Thursday 29 April 2010

Organic in Bristol

I had a very enjoyable trip to Bristol. The train trip is 6 hours but passes through beautiful areas of southern Scotland, the English Lake District and Gloucestershire, an excellent route for birdwatching - I saw lapwings, oystercatchers, Canada geese, kestrels and buzzards among others. I think it is very positive that Soil Association expects us to use the train to travel between Edinburgh and Bristol, every other organisation I've worked for that has an office in Bristol has expected me to fly and I've needed to put in a good argument to be allowed on the train.

On Tuesday evening I met a friend for supper and we went to Bordeaux Quay - the UK’s first eco restaurant to achieve a gold rating under the Food For Life Catering Mark, This scheme, developed by the Soil Association, guarantees customers get a sustainable meal, with standards governing things such as food additives, animal welfare and the seasonality of the produce. For more information visit: www.foodforlife.org.uk/resources/catering. The food at Bordeaux Quay is also very tasty, we had a lovely creamy onion tart with salad and potatoes and I had an amazingly delicious lemon meringue trifle.

I stayed at The Greenhouse, which is a lovely friendly B&B that serves organic breakfasts and has a very affectionate West Highland terrier called Archie.

I also had very productive meetings with my colleagues!

11 comments:

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

There is something so wonderfully civilized about train travel. Especially when you are going through country such as this!

A B and B with organic food and a Westie? I might never leave.

Lisa said...

...oh yeah and that work thing. You're so funny!

I was wondering why you prefer train travel. I must admit I'm not half as green as I'd like to be, but I was under the impression that trains were very inefficient, using a lot of fuel and releasing a great deal of pollution?

Crafty Green Poet said...

Lisa - a train that is well filled with people is a much more efficient and less polluting form of transport than flying. There is an argument that buses are more environmentally friendly than trains but if i took the bus from Edinburgh to Bristol it would take about 13 hours.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Pamela - I can just imagine Edward and Archie becoming very good friends!

Kay said...

I love trains..any train trip is a good trip..even when I found myself going backwards to avoid track problems..when on a train I get to surrender to the train time and enjoy the ride..choo-choo

The Weaver of Grass said...

Sounds like a lovely train journey at this time of year Juliet. I love train travel -0 you can sit and look out of the window and let the world pass by. (not so keen on the mobile phones, though)

Kay Baughman said...

sounds like a lovely trip! I hope one day to return to Scotland and England for a second visit--my only one was much too short. I hadn't thought of traveling the countryside by train.
Love your blog!
Kay

Bill said...

Train travel in the States was allowed to go to hell years ago. I envy my friends across the pond.

The Little Cloth Rabbit said...

Hello. Thank you for your lovely comment over at my blog :) I'm so pleased you like my design!

I love traveling by train too- I always have my nose glued to the window!

Deb G said...

That does sound like a very lovely trip! I was just thinking this past weekend about how much the US is still such a car culture, at least on the West coast...it would be so nice to have more options.

Tammie Lee said...

this does sound like a wonderful trip. I will try to remember, for someday I would love to go to Scotland!