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The South West is home to more specialist food and drink producers than any other region, all of them harvesting its rich, natural resources and using their expertise to create an unrivalled range of food and drink.
You may think of the South West as being the home of Cheddar cheese, cream and cider, but the list goes further than that. New cheeses are being added almost every year to an already impressive list, which includes cheese made from the milk of buffaloes which roam the Mendip range, ewes and goats.
To the cream they have added other dairy products including real dairy ice cream, some of it made from sheeps' milk.
Not only cider but cider brandy and the English equivalent to Normandy's pommeau are all made here, as are some heavenly liqueurs. Breweries such as Exmoor ales at Wiveliscombe produce a range of distinctive beers using the soft local water. There are specialist bakers, fish smokeries and cottage industries turning out jams and other preserves. The quality of meat from this region is legendary; not only are there first class master butchers and graziers but bacon processors, sausage and pudding makers, firms which have elevated traditional pie and pasty-making to a new realm. |
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At the Castle we are proud of our tradition of drawing the vast majority of our food and drink supplies from our own county, though when we are surrounded by so many first rate producers it's only natural to make them our first choice.
Somerset is famed for its dairy produce, which now includes not merely Cheddar, but a wide range of other newly developed cheeses and for the superb quality of its beef, lamb and game.
Though not as extensive as they once were, Somerset's apple and pear orchards still provide fruit of outstanding quality, with a number of growers specialising in the reintroduction of old, traditional varieties. Thousands of tons of apples are also turned into some of Britain's finest cider. |
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