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…
HAVING recently returned to Plumber Manor, near Sturminster Newton, which has been featured in the Good Food Guide since their first entry 43 years ago, and spending a few days on Orkney, I was keen to try and visit the only Guide entry on the Island, but a friend assured me that the best place…
THE life of a private chef is nothing if not varied – one week Philippa Davis is cooking for a family in Provence, the next she is off to Boston, then it’s a busy few days in Dublin or a shooting party in the Highlands. But the festive season beckons and Philippa’s diary is getting…
by Simone Sekers A WEEK or so ago the excellent Guardian mid-week food page ran a piece about how to pick a good restaurant, written by an anonymous inspector. He, or she detailed the ways you could spot a ‘real’ restaurant from one that buys in food from food manufacturers. Be suspicious of over-designed menus…
OUR “personal chef” (we wish!) has been back to the Highlands cooking for various grouse, partridge and pheasant shoots and in this Postcard Recipe she shows how to make the most of pheasant in season … I should quickly clarify the title as I have already had to dig myself out of trouble from the gamekeeper…
THERE’S no longer any such thing as a job for life and Jeanette Reid, co -owner of the Queen’s Arms in Corton Denham on the Dorset/Somerset border near Sherborne, is determined to enjoy the potential for variety. She started off with 13 years in the police force, changing tack to take on a high-powered human…
HERE in the UK we are using the week to pay homage to that wonderful sweet sticky substance that is made by bees from the nectar of flowers. Yes, National Honey Week is here and it’s time you too got stuck in. Besides keeping the peas on your knife (only joking, Mr Debrett, I know…
THE building that houses The Ticked Pig in Wimborne has been serving food for 65 years, and before that it was a shoemakers. When Niki Barfoot was a child she used to go there with her grandmother and eat cream teas and Black Forest Gateau Now she and husband Jez run their Cafe Deli Kitchen…
by Simone Sekers ALL our friends have just had, or are about to have, holidays which take them, laboriously, to foreign parts. Jordan for one lot, a tour down the Duoro for another. To their surprise, we have just returned from a five-day trip to Bedfordshire (“Bedfordshire?”’ was asked in the tones of Algy’s aunt…
VISITORS and locals all love The Grange at Oborne, a tiny village on the outskirts of Sherborne. It’s a beautiful old building, with a warm atmosphere that is reflected in the welcome from the owners and their staff. The Grange at Oborne has been a country house hotel for many years, with a great reputation…