Sonning. Where to eat.

oldgit

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Aware of the Great House and the Bull
Appears to be a pub on other side of village a bit further out.
Flowing Spring.
Any good ?

Who looks after the moorings outside the Great House ?, looks on Google Earth to have been tidied up and more extensive.
 
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There's a run of moorings, including the pontoon directly outside the Great House / Coppa Club - these are owned by the pub and it's free for 24 hours, if you're eating / drinking there. Never a problem for us... :) They have been tidied up with a small new embankment. Not enough bollards - have pins/mallet at the ready.

The moorings further downstream are still controlled, I believe, by Thames Court (Uri Gellers old place). I think they still ask for a £10 donation for overnighting there, but I've not done that for a long time so may well be out of date. There's normally plenty of space outside Coppa so we use that and have a beer there.

Not been to the Flowing Spring I'm afraid - have heard good things a few years ago.

One other thing we do - sometimes BBQ on the boat/riverbank, whilst fetching cold beers from Coppa outside bar. Best of both worlds :)
 
Stayed on the bank outside Uri’s Old place a few times last year. More than happy to stick a tenner in an envelope, through the fence as it’s a good mooring and we’ll kept embankment. I've not had an evening meal there but I can highly recommended breakfast at The Great House.
 
Or you could have dinner and theatre at The Mill if Noel Coward is your thing. We did that last year and saw an excellent farce.
 
Correction, FWIW -
I passed by at the weekend (20/21 July) and noted a plethora of "the dreaded parking company's" signs, all the way downstream from the pub moorings to the end - and beyond of what are generally known as Uri' moorings.
They wer chocabloc with all manner of boats. I've never seen that many boats there before....

There's no mention on their website (where2moor.co.uk). There is mention of the EA moorings on the upstream side. These were similarly crammed with 'other types of boats'...
 
Correction, FWIW -
I passed by at the weekend (20/21 July) and noted a plethora of "the dreaded parking company's" signs, all the way downstream from the pub moorings to the end - and beyond of what are generally known as Uri' moorings.
They wer chocabloc with all manner of boats. I've never seen that many boats there before....

There's no mention on their website (where2moor.co.uk). There is mention of the EA moorings on the upstream side. These were similarly crammed with 'other types of boats'...


Have used the EA moorings on the left just above Sonning lock.
If you are early and get in the middle it seems OK with decent depth , it you are late and forced on the extreme ends of the moorings, the gentle tinkle of prop blade on rocks can be a little worrying.
 
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Was wondering when someone would mention The French Horn and the Mill Theatre.
Both high in my estimation.
French Horn not cheap, but the Mill is a great evening out.
 
Was wondering when someone would mention The French Horn and the Mill Theatre.
Both high in my estimation.
French Horn not cheap, but the Mill is a great evening out.

Because of fear of not getting a mooring along that stretch , celebrating 25 years of marriage and going to see the Noel Coward play "Private Lives" at The Mill we actually went by car and booked into the French Horn. We stayed over night in one of their cottages across the road from the main hotel. Easy walk back to The Mill, excellent meal as always and the play was good. The cottage was a dream with its own outside area with table and chairs for eating breakfast and air con inside the cottage. Just a dream. SWMBO was over the moon and no falling out about arriving in good time and problems with moorings. Would highly recommend.
 
I'm at the Sonning Moorings outside Uri Geller's house at the moment. He still owns it but doesn't live there at the moment and has a tenant taking over in early August. Whether that will affect the mooring situation remains to be seen.
The green District Enforcement signs are, at the moment, an idle threat as they are no longer involved. The £10 a night mooring fees posted, with the boat name, through a letter box in the fence all go to charity.
 
I'm at the Sonning Moorings outside Uri Geller's house at the moment. He still owns it but doesn't live there at the moment and has a tenant taking over in early August. Whether that will affect the mooring situation remains to be seen.
The green District Enforcement signs are, at the moment, an idle threat as they are no longer involved. The £10 a night mooring fees posted, with the boat name, through a letter box in the fence all go to charity.

What a mess! DE have re-signed the whole of that stretch in the last month or less - but being 'highly organised' have not placed it on their website which you would think a competant organisation would do... If you're happy to fend off = ignore DE's threats, should they arise, then moor. There are other threads on here about DE which folks new to this issue could read.
 
What a mess! DE have re-signed the whole of that stretch in the last month or less - but being 'highly organised' have not placed it on their website which you would think a competant organisation would do... If you're happy to fend off = ignore DE's threats, should they arise, then moor. There are other threads on here about DE which folks new to this issue could read.
The DE signs were certainly here in May but can be ignored because they are not collecting the mooring fees, Uri Geller's staff are. Perhaps they lost the contract.
Whether this changes when the new tenant takes over, we'll see.
 
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