeks of cooked breakfasts on the road I opt for very nicely done Welsh rarebit – which can be made in a variety of ways but basically includes a hard cheese melted with butter, ale and mustard poured onto toast and grilled.
After all this during our last week when it is self-catering in Charlestown Harbour, Cornwall we settle for cereal, fruit and yoghurt and toasted teacake to give our tummies a respite.
(We missed out on the full Cornish which I understand can include hogs pudding and Cornish potato cakes.)