Thanks for your kind comments guys, and mqqn for updating the map, its really interesting to see where Earl has been!
Today Earl came into town with us, the sun was shining and the high street had a small local produce market selling meats, eggs, bread and plants.
The town centre has changed very little in the last few hundred years, apart from a hideous 80`s shopping centre plonked right in the middle, which now is half empty and full of the same shops every other town in England has! It is such a shame.
Andover was a very important stage coaching town, as it was on the main route from London to Cornwall. To travel that distance (250 miles) took five days by horse so many stops along the way.
We showed Earl some of the existing coaching inns which are now pubs (to his great delight).
We settled on the oldest The Angel for a traditional roast beef Sunday dinner (and a couple of pints of course)
The Angel Inn is Andover's oldest and most historic Inn, and almost as old as Andover itself. A stretch of wall in the back corridor dates back to the year 1174 when Henry II
was king of England.
The building was almost totally destroyed along with most of the town in 1435, but was rebuilt in 1445 at a cost of £400 a huge sum of money in the mid 15th century. The kings carpenter was asked to design it. Many royals over the last 500 years have stayed here.
Chris the landlord was very taken with Earl and not only gave him a tour and history lesson, he also let him pull his first pint.
He told Earl that next to his bedroom upstairs was a room which has been sealed for 400 years and as this is a listed building it is not allowed to be opened, this room contains the remains of King James II mistress, he also said there are tunnels from the Inn to the church which contain the skulls of many poor souls.
All the goulish talk, however did not put Earl off his Sunday roast!!!
All over the pub there are Oak beams which were scared by the fire in 1435. A lot of these beams came from sailing ships so must be many hundreds of years older than the building itself. This one shows the fire damage.
Earl took a real close look at the original back wall of the pub which contains Roman flint amongst the brick work, Earl said it made him feel 900 years younger.
Earl sat out in the sun enjoying his second pint. The timber frame construction meant that any brick work was built around it so it meant that many of the walls were crooked and sloping.
Earl said goodbye to all the people in the pub and we headed home.
On the way we showed him the sun dial which was used by the coachmen to tell the time in Andover. As there was no standard time in England until the railways came Andover was 6 minutes ahead of London.
Earl says thanks for following his journey, he's got a few more places to visit yet whilst with us and then he is off to London.
I couldn't help but notice him gravitating towards that Timmy Taylor's, as I think he might have had a pint or two of Landlord when he was in Yorkshire with me 
Thanks for giving us a look at Earl's visit with you :thumbup:
