FOR centuries travellers have visited Shaftesbury, on its hilltop overlooking the Blackmore Vale. Many came to the great abbey, built by King Alfred for his daughter the first abbess, and stayed in the hostels and taverns around it. A famous visitor was the young Katharine of Aragon, who stayed at the abbey, en route to…
A QUICK dash to Dublin to cater for a dinner party and then a Burns Night supper in the West Country before heading to Perthshire for the last pheasant shoot of the season – the life of a travelling chef is hectic, but Philippa Davis from Shaftesbury seems to thrive on the constant changes of…
THE forecast for the next couple of weeks is cold, cold, cold – snow in some places, and bitter winds everywhere. Definitely batten-down-the-hatches weather. But as soon as the sun comes out, the depths of winter are a wonderful time to go for a walk, and there are few parts of the world more beautiful…
by Simone Sekers WE had our Christmas feast well on into the New Year, for various complicated reasons. It was hard work waiting for it, as we had splashed out on a free range goose from my favourite poultry supplier and we knew how good it was going to be. There it was in the…
SUMMER Lodge, the luxurious country house hotel at Evershot, is closed until 25th January for major renovations in the restaurant, spa and kitchen. It is the first time for many years that the hotel, part of the Red Carnation group and a member of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux, has been closed. When it reopens…
TRAVELLING chef Philippa Davis spent a weekend in Wales just before Christmas, cooking for a family on a farm in Pembrokeshire, which was the start of a new love affair for this energetic and inspirational Dorset woman. “Every home should have a dairy herd,” she says … If I was Father Christmas I would generally…
ONE of Dorset’s best-known farm shops celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Udder Farm Shop at East Stour, on the A30 west of Shaftesbury, began as a diversification project for farmer’s wife Jane Down and has become one of the success stories of the area. Jane and husband Brian have won many awards for the shop…
TODAY, six days before Christmas, in the newspaper we like, is a photo of three hippotamuses digging into a big heap of Brussels sprouts. As festive photos go, this one is certainly different. The sprouts themselves, firm, bright green and obviously fresh, look tempting enough to a human, never mind a hippo, but I’m afraid…
CHEF Philippa Davies was back home in Dorset recently to prepare a special dinner Dorset Corset theatre company, run by her sister Helen Watts. The Pudding of Christmas Present… What better way to stir up the Christmas spirit than to invite the cast from theatre company Dorset Corset’s adaption of A Christmas Carol to dinner?…
BEFORE heading down to Dorset to cook for her sister Helen’s Dorset Corset Theatre Company, who will be performing A Christmas Carol at the Shelley Theatre, Boscombe, Philippa Davis was cooking for clients in Holland Park, and had a chance to sample the amazing variety of first class food available in the heart of London….