English Food on Somme!

[KIRKY]

Hi

I have seen various links on where to eat out but I have a particular need. My 80 year old father is coming to the Somme in October and he does not like anything to eat apart from "english type food"

Are there any decent places to eat with a choice which he will like?

It is also his birthday while we are there and would be nice to have a good decent meal.

Tony

[burlington]

Try http://www.oceanvillas-tearooms.com/ at Auchonvillers.

Martin

[Kate Wills]

Tony

I don't think you, or Dad need worry. You will find the same ingredients on your plate as you eat here at home - meat, fish, vegetables and chips too. If you want a well-packed plate of egg and chips there are a number of cafes on the Somme such as Le Tommy, and by the way, their omlettes look for be cooked from fresh eggs, certainly not a frozen blob (see thread in Utterly).

Be it 'greasy spoon', B&B, cafe or hotel, we have found the food (and I'm no foodie, just an enjoyer of edible grub) good, wholesome, tasty, and budget-friendly.

Have a good trip and BON APPETIT!!

[Marco]

english type food

and

good decent meal

Some French you will meet might consider combinging these two impossible!

Regards,

Marco

[Dragon]

I agree with Kate.

I haven’t had the experience of taking an older person to the Somme, but my birthday present to my mum for one of those older birthdays which end in zero was taking her to the French Alps, instead of paying for her to have a ‘do’ .

The food was no problem at all, as most of it’s recognisably from the same ingredients as we use in the UK and you’ll invariably have a choice. Everywhere can make tea. The main difficulty was marmalade. Breakfast incomplete without, etc. We didn’t want to waste her special holiday by going in Auchan to seek out Robertsons Seville Thick Cut, but we eventually found some in a village shop. (Then she was too shy to take it into breakfast in case it upset the hotel’s feelings. Teeth grinding noises ensued.) So I’d advise taking a mini pot of marmalade.

I think breakfast was the greatest source of puzzlement, but most people can pick something from a buffet and hotels will always boil eggs (maybe at a price) and usually have archaic toasting machines for breakfast guests to use, but again, I’d probably take a few mini packets of a favourite cereal if it could be a problem. The labels and shapes of unfamiliar packets in a foreign language can be a bit of a trial at first, especially if the person has low vision.

I also think that they value having the facility to make a proper cup of tea, especially as older people find it hard to sleep in unfamiliar places. I wouldn’t do it for myself, but taking a mini kettle, teabags, sachets of drink-mixes and so on for her to use in her room was a help (assuming that the person is mobile enough to avoid accidents).

I feel that problems arise in the first couple of days, as older people adapt less easily and are more labile, and they get very apprehensive and worried that they won’t be able to make their needs and wishes known. Once my mum realised that she could communicate with simple ‘oui’, ‘merci’ etc, and a smile; and that we could easily sort out any requests in French, she was much more confident and relaxed.

I'll leave specific recommendations of places for others to make.

Enjoy your trip!

Gwyn

[charlotte cardoen-descamps]

I have guests who have just checked in, saying that Tommy's Bar in Pozières is closed. As they arrived there for a meal they found the fire brigade and the hospital emergency service in front of the pub. They have no clue what happened but one of the medics told them that the place was closed. At this stage they wonder whether Dominic had an accident with ammunition....

Charlotte

[burlington]

Oh dear, I hope he is OK.

When I was in France last week I heard that Dominic was now running the place single handed.

[Terry Carter]

I had to ring Avril at Auchonvillers this evening and I asked her if she had heard any news. No she had not.

Terry

[Guest rob2910]

Any news re Dominic?