THE geese are busy laying at the Traditional Free Range Egg Company, so directors Dan and Briony Wood have teamed up with local award-winning chef Brett Sutton to offer some great ideas to their customers. To celebrate the start of the new goose egg season, Brett , chef-proprietor of The White Post in Rimpton, has…
by Simone Sekers TRYING to play the glad game about leaving Brexit, I wondered whether, instead of all those smug Wrecksiteers going on about “getting our country back,” it might be possible to think about getting France back instead. This would restore the magic of that descent from the ferry in to the very heart…
by Simone Sekers RAISE a glass to the ever-increasing range of alcohols around at the moment. It started with gallant wine makers, bravely making the best of the then British weather (I’m thinking of 30 years ago now) and producing often tongue-raspingly acidic white wines that cost more than a premier cru white Burgundy. How…
by Simone Sekers CAN you judge the standard of food at a place by what the chef is wearing? And if there isn’t a chef, then who will give you the clues you seek? You can give a good sniff around the area of the extractor fans and give the place a wide berth if…
A NEW cocktail from Blackacre Farm Eggs combines Dorset’s own gin, a sparkling wine from Lyme Bay and the white of one of Blackacre’s eggs to create a very British take on a French classic. Combining outstanding local produce and punchy summer flavours in equal measure, the South West 75 should prove a hit with…
by Simone Sekers THE first shrimping trip of the season is always a triumph of expectation over fulfilment, but the glittering May sunshine on the waves is so enticing that we can never resist. The very fact that there are waves is an indication that shrimping isn’t going to work – that chilly spring breeze…
MACCLESFIELD in Cheshire holds its Treacle Market on the last Saturday of every month; it’s a relatively new invention, aimed at bringing back life to one of the most attractive small towns that orbit Manchester. It reminded me of our own Frome Independent, the market stalls trickling down the hills and congregating wherever there’s a…
THE 2016 World Cheese Awards, run by the Guild of Fine Food, which is based in Gillingham, will be crossing the Bay of Biscay to take place in the Basque country, at San Sebastian during the city’s tenure as European Capital of Culture. As the dairy industry continues to experience challenging times, this is a…
IF there is one thing you won’t hear at the end of one of Steven Oxford’s baking courses at the historic family bakery near Sherborne, it is “We need more buns!” The five of us who enjoyed a baking day at Alweston before Christmas went home laden with enough mouth-watering baked goods to stock a…
IN late November I joined some 250 white-coated cheese assessors from across the globe, assembled at the NEC to officiate at the World Cheese Awards. Nigh on 3,000 cheeses, (2,727 to be exact) spread across 62 judging tables meant approximately 42 cheeses for each judging team to assess within two and a half hours. It’s…