Cheese, brandy and more in sunny Somerset, southwest England
Get a taste of the best England’s West Country has to offer.
I am standing in a muddy field surrounded by trees ripe with different kinds of apples. This is the “library orchard” of century-old Somerset cider producer Thatcher’s, in the village of Sandford. There are 458 varieties of the forbidden fruit here, some of which go into production to make liquid gold.
According to chief cider-maker Richard Johnson, the local climate is ideal for growing apples. “The soil is full of minerals due to the limestone in the area and the weather is temperate as we’re near the sea,” he explains.
The county of Somerset in southwest England, bordered on the north by the Bristol Channel, is noted for its concentration of high-quality food and drink producers. I’m on a jam-packed visit to get a taste of the best the West Country has to offer and I’ve dived straight in with a guided tour of one of Britain’s largest cider-makers.
The following morning I set off early into the Mendip Hills, designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, for breakfast at Yeo Valley. The staff canteen of this dairy company, one of the bestselling organic brands in the country, is open to the public for breakfast and lunch on weekdays. It has just been named the people’s favourite restaurant in the Food Made Good Awards organised by the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
While savouring the operation’s kefir natural yoghurt and admiring the view over Blagdon Lake, owner Tim Mead tells me how he hopes to raise awareness of better farming methods. “You don’t make money out of organic farming but it’s important that we don’t forget traditional ways,” he says. “For example, grass farming puts five times more carbon in the top soil.”
The company offers various activities at its headquarters, including cooking demonstrations and tours of the 600ha farm, during which visitors can meet some of its 40-year-old herd of British Friesian cows.
From here I drive south through Cheddar Gorge, 4.8km long and 137m deep, to the village of Cheddar. At the multi-award-winning Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company, the only cheese-maker actually based in the village, you can see this yellowish hard cheese being made by hand and watch an informative short film. The clothbound truckles are matured in the gorge’s cave system. This geological marvel is popular with potholers and is famous for its prehistoric finds, notably 9000-year-old “Cheddar Man”. You can discover more about him in the Museum of Prehistory and visit the cave where he (Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton) was found in 1903.
After sampling some of the flavoured varieties, including chilli, yeast extract, and, of course, cider, I continue south, through small villages surrounded by green fields, to Glastonbury, renowned for its mystical Tor (man-made hill) and legendary annual music festival, and on to the village of Street.
Best known as the HQ of Clarks Shoes, this town is also the location of Sharpham Park, home of Roger Saul, the founder of luxury handbag company Mulberry. Since 2003, Roger and his team have transformed this ancient 120ha estate into an organic farm producing spelt grains and walnuts and rearing red deer.
Although not open to the public, Roger gives me a tour of the onsite mill where the spelt is stone ground to make flour or “bounced” to make pearled spelt (used in risottos). He says: “This area has been farmed since 957AD but we know that spelt dating back at least 2000 years has been found here. Its popularity has waxed and waned over the centuries but we’re doing what we can to revive it as it has many health benefits.” You can buy or try the products in the cafe and restaurant at Kilver Court, Roger’s “designer outlet” in nearby Shepton Mallet.
Continuing southwest, through villages with names such as Huish Episcopi and Curry Rivel, I arrive at Brown & Forrest Smokery. This small family-run business provides top-quality hot or cold-smoked fish and meat to the likes of illustrious London store Fortnum & Mason and top seafood chef Mitch Tonks, as well as individuals via its onsite shop and cafe.
Owner Jesse Pattison says: “People have always made good products in this area and I happen to live here so I source what I need locally. I don’t care if they’re organic or not, just that they are the best quality.” In her pursuit of excellence, Jesse smokes her salmon flat rather than hung vertically, so it doesn’t stretch the muscles, which gives a better texture for eating.
About 1.5km from the smokery is a hill with one tree on the top. This is the site of The Somerset Cider Brandy Company, which supplied the spirit for the wedding breakfast of Harry and Meghan. Owner Julian Temperley, father of fashion designer Alice Temperley, became the first licensed brandy distiller in Britain in 1989. The company has been able to use the word “brandy” to describe its product since 2011, after being granted permission by the European Union.
The farm is open for prearranged tours Monday to Saturday and what you see will depend on the time of year. I’m here during cider-making season (September to Christmas) and a 90-minute visit takes me through a yard piled high with apples, into the distillery to see the two French-made copper stills (distilling takes place from February to April), before enjoying a few snifters of five to 20-year-old brandies while being intoxicated by alcoholic fumes from the 170-year-old oak barrels.
After 12 hours of tasting and talking, I’m relieved to arrive at the Porlock Weir Hotel. The quaint coastal hamlet in North Somerset, after which the hotel is named, is renowned for its grade-A Pacific oysters.
The water in the bay is very clean, partly due to the Bristol Channel having the second highest tidal range in the world; production of the molluscs was revived here in 2012. Visitors will be able to find out more about them in a new discovery centre, due to open this northern summer.
Porlock is part of Exmoor National Park and the following morning I meet Wild About Exmoor guides Jennie and Malcolm for a bracing walk up Dunkery Beacon, the moor’s highest point (519m), where we forage for mushrooms. I didn’t think it was possible but I’ve worked up an appetite for lunch.
Victoria Trott was a guest of Visit Somerset and Visit Exmoor.
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IN THE KNOW
The nearest international airport to Somerset is Bristol. A direct train from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads takes 90 minutes.The Railway Inn in Sandford is a traditional country pub with Thatcher’s Cider on tap and hearty cuisine on the menu;
DoubleTree by Hilton Cadbury House, a four-star hotel 8km north of Sandford, has a health club and spa and Marco Pierre White’s Steakhouse & Grill; cadburyhotelbristol.co.uk.
The Porlock Weir Hotel, housed in an elegant Victorian villa overlooking the Bristol Channel, serves creative dishes made with local, seasonal produce; porlockweirhotel.co.uk.