Screen bites
The UK’s only food and film festival is celebrating its ninth birthday this month with a programme of screenings around Dorset, Somerset and Devon.
Tea and cake
In this multinational age, it is refreshing to find a successful café chain that has its roots firmly in the West Country. The Boston Tea Party has branches in Bristol and Bath (as well as Honiton, Exeter, Barnstaple and further afield).
Award-winning Somerset
It’s been a great few weeks for Somerset, as local food producers have been showered with awards and honours.
School lunch with a difference
Forget turkey twizzlers: boys and girls at King’s Hall School (the prep school partner of King’s College, Taunton) have something to look forward to when the gong goes for lunch.
Ploughman’s lunch
Despite theories that the term ‘ploughman’s lunch’ was invented by a cynical marketing agency to sell more cheese, it has to be admitted then when you’re hungry, this classic combo of bread, cheese and chutney is hard to beat.
Clear and cool
Mineral water is not usually something to get excited about: still or sparkling just about sums it up.
New name, new managers
Three years ago my partner and I turned one of the loveliest houses in the Somerset Levels, Langford Fivehead, into a gastronomic b&b. The property is situated between Taunton and Langport and set in seven glorious acres of garden, park, orchard and woodland.
Cutting edge beer
An unusual collaboration between a brewery in Wiveliscombe and its neighbour, which produces high-specification saws for the timber industry, has resulted in a new beer called Bandsaw. The beer is brewed from Devon pale and crystal malted barley and carefully selected Goldings, Challenger and Styrian hops, to produce a golden colour, light fragrance and smooth fruity finish.
