Variety is the menu at Ledbury Big Breakfast 2014

We’re looking forward to this year’s Ledbury Big Breakfast on Friday 31st January and Saturday 1st February. Twenty-one cafes, shops, hotels, pubs, delis and markets in Ledbury and District are taking part to celebrate Farmhouse Breakfast Week, featuring special breakfast offerings as well as their normal menus.

Waller's Full Monty Breakfast Sausage — Waller’s Full Monty Breakfast Sausage

What could be better on a cold winter’s morning than a delicious breakfast that sets you up for the day? From freshly made drinks and smoothies at Ice Bytes to a Hearty Herefordshire Breakfast at Mrs Muffins or the Café at Nice Things), there is something for everyone. You can feast on devilled lamb’s kidneys with toasted homemade brioche at the Feathers, or eggs benedict at Chez Pascal or the Retreat, or you can go for bacon and eggs at a number of places. You can even choose a bacon bruschetta. There are lighter bites of all kinds such as “Herefordshire porridge” at the Market House Cafe, local patisserie at Cameron and Swan and a continental twist at the Shop at Bromsberrow, bacon and cheese scones at the Muse Cafe, rhubarb breakfast muffin at Roots Herefordshire, fruit salad and yoghurts…the list is endless

For those who want a breakfast to take home, the butchers or food shops will all have special offerings for you – bacon, sausages, including the intriguing Full Monty Breakfast sausage at Wallers, a special offer on local eggs at Gurneys, and delicious fresh fruit granola from Four Oaks Delicatessen. The wonderful scotch eggs from the Handmade Scotch Egg company are available at Handley’s Organics. At the Three Counties Cider Shop you can taste local apple juices and jams and on Saturday 1st February from 9.30am Rachel Hicks from Just Rachel Ice Creams will be offering samples of her new creation – Granola and Honey Ice Cream.

On Friday the winning sausage from the Sausage Competition run by Trumpet Corner café and Llandinabo Farm Shop will be available to eat or buy to take home. Entries are really rolling in for this. Katie Rolfe from Trumpet Corner said, “We’ve had some interesting entries so far, including the quirky, the out of ordinary and the traditional”. Friday is also the day for hearing Bawdy Tales from the Inns of Ledbury courtesy of Gareth Calan Davies whilst enjoying a filling brunch at the Talbot.

Don’t forget the markets – the Country Market will be serving local eggs, toast, preserves, muffins in their “Breakfast on the Go” on Friday. On Saturday Noggin Farm’s home produced pork and sausages will be on offer at Ledbury Market for you to take home for next week’s breakfasts.

We can’t wait…

See the events listing for more details of what is available and where, plus times of availability.

Tim of Wallers with the Full Monty Sausages

January 8, 2014January 24, 2014

Get ready for the Big Breakfast …

Farmhouse Breakfast Week returns to Ledbury with the Ledbury Big Breakfast 2014 on Friday 31^st January and Saturday 1^st February featuring a feast of locally sourced breakfast food in and around Ledbury.

Big Break - Eggs Benedict at Cafe Sez — Eggs Benedict at Cafe Sez (now moved to Chez Pascal) – Big Breakfast 2013

Last year’s event, the first ever, proved really popular. The toughest part was choosing: a hearty full Herefordshire breakfast, scrambled eggs, Eggs Benedict, breakfast muffins, muesli, yoghurt and compote, frittata, scotch eggs, wild boar sausage, or just good old bacon and eggs?

This year we have even more venues and more choice lined up. The full list, with menus, will be published here shortly.

All kinds of breakfast and brunch will be available from the lightest breakfast to the heaviest in our cafes and pubs, including special menu items for the event featuring local produce. Our butchers will offer their home produced bacon, sausages and eggs, and our local delicatessens will have special menu items. You can eat in, take out, take away or take home.

We hope you will join us for breakfast in and around Ledbury on Friday 31st January and Saturday 1st February and bring family, friends, neighbours and colleagues too.

Muse Cafe Muesli, Compote and Yoghurt – Big Breakfast 2013

September 17, 2013September 17, 2013

Ludlow Food Festival

Before you say anything, I know that Ludlow is 32.9 miles from Ledbury and therefore, if we are being strict about such things, out of our orbit. But the Ludlow Food Festival is such a celebration of local food, and such a great event, that I felt I had to share some of it with you! And of course, there are some producers from nearer home who exhibit there regularly, look at the photos and you may find some familiar faces…

Since its beginnings in 1994 the Festival has grown magnificently, with a second Spring event starting six years ago. When we went there on Saturday the main event in the castle was packed, with everyone enjoying sampling what was on offer (well, not everyone, see right) But what was also clear is that the whole town embraces this event, with shops, restaurants & cafes taking part and even non-food shops having food-themed displays in their windows. There were queues at all the butchers’ stands around the town, with people standing in line to taste their sausages and get a stamp – the famous sausage trail! There are workshops, demonstrations and talks, children’s cookery sessions, a secret dinner party and a secret restaurant which takes you on a walk to see the food that you are then going to eat – must remember to book next year!

So what new food did I discover? The Ludlow Nut Company have some very moreish nuts & fruits and their luxury muesli is equally tasty. They now sell tempting cake mixes – easy, quick & delicious. If you fancy a change from the usual crisps Scott Farms near Evesham won Best New Product at the Festival with their latest venture; sweet potato chips. Scarlet Angel (I liked their “decadence with a conscience” strap line!) were offering sauces with a wonderful bite; Lime, Ginger and Coriander was my favourite and I am looking forward to their Beetroot & Ginger Chutney too.

It was interesting to see just how many farms have diversified from their traditional produce – a sign of the times – offering a wide range of charcuterie, from salami to bresaola. The ones I tasted, from Wenlock Edge Farm, would not have been out of place in an Italian delicatessen – tasty, moist and showing both the quality of our local meat and the skill & imagination of farmers in these parts! Sadly I could not fight my way through the crowd thronging their stand to taste the pork, plum & ginger sausages – right up my street! Some farms have really diversified. A glorious array of scrumptious-looking cakes turned out to be the latest venture of Hodghurst Farm at Church Stretton – more about them next blog as they have a rather particular angle, as do Cradley-based Mulberry Tree Pies…

And finally, it was lovely to see people queueing up to taste Once Upon A Tree’s delicious drinks. The fact that it was quite hard to get a photo of the stand shows how popular they are! The same was true of Oliver’s Cider & Perry from Ocle Pychard and Wright’s Culinary Delights (see my earlier blog). I’m sure the same would have been true of well-established favourites Just Rachel Quality Desserts, Gregg’s Pit Cider & Perry and Whyle House Lamb who were at the Festival on Sunday. If anyone went to Ludlow on the Friday or Sunday, I would love to hear their thoughts, impressions and, best of all, discoveries!

May 16, 2013June 3, 2013

Ledbury Food Group at the Ox Roast Weekend 1st & 2nd June

We will be there at the Ox Roast weekend on both Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd June.

On the Community Day – Saturday 1st June – we will be at the Market House from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm. Do come along and have a chat.

On the Ox Roast Day – Sunday 2nd June – we have a great series of speakers lined up at the Feathers Hotel. Just drop in – there is no charge. Donations will be invited to Ledbury Ox Roast, with all proceeds to support the work of St Michael’s Hospice. Our speakers will be:

Talks Programme

11.30	Why Cattle Still Matter – Will Edwards. Herefordshire farmer Will Edwards is a founder member of the newly formed Pasture-Fed Livestock Association. Will is going to talk about why grazing cattle on pasture is great for the cattle, the ecosystem and the health of the consumer.
13.15	Animal, Vegetable or Mineral? – Bill Sewell. Bill Sewell creates and runs cafés, including Café@AllSaints in Hereford. His well-known recipe books mean that he is perhaps thought of first and foremost as a vegetarian. Bill will tell the story of the journey that he and his cafés have made from pure vegetarianism to incorporating meat.
14.30	A Slap of the Hand – Bill Laws. ‘In those days a slap of the hand and the deal was done’. It’s more than 20 years since author Bill Laws founded Herefordshire Lore, and this voluntary group has been busy ever since collecting and publishing people’s memories. Bill will be sharing stories about the people and the animals that passed through Hereford Cattle Market, including the world-famous pedigree bull sales.
15.45	All in a Day’s Walk – Jess Allen. Jess Allen lives in a yurt at Caplor Farm near Fownhope. Last year, in the long dark wet and increasingly muddy days of December, she decided that she would eat only what she could source within walking distance of her home. She will tell us about how she uses walking and moving and talking in rural landscapes to address issues of environmental, social or political concern, and the new word ‘Tracktivism’ that she has coined to describe her work.

Many thanks to all of our speakers and to The Feathers Hotel for use of their room.

We also have a two page article coming out in June’s Ledbury Focus magazine – which will be distributed at the end of May. Do check it out.

April 4, 2013April 29, 2013

New Kid on the Block

Have you been to the new (ish) Wholefoods Market that has opened in Cheltenham? I was lured in by the advertising promising wonderful organic produce – and of course the need to investigate any new food outlets within a 25 mile radius in the name of the Ledbury Food Group!

First impressions? Despite attempts to make the entrance look homely & market-like, with glossy fresh fruit and veg on display just inside the door, what hit me first was the size of this operation. It is a big enterprise. Further investigation revealed that the Cheltenham store is the latest in a long line of stores – more than 340 in total – that span the USA, Canada and the UK. The company started with a store in Austin, Texas in 1980 and have grown exponentially in the intervening years. With sales in 2012 topping $11.7 billion the company is currently at number 264 in the Fortune 500 list. Not exactly the sort of place I usually shop in, but undeterred, I continued my “research”.

The variety of goods on offer is impressive. Name just about any fruit or vegetable that you have heard of (and some that you haven’t) and it will be there. And it is all perfect. Now, call me cynical, but fruit & veg just don’t grow that way, so what happens to the less than perfect crop? For those of you in a hurry or too posh to chop, there are ready chopped vegetables. Again they are all perfect, and at 4.30pm they hadn’t gone brown, dry or wizened. I asked what they had done to them to keep them “fresh” but the assistant denied that anything had been added.

So, on to the meat and cheese counters. Knowledgeable staff happily gave me samples of cheese (see how selfless I am on your behalf?) There was a wide variety on offer from around the globe, and they tasted good, but sadly not many were local cheeses. On to the meat. The beef looked good and again the staff were knowledgeable about its provenance, welfare etc. But it was from Cornwall, all of it. Similarly a glance at the drinks section revealed no local ciders.

Exploration of the grocery shelves revealed nothing out of the ordinary, indeed I don’t think there was much that one can’t get in Ledbury, and that includes the cosmetics (just think of what The Apothecary Shop offers). At this point I began to get a bit overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place and the fact that when you got up close to things, they disappointed. Take, for example, the spices. Heaped attractively in brightly coloured piles, I wandered over expecting to get the lovely smells that assail your nostrils when you go to spice markets in Africa. Nothing. Perhaps these are just for show, and the spices are packaged, I thought. But no, you help yourself from these piles which will have had as much taste as they had smell, I fear.

Looking at the company’s website http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/cheltenham their organic credentials seem good, and their ethics laudable. I came to the conclusion that we are lucky to have such a wealth of excellent local produce on our doorsteps, and that I have just got rather used to shopping for local produce at local shops. But do go and have a look for yourselves. The cornucopia offers a good half hour’s entertainment and there is a café alongside, just let me know what you think.

February 9, 2013February 9, 2013

Hurrah For The Big Breakfast!

We’ve all been talking about it and it would appear that both from the customers’ point of view as well as the participating cafes and retailers The Big Breakfast was a great success. Many have reported that they could see it being a regular event, or will definitely be putting some of their breakfast ‘specialities’ on their menus in future.

The general consensus is that it was a good promotional profile for the town in every way, not only showcasing the area’s strengths in locally sourced and/or produced quality food but also marketing the town’s convivial atmosphere. Friday’s and Saturdays in Ledbury have always had that lovely ‘bustle’ a market town can provide. Residents and visitors alike love its ‘timeless quality’, individuality and inclusivity. Events like The Big Breakfast press home the message………..

I managed to sample the Continental Breakfast at the Muse Café and was recommended the homemade fruit compote by a customer – delicious with muesli and yoghurt! The table was burgeoning with homemade scones, jams, breads etc plus local ham and Hereford Hop cheese – I could have eaten the lot it was so tempting. Saturday we had Eggy Bread and bacon…and one full English bap (black pudding). The waistband was showing signs of tightening so I had to stop there… Members of the Ledbury Food Group have all reported their visits to various venues over the few days, so I suspect they have had a similar experience which speaks volumes for the fare on offer!! Of course we will have to do it again…. if only for us to get round to the ones we missed!!

Now I have to give credit to Griff and the food group members who did such sterling work drumming up support from retailers between Christmas and the event. The delivery of the National Farmhouse Breakfast week posters to venues, followed by the daily dispersal of advertising leaflets, (listing the participants and their locally sourced and produced ‘specialities’) to people in the street was crucial. I’m quite sure that without that input which encouraged Ledbury vendors to partake and subsequently help raise the awareness of the public, The Big Breakfast may well have been The Small Breakfast. And for many visitors to Ledbury, if they hadn’t been aware before of those destinations itemized and what they ‘do’ in our town – they are now……..which was the object of the exercise!

PS Thank you Fran for the handling of the publicity in the local press. It’s been good to see Ledbury and the Ledbury Food Group in the the papers for the best of all possible reasons…………….

February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

The Ledbury Ox Roast – come and hear more!

Sixty years ago, on the 2nd June 1953, Ledbury celebrated the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by holding an Ox Roast in Ledbury High Street, close to the Market House. Sixty years later, on 2nd June 2013, an Ox Roast will again be held in Ledbury, coupled with a Food and Drink Festival and entertainment.

Norman Stanier, Chairman of the Ledbury Ox Roast Committee, will explain the history and introduce a film showing the original event at Putley WI on Wednesday 13 February at 7.45pm, in Putley Parish Hall. Everyone is invited to come and hear his talk, and to see the wonderful archive footage of the original event. admission is free and refreshments (in true WI style!) will be available.