First Christmas Meal of the Season

All the local pubs with Christmas menus this year seem to be going down the non-traditional route, occasionally with some rather strange combinations that made it difficult for me to work out what I would like.
We went to the Black Lion this lunch time. One of the starters was pickled herring, which came in a little Kilner jar - everything was beautifully presented. I'm not a fan of pickled fish myself, but the lady who had it said it was delicious. So was the smoked salmon, arranged in the shape of a rose on top of a wasabi potato salad, and the polenta chips (which looked like mini fish fingers) and mushroom stroganoff. I had the duck liver on toast and confit leg with crispy Parma ham - which was absolutely delicious.
The nearest thing to a traditional turkey for the main course was Rooster, basically chicken reared slowly, with more flavour, so most of us had that. The beef was brisket, and there were two vegetarian options - the lady opposite me had the goat's cheese, walnut and sprouts roulade.
Talking about the rooster led us on to the subject of broiler sheds in Golden Valley. Planning permission has been applied for, and the County Council have been agreeing to previous applications. It's not just one farm - it's a group of farms up and down the area, all to feed into the chicken processing factory run by Cargill - and those chickens wouldn't be reared slowly for better flavour. It's hard for local farmers to make a living - sheep farmers earn an average of £26,000 a year, and the vast majority of that is subsidy. If they didn't raise sheep (and on hill farms it's very difficult to raise anything else) they wouldn't be able to survive, so it's no wonder they're keen on diversifying into things like broiler sheds.
Most of us around the table had read Feral by George Monbiot, about the need for the re-wilding of Britain. If the sheep were gone from the hills, or their numbers were greatly reduced, then regeneration of the plants would take place and the hills would support a much greater variety of wildlife. At the moment the hills are bald and barren for mile after mile, and the system of farm subsidies is one of the main reasons for that.
I rather wish I hadn't gone for the Tuscan Christmas cake for afters - it was very dense, and everyone else's sweets looked gorgeous. There was cinammon rice pudding with apple and blueberry compote, in a sundae glass, and orange and almond chocolate box, and a couple of other options. I don't think any of us could finish - we were all very pleasantly full.
One of the ladies had to get off promptly to take her kids to the Walking Nativity. It was supposed to be yesterday, but was postponed because of the bad weather. They started at the Bridge Inn at Michaelchurch Escley (there were rumours of mulled wine for the mums and dads) and a procession was going to head out, singing carols and enacting parts of the nativity story along the way, until they came to a local barn, where they finished the afternoon's celebrations.