WHEN we were young, salt came in an instantly recognisable tin, with a cute little pouring “beak” and a drawing of a child chasing a chicken and pouring salt on it. Nowadays, a tin like the one illustrated here is a collector’s item! Salt has been an essential in the human diet since the earliest…
THE British and Irish Cheese Awards return to the Bath and West show ground over the weekend 21st to 23rd March, running again this year in conjunction with the Bath and West Food and Drink Festival, which is in its second year. With more than 500 entries from around the United Kingdom, the British and…
Old English roses and a menu of local food – a new team at the Walled Garden, Mells ONE of the most beautiful “secret” gardens in our area, The Walled Garden at Mells re-opened on 2nd April with a Somerset menu, a focus on old English roses, a new chef cooking local produce and the…
A £65,000 crowd-funding campaign has been launched by Greg and Nicky Parsons of Devon of Devon cheesemaker Sharpham Dairy, to enable their business near Totnes to invest in renewable energy and water recycling. The campaign, called Curd Is The Word, offers cheese-centered rewards that people can bid for, ranging from £20 to £2,000. As well…
SCOTLAND has Robert Burns, Yorkshire has the Brontes, Hampshire has Jane Austen, London has Charles Dickens (and many Moore) – but Dorset, quite small in comparison, has two great major figures who are rooted in the county – Thomas Hardy and William Barnes, who will be celebrated at a gathering to enjoy his poems, with…
ONE of the most influential and high profile scientists in the country, Prof Tim Spector, is coming to Bath Forum on Tuesday 28th January for a give a talk, as a special guest of Bath Festivals. Tim Spector, the author of bestselling books, including The Diet Myth, Spoon-Fed, Identically Different and Food for Life: Your…
PHILIPPA Davis, a Shaftesbury-based chef and food-writer, has a new six-part food and travel television series, available on Prime Video, celebrating the wonderful food and drink of Dorset. A Taste of Dorset takes Philippa all over the county – from Cranborne Chase to the Devon border, meeting some of the outstanding producers who have made…
AN aged raw sheep’s milk, Queijo de Ovelha Amanteigado from the Portuguese maker Quinto do Pomar, has been crowned world champion at the 2024 World Cheese Awards. The washed rind cheese from Serra da Gardunha is a soft, buttery ivory-coloured cheese with a mild flavour. It is made with vegetarian rennet that comes from a…
THE Grange at Oborne, one of Dorset’s most attractive small country house hotels, has taken the top award in the 2024 Taste of the West Awards. The hotel, run by Jon and Jenny Fletcher, was named Best Hotel in the South West. Jenny and Jon were delighted and gave “an enormous thank you to all…
ONE of Somerset’s finest traditional unpasteurised farmhouse Cheddar makers, Keen’s, based at Moorhayes Farm near Wincanton, has been named as the first People’s Cheese Champion, after three rounds of public voting in a new award organised by campaigning group The Real Cheese Project. Keen’s Extra Mature Cheddar was one of four finalists, voted in the…