The sun is shining, the sky is blue, with little white clouds.
Leaves are turning, autumn colours grace the trees. Neil of this Parish and I had planned a run out for lunch, before the winter and the next COVID shut down make it impossible....
We arrived at our chosen destination, about 30 minutes away for both of us. I was there first, but just as I was getting ready to take a photo of Tarka Neil arrived...
So, two Plus 8s outside a pub/restaurant....something that has happened before!
![[Linked Image]](https://www.tm-img.com/images/2020/10/07/Two-Mogs-in-October.jpg)
The Leckford Hut is on the A30, between Stockbridge and Sutton Scotney, really in the middle of nowhere.... The A30 was the main coaching road from Exeter to Salisbury, and dates back as least as far as the 1600s. The road is arrow straight, suggesting a Roman origin, but it is probably not so, Salisbury, or Sorbiodoni was an inconsequential settlement in Roman Times and the nearest Roman Road was the Portway, running to the north from Salisbury to Leucomagus, or Andover and then to Callera, which has been lost somewhere in Hampshire...
Originally a shepherds drove hut, then later most probably a coaching stop where horses were changed and a pub. I remember it with an old Bell "MASH" type helicopter in the carpark for kids to play in, back in the 1960s when we used to drive from Claygate to Portreath, Cornwall. Back in those days a 10 hour drive... Today Google suggests 5 hours, using the same route....!
Whatever the history, it is now a French Restaurant, owned and run by a South African couple who, it is claimed, arrived in 2005 to watch cricket and never left....!
https://www.closdumarquis.co.uk/The food is good, what is expected in a French roadside restaurant: unpretentious and relaxed, despite COVID restrictions....
Worth a visit if you can't face going to France at the moment....
