Always great to try speciality beer from a micro brewery. Lab is a cool trendy bar that brews it's own potions. I tried the Lab IPA (taster size) with some yummy truffle micro fries served with Tabasco ketchup before heading towards an airport hotel for my shuttle to Charlotte at 6pm. It didn't turn up! Yikes. When I called up the owner had made an error and was 2.5 hours away. So my first rescue came early. Rachael & John really stepped up and drove me to C...

Wednesday started out with breakfast at Tupelo Honey Cafe. A queue is always a great sign of good things to come. Still getting used to the mega-portions. Warm biscuits (scones) with the cafe's own Tupelo honey drizzled over, followed by sweet potato pancake with peach butter, pecans and a soysage.

My luxury accommodation courtesy of my hosts Rachael & John. Peppers seem to do really well in their veg patch & Rachael has embraced hill life with pickling the fruits of labour from the patch. The visit was short but sweet before we headed via the Nanthala Gorge for lunch on the way to Asheville. I'll post some photos when I can. The evening was spent at Grove Park Inn starting with cocktails over looking Asheville. Apparently Obama enjoys this venue....

Cocktails by the fire. Singed eyebrows and all.

A drive up a windy road then a track, and all was revealed. Rachael was there to greet us with a glass of champagne by the outside fire. Boy, what a view for cocktail hour! We had a delicious tapas style supper - blue cheese, Baguette, homemade salsa, new potatoes, pear salad and BBQ beans. The London puzzle I gave Rachael and John provided entertainment for John, who as it happens really enjoys puzzles. We laughed about the stories from the day. Much to our am...