At The Square and Compass ...

I'm sitting outside The Square and Compass, sipping a half pint of Copper Ale - a cool salty wind is blowing in from the sea - bravos on mountain bikes are snarfing succulent pasties - late afternoon sunlight falls upon whitewashed walls - quivering hounds snuff the air - 

We're talking about wedding venues - there's a plan to travel to Harmans Cross by steam train - 

Inside the pub, dark ales are served from a small hatchway - a narrow passageway leads to low ceilinged snugs - in one, there's a chair made out of bleached driftwood, a wizard's throne, in the other, a stuffed badger on the window sill - underfoot are worn shining flagstones - 

I gaze at the framed cartoons by Low hanging on the panelled walls - 

Sophie talks about corkage - later, we walk through the village, past the elegant silent houses of Purbeck stone - 

I read the opened bible in the icy church - I imagined village weddings, names carved in marble, shadows falling upon the grass - 

18.00

September 28 2014

Outside The Square and Compass

Worth Matravers