Lady Grey

Our village brewery began delivering beer by horse-drawn dray again today, after a Covid-related hiatus of 18 months. They only delivered to one pub, at a distance of all of 500 metres, but small acorns and all that. They claim to be one of only 3 British breweries that still deliver by horse. I had no idea of any of that when I had this chance encounter and took a hurried phone-snap, unable to see the screen in the bright sunlight, merely thinking this might be a lucky Blip (so I'm sorry about the truncated dray). Mrs M told me the context based on a Facebook post

Lady Grey is the horse of course. When people do official tours of the brewery (which over 20,000 per year do), the horses and stables are an important part of the experience. For us living here, having heavy horses in the surrounding fields, and providing a little added colour like this, salts daily life with a pinch of added joy. Long may the marketing budget hold up

I looked up the other Lady Greys...

Lady Jane Grey was the first of three successive Queens who ruled England during the religious turmoil of the 16th century. She was proclaimed Queen on the death of her distant cousin, Edward VI, who nominated her as his heir because she was protestant. Nine days later, she was deposed, and subsequently beheaded, by Edward's half-sister, Mary Tudor, "Bloody Mary", who died a turbulent five years later and was succeeded by her younger sister Elizabeth I. Jane was born and spent her childhood in Bradgate House, which was the destination of an annual visit in my Leicestershire schooldays

Lady Grey tea is a version of Earl Grey, developed by Twinings only in the 1990s, with a milder flavour, and more orange and lemon added, which they thought better suited the European market

The brewery produce an orange-flavour wheat beer (better than it sounds!) and its Victoorian architecture includes a few hints of mock-Tudor. Life is all about connections