“In the spacious and hygienic preparation areas of The Smokehouse, salmon is salted and smoked; bacon, hams and other meats cured and sliced. Elsewhere, the smoke stoves are filled with sweet-smelling chippings of maple and oak which impart the distinctive taste to Cheshire Smokehouse products.”

Doesn’t that just get the old taste buds rolling! I love the thought of the big stoves going on a crisp Winter’s day.

Cheshire Smokehouse is based in Wilmslow in Cheshire, and basically it does what it says on the tin.

As both ‘farm shop’ and national branded producer, The Smokehouse is an oasis of quality and service in a world of blandness and uniformity. What really makes The Smokehouse different is that most of the products you see and eat – even the fantastic smoked nuts! – are made right there on the premises, with all the expertise and attention to detail you’d expect.

The meat is fantastic, I have long been a fan of their smoked bacon which we have virtually every saturday morning with fresh eggs and Barbakan bagels. We recently did a little trip out to the smokehouse to stock up on some meat. The prices are very competitive with the supermarkets and it’s lovely to know that it is all reared and prepared on site. I just have to be really careful that I don’t blow the budget on sticky toffee pudding and other goodies in the Pâtisserie.

So that rounds it up for another year. I know we have be a little sparse for the past few months but the Carry on Britain team have big plans for 2010. So, wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

What I love in winter is when you go for a long lovely walk in the freezing cold and then treat yourself to a plate full of pie and mash afterwards.

To me it doesn’t get any better. Add in some mulled wine at this time of year and a good Xmas movie and I’m happy all night.

I first came across Pieminister pies when a bar (aptly named Pi) in Chorlton, Manchester started selling pie and mash for tea – a choice of three or four pies served with mash, mushy peas and thick gravy. What a brilliant idea!!!

Back in 2002, Jon Simon and Tristan Hogg teamed up to start a pie business, giving the British public what they needed – a good pie made from proper stuff. After months of development Pieminister was born, what followed was a small shop in Bristol and a stall at London Borough market sitting alongside some of the finest food producers in the world.

Pieminister now has a proper pie kitchen filled with chefs and bakers and is stocked in pubs, restaurants and shops all around the UK, they have even been eaten by the Queen.

Each pie is still made by hand only using the finest ingredients sourced from British farmers and all the meat is free range. We like it when the animals are happy!!

A wise woman once asked me “what is your favorite vegetable?”

To me this is an easy question. It is quite obviously the humble potato (although parsnips come a very close second).

Potatoes are ultimately versatile, but of the many end uses, the best is most definitely crisps!

This is where our friends at Tyrrells Potato Chips step in. I became very closely acquainted with Tyrrells one evening in our local pub, where I demolished bag after delicious bag of mixed root vegetable crisps until, alas, I couldn’t look at another parsnip ever again (ok, well it was only for a couple of days until we made potato and parsnip mash).

Anyway, where am I going with this?….oh yeah…crisps! I love crisps, what an amazing concept – I could live off crisps and cheese and be really happy for the rest of my life (I’d be fat, but at least I’d be happy). So last week, after a really rubbish day at work, I was over the moon to find Tyrrells had sent us a box of crisps to try…wahoo!!! Makes going to work worthwhile when you come home to that (sorry Duncan). If you sign up to their website, then you too can become part of the taster panel. Every month they randomly pick people from the list and send out 100 boxes of crisps for people to try. If you love food and love life, then you definitely should be doing a bit of Tyrrelling

Tyrrells was named after the farm where William Chase, the founder of Tyrrells was brought up and still currently farms. In the late nineties, Will traveled the world researching the perfect potato chip production methods and brought his knowledge back to Herefordshire where Tyrrells potato chips were born. All the potatoes are grown locally within a 50km radius of the farm and they use some delicious varieties such as Lady Claire and Lady Rosetta.

You have to check out their very beautifully designed website for more info and the full selection but I urge you to have a bag of the Ludlow Sausage with Wholegrain Mustard crisps! Lush!

Kettle crisps had best watch out!

On a final note, they now do potato vodka. See – I told you potatoes were the best vegetable

PS… You can get in touch with Tyrrells on twitter… @Tyrrells give them a nudge and tell them we sent you

I have just found this from Stuart Gardiner, a tea towel with a yearly guide to 74 British seasonal fruits & vegetables printed on it. It comes in a six colour unbleached organic cotton tea towel and its made in the UK.

How cool is that.

You can buy it here

Sometimes in life, you go through phases where you can’t get enough of something. You know those guilty pleasures that you can’t get through the day without thinking of at least once.

I’ve had a fair few of these weird and wonderful food addictions over the years (jacket potatoes with cheese and battered fish butties from the chippy are two notable examples – not at the same time though!) but the latest thing that’s got a grip on me is olives!

Now this is quite strange because up until a couple of years ago, I couldn’t stand the salty little beggars! For some reason, at the moment I crave Pimento Stuffed Olives ALL THE TIME!

“WHAT!?” I hear you shout – Olives aren’t British!

I know, I know, and for this I am truly sorry. The source of my guilt is that this delicious delicacy that I can’t keep my grubby mits off, comes from Greece.

But wait…

So imagine my surprise when I did a little googling only to discover that due to climate change, we are now able to grow olives in this country. Now imagine my excitement (yes, very sad I know) that there are farmers who are actually growing them by the chuff-load.

Mark Diacono on Otter Farm in Devon, is taking advantage of Britain’s warming climate to grow more Mediterranean crops like olives, peaches, almonds, szechuan pepper, apricots and a vineyard. 5 years ago, he planted 120 olive trees on his 17-acre farm and hopes to be producing British home-grown Olive Oil within a year.

And it isn’t just me who is rather excited about this. As rumour has it, a top London department store, has offered to pre-buy the entire production run. Mark, however, has said that he would prefer to sell locally to keep the food miles down.

Brilliant stuff. One less pleasure to feel guilty about

To learn more, have a read of the article on Country File.

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As well as planting and maintaining Otter Farm’s orchards, vineyards, forest garden and veg patch, Mark Diacono leads the Garden Team at River Cottage. He also runs the growing courses at River Cottage, gives talks and hosts events at RCHQ, and appears in the River Cottage TV series too. Busy bloke then!

Sorry but if this blog is turning into a homage to cheese however we all worship it and Britain has some of the world’s finest cheeses – really it does! Its rude not to share the news.

Again back at the infamous Lancashire Country Fair (next to the PotsnPies stall) was a very nice gentleman with a selection of cheeses that I could not walk past and ignore.

Arran’s cheeses are made by the Island Cheese Company on the Isle of Arran. They produce wax sealed flavoured cheddars such as Chilli Cheddar, Hebridean Herb and Hamilton’s choice which is flecked with chives. Or try the Balmoral which is laced with claret and which I bought intending it to be for my Dad but then ate it myself in secret – a true cheeseoholic. Or just have it naked without any flavours.

Anyway the Island Cheese Company sell at Wholesale, Farmers markets or (most convenient for us 21st century kids) you can buy online along with other Arran goodies such as oatcakes, smoked salmon and relishes. All I can say is their cheese is divine and delicious, my drug of choice and I relish the chance to scoff some more! Ha now that really is cheesy……

Do you even know what one is?

Well I’ll tell ya its potato, bacon and onion encased in a crunchy, buttery pastry that’s what!

I stumbled upon these little gems whilst at the Lancashire Country Show – a phenomenal treat of Country wares and games such as Ferret racing and grass cutting competitions. It was, of course, brilliant in a quirky old-fashioned-good-clean fun-manner and in between the local festivities I picked up a few of Britain’s best edible treats including the awesome Finkle Pie.

Pots and Pies are committed to producing quality pies made from carefully selected, locally sourced ingredients. Using old fashioned skills they convert traditional recipe fillings such as Pigeon and Pea & Wild Boar and Chestnut into delicious hand raised pies.

Try the minted lamb or the beef and ale with some mash and gravy on the side – yum yum I say!

Sadly Pots n Pies don’t have a website (which makes me love them even more!) however they can be contacted on 07515 652 611 or info@potsnpies.co.uk

So, it turns out that the Farm that we were camping at (Trevalgan Holiday Park) rear their own free range beef…

We didn’t actually realise this till the very last day, so we weren’t able to sample the home made beef burgers or steaks on offer. Flippin Typical!

Luckily though, Trevalgan supply their St Ives Beef nationwide so I have placed an order and will keep you updated about how nice it is and whether it is as tasty as the Aberdeen Angus Beef from Cedar Barn in North Yorkshire.

A little about St Ives Beef…

St. Ives Beef comes from Trevalgan Farm which lies on the cliffs just outside St. Ives in an area of outstanding natural beauty. All the free range, traditionally reared cattle are born and raised within 4 miles of St. Ives. During their life at Trevalgan they are allowed to roam freely and graze naturally on grass and home grown forage crops. The lovely people at Trevalgan don’t believe in routine vaccinations or in the force feeding of concentrates to promote speedy growth so their bullocks are allowed to grow at their own pace. To quote them “It’s no wonder the cattle from here produce some of the finest beef we’ve tasted and you don’t just have to take our word for it!”

I certainly won’t just be taking your word for it…bring on that beefy box so I can have a taste

What a load of bullocks…

As Trevalgan Farm is so close to the cliffs and coastal path, they have their own little nature trail which takes in loads of beautiful views and even an ancient burial ground. Lou and I set off across the fields following the signs and that’s how we found out about the St Ives Beef.

Infact we came face to face with it…

Lou’s a bit scared of cows so after ‘the stand off’, we made a hasty retreat over the fence and continued on our little adventure towards the sea and cliffs. As you can see from the photos below, the scenery is absolutely stunning and the weather was fantastic!

Uh Oh…

Did I mention Lou’s a bit scared of cows? Well you can imagine the look on her face when we walked over the top of the hill to be faced with this little lot. Oh Parp! Luckily there were a few fellow walkers on the cliffs that day so with a bit of trepidation, we made our way through the baying mob!

If happy, healthy cows are your thing…

then I can definitely say that this lot are having a loads of fun scampering around the cliffside hills and field’s (don’t worry – they are fenced in so there’s no chance of them making a beeline for the beach and coming a cropper on the cliffs!). They seem really happy even if they do look a bit grumpy up close.

Checkout the St Ives Beef website for more details about the farms and also to place an order for a box of beef containing a variety of cuts. Mooooo!

I have to just say I have tasted a cheese sensation.

I have had many beautiful and cherished moments with cheese but I must say this cheese is just AMAZING!!! Truckle cheese leaves that beautiful strong cheddar taste in your mouth that only a true strong cheese does. Sod Asda and their supposed ‘extra strong’ cheddars and give your mouth a real treat with this.

Oh and I have just spotted Creamy Blue Stilton Truckle. That little beauty means trouble..!

Our second destination in Masham was luckily just over the road from the Black Sheep Brewery so it was only a hop, skip and a jump to sampling some more fine ales…

The Theakton’s Brewery visitor centre was much smaller and cosier place than the Black Sheep Brewery which was right up my street. Again, we opted to forego the tour and head straight to the pub (some things never change!)

A little about Theakston’s Brewery…

Way way back in 1827, it all started when Robert Theakston leased the Black Bull Inn and brewhouse in Masham. In 1875 his son, Thomas, built the famous brewery that still stands today on an area of Masham known as “Paradise Fields”, hence “The Black Bull in Paradise” named Visitor Centre.

It’s taken around 180 years for Theakstons’ range of classic and seasonal ales to develop into the legend that they are today.

The brewery has seen numerous changes during that time including ownership battles and development of many of the traditions still in existence today. Scottish and Newcastle took charge of the brewery for a stint, but now it is back in the very capable hands of the Theakston Brothers (Nick, Simon, Tim and Edward) – the fifth generation of Theakston brewers.

The beer…

Classic Ales

Seasonal Ales

Rather than write an account of each beer – please click on the links above to read the tasting notes from the Theakston website who perfectly describe the tasty range of flavours in each brew.

The verdict…

We had to sample a few different ales to try and reach a decision but in the end the panel was still divided. Surprisingly, Lou and Becs (who aren’t really bitter drinkers) really liked the full bodied strong and deep flavour of ‘Old Peculiar’ which is quite rightly known as a legendary ale. Gray was partial to a pint of Best Bitter and I really liked the fruityness of Theakstons XB. Basically, they are all pretty damn tasty and well worth trying!