Saturday 16 October 2010

Jamie Oliver's Childhood Home

The Cricketers, Clavering. A delightful 16th century English Country Inn with award winning food and accommodation, roaring log fires, beamed ceilings and a friendly relaxed atmosphere.

On our way home from Saffron Walden recently we decided to stop for afternoon tea at Jamie Oliver's parents pub which was only 3 miles off the road we were travelling on. It was late afternoon and very quiet as lunches had finished and evening dinner not for a few hours.
Remember, this is a pub and restaurant not a tearoom.
They obliged us with tea and delicious home made fruit cake
and we had the place to ourselves.










Certainly good food. A paragraph from the advertising flyer.

"Here at the Cricketers, we take the sourcing of really good produce and ingredients very seriously; the meat is properly hung and the fish is always fresh, using local, seasonal and organic where possible. The entire menus are expertly prepared on the premises by our team of creative and talented chefs, led by our Head Chef, Justin Greig, who is passionate about using excellent produce. We make fresh bread for our guests each day and our son, Jamie Oliver, supplies the wonderful seasonal vegetables, herbs and leaves from his certified organic garden nearby, which are an absolute delight"

One can see where Jamie gets his love of good food and cooking from.

While in Cambridge recently we had lunch at one of Jamie's Italian Restaurants and that was a treat. I need to get my photos from that day out sorted but I will post on his Cambridge restaurant in the next post.

It has turned cold here and I have almost finished the work I need to do on the garden for this year. It has been a busy week with meals out with folks, folks to a meal here and the continuing medical appointments. My son is again in Brazil where the temperature is 38C but I think I prefer our cold to that, especially as he is covered in mosquito bites.

Just a note on English Pubs for any in other countries who do not know their origin. Pub is short for Public House. In centuries gone by they were mostly Inns for travellers where they could find food and rest and a place to rest their horses or change them if need be. Later many where places where people came to meet together to socialise as generally ordinary people did not entertain in their homes as they do now. In recent decades pubs were known for excellent reasonably priced hearty meals or Ploughman's lunches in the bar but in more recent times most now have restaurants too. 

16 comments:

Betty said...

I enjoyed reading the post. I am from West Virginia and he came here to do a show about getting our kids to eat healthier. I have to say that I was ashamed of the way our State treated him. We should have welcomed him with open arms, but was very rude to him. I just hope he does not think all of us from this State was like the ones he met in Huntington WV. He did open our eyes to how the schools feed our kids.

Willow

talesfromagarden said...

What a beautiful inn! It looks so cosy and inviting,I love the way their son gets mentioned in the write up!No wonder he turned into the great chef that he is!

Willow said...

I do wish that the US had 'real' pubs where they served pot pies and fish and chips!

Anonymous said...

I miss a good "pub lunch". :-)
Hoghton Arms was a favorite of mine.
This looks like a beautiful place.
Blessings this weekend,
Anne x

A Dagenham Girl said...

how wonderful to have the place to yourselves :)) love all those old beams it certainly looks a cosy, relaxing place to have a meal.

I agree with you - having lived in Bangladesh and Ghana I now prefer to be cold than hot and suffering with mosquito bites..

take care, Judith

becky up the hill said...

Interesting post! I enjoy J. Oliver and never knew any of his background. I love that he is uses antique pieces of crockery and bowls in his show. Maybe his childhood here influenced this perchant for lovely old things. Thanks so much!

Linda said...

What a lovely pub to visit. Pubs are one of the things that are missed in Canada. They call some establishments pubs, but they just don't have the atmosphere of a British pub. Yes, you can certainly see where Jamie got his start into his career.

Annie Jeffries said...

Dear Barbara,

What a treat to see where it all started for Jamie. This is exactly as I would imagine an English pub would look. Love it.

I was noticing on your profile, that you and your husband met and married in four months. So did Don and I. We met on a Saturday. Checked in again on a Sunday. By Monday we knew it was just a matter of time - a very SHORT time. Congratulations on 50 years. We are at 32 but we didn't marry until our 30's so we will be in our 80's by the time we hit 50 years.

Annie

Lorrie said...

Cooler weather is dominating our climate these days, too. But there is lots of sunshine to go along with it. Most of my garden is put to bed for the winter.

Thanks for the info regarding the origin of "pub" -

Hope your Sunday is blessed.

Elizabeth said...

What a treat!
This looks a most super pub.
I think Jamie Oliver is doing lots of good things for food both in the UK and world-wide.
He did a cooking show about Marrakesh that I saw at Claudia's when I was in England in May. (BBC)
Think of you health-wise and hoping all is going well.

Balisha said...

This was very interesting. J. Oliver started getting involved in helping American children to improve their diets. He did some specials on TV about the situation with our public school's lunch menus. I haven't seen anymore about this,however. The schools are changing a bit and adapting some of his ideas.Thankyou for posting a bit about his family. That Pub looks like one that I could imagine in England. You have so many interesting bits of history almost right next door.. it would seem.
My work is just about done in the garden too. Now on to the holidays.It will be interesting to read about your holiday traditions.
Balisha

Julie Whitmore Pottery said...

Such an interesting post.
I do look up to Jamie, and his attitude and incredible work ethic.
for a short while we were able to see a wonderful show filmed at his house and saw his gardens. His boostering about fresh local ingredients is inspiring.

Anonymous said...

Dear Barbara, Although I have never visited The Cricketers, I know of several people who have and they are always very complimentary about the food and the service there. It certainly sounds as if they are passionate about food and take care with the sourcing of ingredients. That does bode well!!

Needled Mom said...

It is truly a gorgeous pub/restaurant. I can't believe you had it to yourselves!!!

We really enjoyed the pubs for the food and warmth when we lived in Epsom. There was nothing like a good walk and a stop at the local pub.

a woman who is said...

Catching up on your posts here. It looks like your have had some great outings. I loved the explanation on English Pubs...makes perfect sense now =)

La Petite Gallery said...

Barbara, hope your son gets home for Christmas. I hate the heat,
lived in florida. You can always grab a sweater up here.
yvonne