Shropshire Star

Emmerdale visit ticks another item off Ben's bucket list

Hello Shropshire. It's been another busy week this week and one of new begininings. I'll start this weeks column with my trip to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea's 4-0 demolition of Portsmouth in the 3rd round of the F.A Cup.

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Hello Shropshire. It's been another busy week this week and one of new begininings. I'll start this weeks column with my trip to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea's 4-0 demolition of Portsmouth in the third round of the F.A Cup.

I went along with my wife Ayla's dad as he is a mad Chelsea fan and we had a very enjoyable afternoon out - even the Tube behaved kindly for us.

Goals from Juan Mata, Frank Lampard and a brace from Ramires easily saw Chelsea through and earlier in the day the Manchester derby took place with United beating City - I was very happy.

What amazed me about Stamford Bridge is that planes fly over whilst the game is on and you cannot hear them. Given how low and close to Heathrow they are I found that strange.

Back home and we prepared to move house on Monday. I say we, but really it was Ayla doing everything.

We enlisted the help of my mother and a man with a van and everything was in by midday. Ayla then spent the rest of the day unpacking and making the shell of the house a home for us. We are both very impressed with it and look forward to some happy times here.

We have also aquired a new addition to the family, Keef, a cute little fluffball kitten to join Paddy in causing havoc and mayhem amongst us.

By Sunday, it was back to bucket list business with a visit to Marco Pierre White's Steakhouse in Chester for Sunday lunch, organised by my godmother Ann. We had seen the menu online beforehand and already made our minds up on what we were to have.

We were already drooling on the way there over how nice it sounded and, driving into the hotel complex where it is situated, it seemed very grandoise, with a lovely water fountain in the middle.

Then the food, well the menu was not the one advertised online so we had to re-think our choices a little. In the end, Ayla had chicken liver pate and I started with a ham hock terrine.

The plates were cleared away and, almost instantly, the main courses brought out. It looked lovely - big slices of well done beef, a massive homemade Yorkshire pudding with three big roast potatoes, bright carrots and mangetout and a thick rich red wine jus.

However, it didn't taste as good as it looked. The Yorkshire pudding was so tough and overcooked that when you cut into it, it was like sawdust coming off it. Ayla's beef was still red in the middle and the gravy was the saving grace along with the roast potatoes. I was a little disappointed.

It wasnt a terrible meal, but when expectations are high and service and quality are not what you would expect - maybe we caught them on an off day.

On Monday, we were allowed the privilege of a tour of Emmerdale. These tours do not usually happen and the ones advertised are to the old Emmerdale farm from before when they moved in 1997.

We met up with the person who arranged it for us and went into the inner sanctum - the cafe. As they were breaking for lunch, a host of the stars were in there including the vicar Ashley and then Carl King walked by and he posed for photos with us.

They kept on coming with Cain Dingle and Rhona, who in reality are married to each other, joining us for photos, Declan, Cameron, Eric Pollard -who was schooled in Baschurch and lived in Wem - Laurel and Brenda too. It was so lovely of them all to stop and take the time to talk to us.

We then went into the studio itself and it's a very surreal feeling. Its hard to imagine it being on the TV when you are in such close proximity to it.

We went into the Woolpack, the Dingle's front room, The Kings House, Home Farm - all are made up to look like real houses and the attention to detail is amazing. We toured the studio for a good hour before having some lunch and heading in the car to the actual village.

We pulled up and our guide advised us there were webcams up so we phoned a family friend to get them to check us out on camera. Whilst in the village we went into David's house and shop, the church, Paddy's house and the vets and saw the exteriors of the woolpack and cafe and B & B.

It was an absolutely fantastic day and one to look back on. We got a goody bag with a mug, teddy, character cards, notepad and pen amongst others. They all made us feel so welcome and we were just so privileged to have been.

I'm hoping to do a different style of column next week so keep your eyes peeled for that. Until then, all the best.

Ben x

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