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As many of you have seen from previous posts, the Cotswold Pigeon Watch Foodie Event is always a great success. This year's is booked for Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th of May, Sat and Sunday nights, at Macaroni Woods near Fairford in Gloucestershire. Sadly a few of our stalwart members can't make this year, for example Bakerboy due to coaching commitments and Brown Sauce due to rather stupidly booking something called a 'family holiday' during our event. Pathetic I call it. Anyway the long and the short of it is that we can accommodate some extra guests. Newcomers are always welcomed and the initiation is pretty painless, eventually. The accommodation is good quality, a bed in a twin shared room (bring snore-proof earplugs), shared bathroom etc along the corridor, for £15 a night. The venue itself is set amongst estate land and the location is great. It's mostly used as a charity outdoor activity centre for youngsters. We set up an air rifle range there last year, and this year there is going to be a handicap event and a trophy and prize (apparently). Sadly we can't use anything meatier than air rifles there but even that is a bit of a result. The comp last year was a good laugh. The catering facilities are commercial grade and there is outdoor and indoor eating and seating which we can use depending on the weather. There is also a decent campfire pit for all your camp needs. What we do is all bring quite a lot of food and drink, and we plan an approximate menu in advance. People usually bring and cook what they shoot, catch or forage, though it doesn't have to be. People also bring home-made booze such as sloe gin, cider etc. For less confident cooks but who can bring decent ingredients that's fine, someone will make something delicious out of it. We aim for about 10-15 people. We have a nice friendly, intelligent (more or less) mix of people, from all walks of life including an ex-michelin starred (or is it scarred?) chef who is coming again this year. To give you some idea, just from memory here is some stuff people brought or made last year: Muntjac steaks Razor Clams Pigeon Breasts Veg Rabbit Curry Wild garlic and mushroom risotto Spanish omelette Gorgeous Mature beef BBQ Ribs Loads of different cheeses Rabbit pasty Oriental rabbit 'three cup' Artisan Breads Home made chutneys Sloe gin and loads of other assorted home-made drinks Bacon and sausages and eggs etc Beer Wine Spirits Cider Fine cigars That list is not exhaustive. So, as you can see this is a weekend for foodies, who like a drink, and a laugh. It's worth travelling for if you like food, for example Ack-Ack comes over from Kent, BS (when he's not on holiday) from The Gower, and several from oop North. Timings are from about 12:00 Saturday and we need to be out by 10:00 Monday morning. So it'll cost you thirty quid plus the food and drink you bring. We bring a lot and often divvy up and swap any leftovers so you get to go home with something. Leftovers are not guaranteed! Register your interest by PM to me please, though happy to answer questions here too. You need to have a reasonable PW rep, obviously. And not be a nutter, or too much of one. For newcomers payment in advance in required.