MUGWORT doesn’t have the most appealing name in English, but its scientific name “artemisia” will be familiar to anyone interested in the history of herbs. Its medical uses included preventing weariness on a journey, according to a 16th-century medical text that is the inspiration behind a herbal border at the National Trust’s Lytes Cary Manor…
THE Guild of Fine Food, organisers of Great Taste, Shop of the Year and the World Cheese Awards, is calling for consumers across the UK and Ireland to get behind their local independents. The Dorset-based Guild has added an online resource to its website, to assist retailers and producers following the government’s latest Covid-19 guidelines….
JAMES Cox, show secretary of the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show, currently scheduled for 19th August, has sent out a reminder that the closing date to book trading stands is 1st April. He says: “At this time plans continue as normal for what is expected to be a fantastic and successful Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show, with…
THE country’s leading food awards scheme, Great Taste, run by the Guild of Fine Food based in Gillingham, Dorset, has been suspended due to the Covid19 crisis, and the regional scheme, Taste of the West, is delaying judging. Judging of this year’s 12,000-plus Great Taste entries began as planned on Monday, 16th March, and was…
DEVON-based Quicke’s, the traditional clothbound Cheddar maker near Crediton, is at the forefront of a scheme to provide high quality local food to people who are affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The company is also offering free delivery to NHS staff and all vulnerable groups affected by the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the UK,…
MORE than 50 apple trees have been planted at Montacute House, expanding orchards that provide vital habitat for wildlife in the south west. The trees are part of the Tidnor National Collection of more than 150 varieties, which was saved by the National Trust in 2016. Orchards have been planted at Barrington Court and Tintinhull…
THE Apple Tree Farm Shop at Brimsmore Gardens in Yeovil has installed a milk station, which dispenses semi-skimmed milk from Trewithen Dairy in Cornwall. Adding to the multi-award-winning farm shop’s growing list of green credentials, the new milk station will help customers reduce their single-use plastic waste, while continuing to support a dairy that practises…
THE Dorset-based Guild of Fine Food will be heading for Spain for this year’s World Cheese Awards, which will be held in the principality of Asturias, as part of the International Cheese Festival in Oviedo. The awards, now in their 33rd year and one of the world’s most important cheese competitions, will be judged on…
BRISTOL delicatessen Papadeli, in Alma Road, Clifton, has won the Delicatessen and Grocer category of the Guild of Fine Food’s Shop of the Year 2020 competition. The judges were charmed with its “general ambience” and range of homemade cakes. The winners were announced at the Fodder Farm Shop and Café in Harrogate. The awards are…
THE Great West Way, running from London to Bristol, roughly along the line of the A4 trunk road, is the world’s first multi-modal touring route, with road, rail and water links between the two cities, a direct distance of 125 miles. If you include the off-the-beaten walking and bike trails and other detours, there are…