TO say that my husband is fanatical about beans is an understatement. He collects them as a numismatist collects stamps. When abroad he seeks out shops which sell the seeds, a hobby which has taken us to some interesting back streets in major towns and cities abroad, while our friends spend time in galleries or…
PHILIPPA Davis, the adventurous travelling chef from Shaftesbury, has now finished her month in Boston. She had intended her final postcard would be about night fishing – but the photographs didn’t work! She says: Maybe I should have thought it through a little better? I had visited Harvard a few days prior to this and…
WHEN in Rome … and when in the USA, you definitely want to smoke pork ribs. Travelling chef Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury is currently in Boston and her latest postcard recipe is for her successful version of the classic hickory smoked baby back pork ribs. As she says: Smoke gets in your eyes… so try…
THE National Trust has signalled its commitment to the long term future of one of the country’s favourite heritage breeds of cattle with the arrival of a new Red Devon bull, at the National Trust’s Kingston Lacy estate near Wimborne. For more than a century Kingston Lacy has been one of the main places to…
HEADING north on the M5 has just become a bit more enjoyable. There is a new motorway services station that promises more than congested fast-food eateries, noisy slot machines, crowded chainstore shops full of grumpy travellers and toilets at least half of which won’t be working on any given day. And that’s without mentioning the…
A QUESTION that I’ve been asked more than a few times in my time as a cheesemonger is for a recommendation of a cheese or cheeses to impress the French. The identity of the person who appointed the French the arbiters of the world’s cheese eludes me, but there are world-beating cheeses from our area…
TRAVELLING chef Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury has crossed the Atlantic for her latest project – and has had some uncomfortable company at night … But she is “happy as a clam,” she says. Arthur kept me up for most of the night, boisterously crashing around and showing off and with repeated spectacular flashes I began to…
“I’M sure it’s here somewhere,” said my friend, gazing hopelessly at a dog-eared map. We were looking for the pepper shop, a shop my friend had told me about so often, and now here we were, or rather, weren’t. “It must have closed down,” she said resignedly. We are all resigned to our favourite small…
THE Apple Tree Farm Shop at the Gardens Group’s Brimsmore Garden Centre in Yeovil has passed a Horticultural Marketing Inspection with flying colours. The annual audit, which checks that the fruit and vegetables on sale in the Farm Shop are honestly sourced and labelled, was carried out by the Rural Payments Agency on behalf of…
WE love France as much as the Dorset-born travelling chef Philippa Davis does, so when we saw her latest Postcard Recipe was cherry clafoutis, we couldn’t have been more pleased. It is one of our favourite puddings, redolent of warm days in the Midi, just totally French. Philippa has been down in the south of…