Island celebrates British Food Fortnight (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Island celebrates British Food Fortnight

2:52pm Friday 18th September 2009

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A SWEETCORN Fayre, an Apple Day Festival, plus lots of opportunities to enjoy delicious, locally produced food and drink at country pubs, farm shop cafes and modern restaurants - the Isle of Wight is doing its bit to support British Food Fortnight (19 September to 4 October), which is all about buying British food locally, seasonally and regionally (www.lovebritishfood.co.uk).

The Isle of Wight is the one of the UK’s most southerly Islands with a unique climate and excellent sunshine record, which has always made it one of the earliest producers of top quality fruit and vegetables, as well as providing excellent grazing for sheep and cattle.

With a diversity of farming and agriculture and a great range of products like cherry and plum tomatoes, garlic (over 12 varieties), award-winning cheese and wine, as well as a great array of fresh fish, the Isle of Wight is the perfect venue for discerning food lovers. In recent years, the Isle of Wight has attracted several Michelin starred chefs to its hotels and restaurants, like Robert Thompson at The Hambrough in Ventnor (www.thehambrough.com), whose critically-acclaimed restaurant has just been ranked number 37 in The Good Food Guide’s top 50 restaurants.

Meanwhile, Michelin-starred executive chef Alexis Gauthier has installed his sous-chef, Carlos Garcia Rodriquez, as head chef at the Priory Bay, a delightful country house hotel situated between Bembridge and Seaview. Alexis will be passing on his culinary skills at a series of residential Cookery Master Classes being held at the hotel, commencing this October. Full details of the Master Class package, which includes 2-nights accommodation, are available on the website, www.priorybay.com So make a date in your diary and visit the Isle of Wight during British Food Fortnight, or indeed at any time of year and try some of the delicious food on offer:

Sweetcorn Fayre – 19 to 27 September

A week-long festival of great food, drink and family fun. Expect live music, a country fairground, a food theatre, a beer festival and lots of fresh, succulent Isle of Wight sweet corn – plus over a dozen craft shops selling Island gifts and produce. For more, visit www.arretonbarns.co.uk

Apple Day Festival 19/20th September

A celebration of the English apple and apple traditions with a wide range of stalls, craft stands, demonstrations and food on the menu - many of which have an apple theme. Try the Apple Tree Café where organic produce grown in its grounds is used to create mouth-watering meals. Visit the website for more information, www.aftonpark.co.uk

Where to stay on the Island

Many Island hotels like the Orchardcroft Hotel in Shanklin pride themselves in using Island produce all year round. Expect Island grown fruit and veg on the menu as well as locally sourced cheese, eggs, lamb, beef and pork. B&B starts at £36 per person, half board from £48 (tel. 01983 862133, or visit www. orchardcroft.co.uk).

The Royal Hotel in Ventnor has achieved an impressive 2 Rosettes for the quality of its food – their sample menu on the website (www.royalhoteliow.co.uk) includes plenty of local delights including Ventnor Lobster and Crab, Chargrilled Isle of Wight Asparagus, Free Range Godshill Chicken and Isle of Wight Blue Cheese Soufflé.

For contemporary seaside chic, the Seaview Hotel near Ryde provides a luxurious home from home. Locally sourced ingredients are the order of the day in the restaurant and conservatory, where head chef Graham Walker’s seasonal menu features rich pickings from the hotel’s farm in Carisbrooke. Tel. 01983 612711, www.seaviewhotel.co.uk). If you’re looking for a nice night away with some grand food, lovely beach walks and a bed to stagger barely ten steps to once you’re sated, then try The Crab & Lobster Inn, nestled right by the harbour in the pretty town of Bembridge (tel. 01983 872244, www.thecrabandlobsterinn.co.uk). Sample their seafood specials, or purchase your own from the Best Dressed Crab in Town, also in Bembridge, not forgetting to stop-off at the Bembridge Deli, home of The Isle of Wight Pate Company.

Eating out on the Island

At King’s Manor Farm Café in Freshwater, the sheep are grazed on salt marshes producing a more gamey, less fatty meat. The beef too is grown on the rough grassland which, as well as providing fantastic grazing for their organic cattle, is a haven for over wintering lapwings and grey partridges. With the beef, they produce the café’s speciality, gourmet burgers, which have nothing added to detract from the taste of the meat. Work up an appetite by doing the circular walk which goes through the King’s Manor Farm land, linking Yarmouth to Freshwater. Tel.01983 754401, info@kingsmanorfarm.com The Red Lion at Freshwater is known for its locally sourced meat, fish and vegetables and the high quality of its cooking, served in a traditional atmosphere. Or head south to The Buddle Inn at Niton which also has a name for delicious home-cooked fare and excellent range of ales.

For cool and contemporary dining, try the St Helens Restaurant near Ryde which is open for brunch on Sundays (www.sthelensrestaurant.com), while Lugley’s of Cowes has a seafront location offering panoramic views across the Solent. The award-winning Quay Arts Café in Newport is well known by local people for its healthy, seasonal produce. Talented chef, Martyn Cutler, who came to Quay Arts via a Michelin-starred restaurant in France, changes the menu daily. Visitors can expect hearty soups, a bounty of delicious homemade main meals, homemade cakes and special gourmet menus made with hand-picked ingredients for events such as the popular Jazz Café held once a month. Tel. 01983 822490, www.quayarts.org Open until the end of October, Chessell Pottery Barns, home of the Ultimate Island Cream Tea, is a small, family run pottery in the heart of the countryside on the western side of the Isle of Wight, close to the famous cliffs once walked by Victorian poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson. This Cream Tea couldn’t be more local – it consists of large home baked scones made with the Island’s own Stone-ground Flour and rich Island butter, and served with real clotted cream from local Calbourne Classics farm and strawberry jam made just up the road by a local jam maker in the nearby village of Porchfield. The tea is served on strawberry Chessell Ware in the pottery’s newly refurbished tea room, or outside in the courtyard under the lovely willow tree, or in the spring under the stunning mimosa tree. Tel. 01983 531248, www.pottery-café.com

Self catering

Companies like The Real Island Food Company and Are you being served are ideal for those self-catering on the Island. Specialising in food and drink grown, reared and produced on the Island, visitors can order all the basics including milk, bread, butter, bacon and eggs, as well as experiencing a taste of our gourmet Island with Isle of Wight cheese, Minghella ice cream, seafood, local meats, season fruit and vegetables, cakes, real ales, wine and lots more. Both companies will deliver shopping to your holiday cottage awaiting your arrival (www.realislandfood.co.uk, www.areyoubeingserved.me.uk.

Or visit the weekly Farmer’s Market (Fridays in Newport, Saturdays in Ryde) which spotlights the best local producers, such as Richard Hodgson, who set up the Isle of Wight Cheese Company and won Best English Cheese at the World Cheese Awards 2007.

Like many areas of the world, the Isle of Wight has its own local recipes and tasty treats including its own take on the doughnut.  The Island was the first place in the UK to develop doughnuts, and references to doughnuts were included in local shroving customs and songs.

The Isle of Wight doughnut is unique in that they do not have a jam centre, but use plums instead while some variations include currants or candied peel, and were lard browned. You can purchase one from Market Bakery in Newport, At least once during your stay, you should treat yourself to a Bluebell Breakfast at Briddlesford Lodge Farm, Wootton, near Ryde, made from local bacon with lovely free range eggs, local tomatoes, locally made sausages and field mushrooms. Light lunches or main meals are equally imaginative. Local Gallybagger cheese makes a fabulous red onion tart, and a fisherman comes in twice a week with his wares, resulting in crab salads and other fishy dishes. Tel. 01983 882885, www.briddlesfordlodgefarm.co.uk A tasty trail for Isle of Wight Cherries, oak roasted tomatoes and award-winning beef from Highland cattle reared on the Isle of Wight are the latest gourmet treats to be featured in the new edition of the Wight Taste Trail, which traces a route that allows visitors to eat and drink their way around the most scenic parts of the Isle of Wight.

Created in 2007 by cross-Solent ferry operator Wightlink to provide tourists with a food-based short break itinerary, the trail has been updated with a new booklet. Call 0871 376 1000 for a copy, or download one from the website: www.wightlink.co.uk/media/32295/eatwight.pdf Red Funnel Ferries has also produced a Food Lovers Guide to the Isle of Wight. The stylish, new guide includes restaurant reviews and is available on-line at www.redfunnel.co.uk/island-guide/isle-of-wight-places-to-eat The Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce produces an official Eating Out Guide. The 2009/10 version is available from Island tourist information centres, pubs, restaurants and hotels. For more information about eating out on the Island visit www.islandbreaks.co.uk/site/eating-out For details on how to get to the Isle of Wight, where to stay and what to see and do, visit www.islandbreaks.co.uk or telephone 01983 813813.

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