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On the
Food Trail in the UK
 I
felt like a guilty schoolboy as I entered the Rococo Chocolate Shop
on London’s King’s Road and gazed in awe at shelf upon shelf of
tempting delights. Fresh cream truffles; dark chocolate bars
flavoured with lavender, ginger and chilli pepper; chocolate covered
coffee beans and soft nougat –all hand made and artistically
wrapped. Next would come chocolate brownies in The Chocolate Society
café and a browse in Charbonnel et Walker of New Bond Street, before
I would collapse, fully sated, amid the exquisite range in Fortnum
and Mason on Piccadilly.
I was following a London Chocolate Trail – which actually
expands into Five chocolate-y things to do around Britain – on
tourist board VisitBritain’s website. With the country’s growing
reputation for fine cuisine, the number of food and drink trails has
multiplied since the Malt Whisky Trail was set up around the
distilleries of Speyside, north-east Scotland, several decades ago:
it is still going strong.
Whether your passion is for cheese, sausages, ice-cream or wine, you
will find a trail leading you around the most mouth-watering
locations on that theme. There are few pleasures that beat motoring
through the ever-changing countryside, calling in at specialist
shops, farms, vineyards or producers which are usually well off the
usual tourist routes. If your chosen theme is whisky, wine, cider or
beer – other British specialties -- a non-drinking driver is a
prerequisite, of course!
Food Trails in the East of England
The latest route on
offer is the South East England Wine Trail. The wine
producers of the south-east, proud of the ever-increasing quality of
their produce, have published a free map-guide to 20 of the best
vineyards and placed them on a large map. Being only 88 miles north
of the French Champagne region, with almost identical geology, it is
no surprise that wines from England are rivalling that region in
blind tastings. The trail ranges from the tiny Painshill at Cobham –
set in landscaped parkland known for its grotto, Turkish tent and
other exotic follies – to the massive Denbies estate at Dorking:
England’s largest, where visitors are taken round by tractor-train.
Also new, this time in the north-east, is the Lake District Tea
Trail. The tradition of taking afternoon tea, complete with
home-made scones, cream, cakes and delicate sandwiches, was an
English creation and not confined to the Lake District, but the
people of Cumbria --land of romantic poet William Wordsworth-- have
selected some of their best tea shops and put them on a trail. From
a mountain tea garden specialising in home-made cakes and local
ice-cream, to a ‘tea barn’ set in an open-air sculpture park, all
boast quality farmhouse produce and a few local recipes to try when
you get home.
Seafood on the Coast and Sausages in the Midlands
Being an island nation, there are many places where you can enjoy
the finest fresh and smoked fish, and shellfish. A new route through
some of Scotland’s most spectacular scenery enables foodies to enjoy
it in 11 waterfront establishments. The Seafood Trail covers
the rugged scenery of Argyll, reached off the A83 highway west of
Glasgow: a ragged patchwork of land jutting like huge fingers into
the sea, with mountains and long sea-lochs. This combination of
scenery and great food is almost intoxicating and I shall never
forget my first visit to one of the establishments, the Loch Fyne
Oyster Bar, literally a ‘gourmet oasis’ set in isolation beneath
towering mountains and beside a lonely loch, appearing magically out
of swirling Highland mist.
Sausages are one of Britain’s favourite foods: Queen Victoria was
reputed to be an enthusiast, though they were introduced to the
country by the Romans in 500AD and, 1,500 years later, ‘bangers and
mash’ (sausage and mashed potato) still vies with fish and chips and
curry as a national dish. Heart of England Fine Foods, whose fiefdom
includes the West Midlands conurbation around Birmingham and the
rural counties of Shropshire and Staffordshire, has its own
Sausage Trail, taking visitors to the producers of quality
sausages, many of whom have won awards. The selection available
ranges from traditional pork and lamb to beer and spicy chilli
flavoured varieties.
North-West England’s Fine Foods organization is also Serious about
Sausages, one of its free publications, which
includes 52 butchers, farms and other shops scattered from medieval
Chester north to Carlisle, near the Scottish border. Cumberland
sausage is especially noteworthy in this region and butcher W.H.
Frost’s of Manchester uses a century-old family recipe including
local pork, ground peppers and secret ingredients for their
best-selling version.
Cheese and Cider in the Heart of England
Cheese is another favourite, in fact there are probably more trails
for this product in Britain than for any other food. Traditional
cheese making has been revived and there is a growing number of
artisan varieties. The Cheese Trail in Wales takes you to
every corner of this Celtic land, but probably its best known
variety is Caerphilly, now produced by only one company, Castle
Dairies, in its namesake South Wales town. Caerphilly is also
renowned for its 13th century castle which has a leaning tower –
thankfully, it is not as crumbly as the cheese.
Back in England, The Stilton Trail allows visitors to explore and taste the famous Stilton cheese, only produced in three East
Midland counties: Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.
Known as the king of English cheese, its production is entrusted to
just six specialist dairies. A trail booklet is available from local
tourist offices. North-West Fantastic Foods also has a free booklet,
Choosy About Cheese which includes producers of the two great
cheeses of the region, Cheshire and Lancashire. These trails, and
the Heart of England’s Cheese Trail, are also available on
the Internet.
Two of England’s most rural counties, Herefordshire, which borders
Wales, and Somerset in south-west England, are known for their cider
production and have both produced cider routes. These are beautiful
in the spring, when the apple trees are full of blossom, but equally
appealing in October, when the cider making festivals are held.
Herefordshire boasts the biggest cider mill in the world and
Hereford Cathedral has a Cider Bible among other historic books --
notably Mappa Mundi -- in its chained library. The county even
promotes a series of quiet ‘cider cycling routes’ through pretty
villages, and renting a bicycle is probably the best way of sampling
the ciders and seeking out meals made with them.
As locally made ice-cream often rounds off a meal perfectly, I shall
finish this article with the Ice-Cream Trail in the Heart of
England. Featuring ten producers from Coventry to the Welsh border,
examples include Shepherds in Hay-on-Wye, the ‘town of second-hand
books’ and Just Rachel, near the black-and-white town of Ledbury,
which makes elderflower, sloe gin and lavender flavours, among
others!
Perhaps even more fun is to be had by making up your own a la carte
food trail using a combination of the above, and by studying
VisitBritain’s detailed website, www.visitbritain.com/taste. Bon
appetit!
Some of the trails mentioned:
Chocolate (UK): www.visitbritain.com/chocolate
Malt whisky (Scotland): www.maltwhiskytrail.com
Wine (South East England): www.BuyLocalFood.co.uk
Tea (Lake District): www.golakes.co.uk/teatrailcumbria
Seafood (Scotland): www.theseafoodtrail.com
Sausages (Heart/ North-East England):
www.sausagelinks.co.uk/news_detail.asp?id=171;
www.nw-fine-foods.co.uk
Cheese (England): www.stiltoncheese.com ; www.nw-fine-foods.co.uk;
Cider (Herefordshire / Somerset): www.visitherefordshire.co.uk ;
www.somerset.gov.uk/celebratingsomerset/visitors/pages/foodndrink
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