Made the trek out to Ham Polo Club, to attend the 10th Anniversary Toast New Zealand Event. It was a trek, 20 minutes on a very busy train to Richmond from Waterloo, another 20 minutes on a packed local bus – seemed like all the Kiwi’s in London were heading for the event. Then a long walk to get to the ticket office to pick up our complementary tickets (longer because we were wrongly directed to go to the VIP entrance). We eventually got in, pretty much as the England v New Zealand Polo match was finishing.
There were just two rows of stalls, laid out in the best possible way to cause congestion. I would have been horrified if I had paid for my ticket – ticket prices were between £20 and £150. However there was live music and the weather was good. We stayed for about two and a half hours, which was two hours longer than we would have, if we had not been lucky enough to grab a couple of seats at one of the tables next to the stands and have a few glasses of a rather lovely Pinot Noir from the Saveé Sea Vineyards.
The highlight of the day was actually the walk back from Ham to Richmond. Next time I will just bring a picnic and find a good spot by the river.
This was a special one off Toast event, so not 100% typical, but based on my experience at this event and my friends experience at past Toast events. I would not recommend them if you are seriously into Food and Wine. Toast is really just somewhere to socialise with a group of friends and listen to the music, more a concert than a food event.
![P310809_15.11[01]](https://www.noexpert.co.uk/food/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/P310809_15.1101.JPG "P310809_15.11[01]")
