PHILIPPA Davis, a Shaftesbury-based chef and food-writer, has a new six-part food and travel television series, available on Prime Video, celebrating the wonderful food and drink of Dorset.
A Taste of Dorset takes Philippa all over the county – from Cranborne Chase to the Devon border, meeting some of the outstanding producers who have made Dorset one of the country’s most exciting food destinations.
In each 25-minute episode, she meets three very different producers – they range from fifth-generation millers near Shaftesbury to a family living off grid at Wootton Fitzpaine, from oyster farmers to apple vodka distillers. They tell Philippa their stories and the audience learns about their products and why they feel so deeply connected to Dorset.
Discovering, tasting and gathering ingredients as she goes, with her boundless energy and engaging enthusiasm, Philippa allows viewers to discover the magic, warmth and richness of Dorset’s people, places and producers.
The producers visited in A Taste of Dorset are (by episode):
Episode 1 – Famous Hedgehog Bakery (now closed), Ajar Of, Hazelbury Bryan, and Liberty Fields at Halstock
Episode 2 – The Dorset Dairy Co at Stalbridge, Breezy Ridge Vineyard at West Melbury, Baboo Gelato, Weymouth, and Hollis Mead at Beaminster
Episode 3 – Crab House Café, Chesil Beach, Capreolus Fine Foods Ltd, Rampisham, and Weyfish, Weymouth
Episode 4 – Cranborne Chase Cider, Minchington, Brothers Farm, Wimborne and From Salt to Smoke (now closed)
Episode 5 – NR Stoate & Sons Cann Mills, Shaftesbury, Fivepenny Farm, Wootton Fitzpaine, and Gold Hill Organic Farm, Child Okeford
Episode 6 – Lyons Hill Farm, southern edge of the Blackmore Vale, Dorset Sea Salt Co, Chesil beach, and The Story Pig, Sanford Orcas.
Each episode culminates in Philippa making a family-friendly feast or delicious cocktail, on location with one of the star food producers.
She says: “I’m incredibly excited to support and champion the outstanding food and drink producers we have here in Dorset. It feels vital, now more than ever, to connect our wonderful farmers and makers to consumers in order to share their stories and the work they do.”
Tony Hindhaugh, executive director of production company Planet Eat Media, says: “I was bowled over by the friendliness and passion of every single producer we visited. Dorset is an utterly delicious county and we are delighted to help showcase the marvellous food and drink scene there”.
The series is available via Prime Video Direct – to view A Taste of Dorset go to https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CP9WY6P3
• Philippa Davis grew up on a Dorset smallholding where her love and interest in great food began. At 19 she moved to London to cook in the restaurants The River Café and Moro before setting up and running The Mudchute Kitchen on London’s largest city farm near Canary Wharf. She now works as an international private chef, travelling the globe, discovering the world’s greatest food markets, ingredients and restaurants. Philippa writes for BBC Food, Condé Nast, The Field Magazine, the Deepest Books series and Dorset Magazine. She is a judge for the Great Taste Awards, the World Cheese Awards and The Academy of Chocolate. She has presented two shows for Channel 5 and was a judge on Channel 4’s Beat the Chef. She appears regularly on local radio and can be seen demonstrating her cooking skills at top food festivals. Philippa is an ambassador and pro bono supporter for Liberty Kitchen, the BBC Food and farming street food and social enterprise award-winning enterprise which is run from Pentonville prison. Her food adventures can be followed on Instagram @ philippadavis_food
** Planet Eat Media is a production company based in London, creating food-focused content for a global audience on more than 56 channels around the globe.
*** Philippa also visited three shops that stock local products – Abbotts, Motcombe post office and Shaftesbury Deli