I’ve reached the final trip report from my 2018 vacation in England. For my final post in the series, I’m combining both a review of British foods and pictures from Dan’s hometown of Newbury. Newbury is also where much of Dan’s family lives, so it is usually our base for our England trips.

Let’s start with Newbury. It’s a beautiful city with a vibrant high street. Victoria Park is a large green space with a pagoda, toy boat pond, and lion statues. There are storybook-esque canals running through the town. It’s a fairly large city, but our family lives walking distance to the city center, making it very easy to navigate, especially as on this vacation, I stayed with my mother-in-law, while Dan had business trips all over Europe. I was a five minute walk to the high street and my mother-in-law’s house is just a short walk from my sister-in-law’s house. I bounced between the two to see everyone.

Here are some pictures of the town. My niece, Charis, is in the picture with the lion statues. I had the pleasure of a shopping/movie/sushi day out with her during my trip!

My favorite meal in England is Sunday roast dinner at my sister-in-law, Ali’s house. Check out all of the vegetables and the puffy Yorkshire pudding. My mouth is watering just looking at this picture!

Cocktails are always a must at Ali’s house and she makes them look fancy too! He cool straws and garnishes make me want to up our cocktail game.

And, as if the great food and fun family times were not enough, they have the most adorable gold retriever named Wilf.

We tried the corporate, chain-restaurant version of a Sunday roast dinner at Toby Carvery. Note, it is not “Toby’s Carvery,” but “Toby Carvery.” Grammar issues aside, I had been obsessed with trying this restaurant ever since my first trip to England. There is something that I can’t quite put my finger on, that makes me think of Colonial Williamsburg. Plus, any place whose logo is “Home of the Roast” is calling my name.

Toby Carvery is a buffet-style restaurant, where you get one pass through the food line to pile up your plate with various roast meats and traditional sides = vegetables, Yorkshire puddings, stuffing, roast potatoes, et… Patrons can choose between a regular portion or extra large plate. We went with the regular plate and we were STUFFED. It is so much food that we could not handle dessert. Toby Carvery does not compare to Sunday roast at Ali’s house, but it was pretty good. I’d definitely look forward to going back, especially for the roast beef.

Another traditional meal is the “full-english” breakfast. We have enjoyed this many times at the Hilton in Newbury. It took time for me to embrace this breakfast, but now I love it. There are variations on what can be included, for example, black pudding- a blood sausage, is traditional. However, my perfect combination is shown below = eggs, hash brown type of potato, mushrooms, baked beans, sausage, and British bacon ( which is similar to Canadian bacon.) The bacon is my favorite. It’s vastly superior to American-style bacon.

I spent one week at my mother-in-law’s house during this trip and she spoiled me with food. She bought many desserts and her favorite treats for me to try.

Plus, she took me out for many fabulous meals in Newbury. The best was at a French restaurant called Cote Brasserie, where I had an amazing fish pie.

We went for cake and tea at a French bakery called Paul. The carrot cake was incredible, but I made the mistake of ordering iced tea. A top tip: if you order iced tea in England, know that it will automatically come sweetened. It won’t just be sweet, but it will be southern sweet-tea sweet. Sweet tea, when you are expecting unsweetened tea, is quite a shock!

The desserts didn’t stop there…Jan took me to afternoon tea at Angelica’s Terrace Cafe. It was raining, so we couldn't enjoy the terrace with views of Newbury, but we were cozy inside with hot tea and cakes.

Twice, I went out to see my brother-in-law’s band, Beatle juice. Steve, my bother-in-law, is a really talented guitarist and even has a few groupies!

Beatle Juice puts on a fun show. I saw them play at a venue in Newbury, called Document House and in the nearby town of Thatcham at The Taste of England Bar and Restaurant. It was here that I discovered Swedish cider. Swedish cider is the best drink ever!

I never met a Hobnob that I didn’t like and on this trip, I ate my way through several packages. Hobnobs are my favorite commercially made cookie, especially the milk chocolate Hobnobs. Yummmmm

My other favorite is Biscoff. On the Biscoff packages sold in the United States, there is a claim that Biscoff is “Europe’s Favorite Cookie with Coffee.” This quite specific claim was omitted from the packaging on the cookies in England. The plot thickens!

I tried mango flavored Coke, which was strange and chemical tasting.

I love poking around English grocery stores. The Mexican food section is always very entertaining.

And we found this unappetizing gem.

Which, I must confess looks like something my mom would have bought in the mid- 80’s, when we were all aglow with excitement over our new microwave. She would have been proud to nuke this and serve it to me for lunch.

As always, our time in England was filled with family time and creating more memories. I wish we lived closer or that it was easier to visit.