Quintessentially British: The Canalside Pub

Another scorcher today, so I set out early for a walk along the canal. I walked away from the locks this time, hoping to avoid the predatory insects that were looking to feed on me... and once I was past the hedgerows it seemed to work. There were quite a few boats on the move and others moored close by this delightful canalside pub. This is The Blue Lias Inn and it was originally an 18th century farmhouse. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of a red-haired farm labourer who was killed by the enraged farmer when he returned from market one day to find his wife in bed with the farmhand. It first became an inn when the early canal travellers stopped for evening refreshment and overnight stabling for their horses. The Inn is named after the limestone/clay which is quarried nearby and used in the production of cement. Fossils of marine dinosaurs have been found in the local quarries and a piece of blue lias, complete with a fossil, can be seen in the pub's fireplace.