Food and Drink Exmoor

Exmoor’s culture is unique and nowhere is that more apparent than in its food and cooking. Albeit Exmoor lamb, moorland venison, gamebirds, Bristol Channel herrings or River Barle brown trout there is much to sample.

Perhaps less well known are the Somerset vineyards - some are attractions in their own right and you can take a walk amongst the vines before sampling a glass of Somerset vintage!

"Pick your own fruit!" is popular in the summer and don't forget to try some Somerset strawberries.

Exmoor Food and Cookery - A moorland Heritage By Brian Pearce with Heather Burnett -Wells tells through tales, recipes, reminiscences and anecdotes, accompanied by evocative pictures of the history of food on Exmoor and colour pictures of the dishes tells the story of Exmoor food and cookery over the centuries to the present day. It contains more than three hundred recipes old and new, mostly contributed by local people.

Local Produce

The Exmoor Food Festival celebrates the wonderful variety of produce available on Exmoor, each year in October. For more information go to www.exmoorfoodfestival.co.uk/

The Quantocks Food Festival helps producers sell their produce locally, helps raise awareness of local produce and helps consumers find local produce more easily. The festival takes place in early May each year. To find out more go to www.foodlinks.org.uk/.

The region's farmers' markets are held regularly in Minehead, South Molton, Lynton and Dulverton. You can pick up great gossip along with your farmhouse cheese, your local venison and lamb, Cranfield's jam or Exe Valley smoked trout. There are plenty of food and drink festivals across Exmoor - for example, the Quantock Food Festival in late spring, Exmoor Food Festival and Porlock Food Fayre in autumn, and the winter-time Exmoor Producers Christmas Fair in Dulverton. See www.exmoorfoodfestival.co.uk for more details.

Exmmor Blue cheese has a nutty and sharp tang.

Styles Ewes Milk Ice Cream

Local markets

Source local produce from Exmoor and the Quantocks Lydeard St Lawrence 01984 667617

Marshford Organics is a good place to go for seasonal fruit and veg. Vanessa and David Ebdon started this popular organic business twenty years ago with a two and a half acre garden, selling seven types of vegetables from their back porch. Now, partly due to grants, they have twice the land, with eighteen polytunnels, a thriving shop in Northam and a subsidiary in Butcher's Row, Barnstaple. All their home grown vegetables are certified organic by the Soil Association and could not be fresher - they come straight out of the garden and into the shop. If you buy from Northam there are no 'food miles' involved but there is a weekly delivery service to the Barnstaple and Braunton area. (www.marshford.co.uk).

Mortehoe Shellfish, is hidden behind a house in Mortehoe. It belongs to the Huelin family. Winston Huelin, who was a well-known fisherman operating out of Ilfracombe, died a few years ago and his wife, son and two daughters kept the business going from home. You can buy the freshest fish from the kitchen door. There are tanks of live lobsters and crabs in the garden and they are lightly cooked every morning and make beautifully fresh crab sandwiches. Other shellfish include prawns, cockles, mussels, oysters and whelks. Fresh fish varies according to the latest catch but usually includes sardines, whitebait and cod. Sprats go to feed the sea lions at Combe Martin Wildlife Park and fishermen are supplied with bait. You will find them at North Morte Road, 400 yards down the turn by the Post Office,
Tel: 01271 870633.

The Huelins sell barbecue kits from an old ice cream van they take around campsites between Lee and Woolacombe. These include dishes such as prawn au gratin, prawn or scallop kebabs or foil wrapped fish. You might get red snapper with celery salt, mackerel with olive oil and peppercorns, bass steaks with spring onion and ginger or whole bass with lemon and coriander. To go with them are homemade salads, corn on the cob and baked potatoes.

Michaelmas Goose on Porlock High Street

Michaelmas Goose opened in April. Here Chris and Pauline Smith are trying to sell nothing but local produce. Their definition of local is 'as near as possible' and nothing beyond Somerset and Devon. The name of the shop relates to the old custom of having goose fairs on Michaelmas Day, where people brought all sorts of local produce together to sell — not just geese. You can't buy geese in the shop but you can find some very nice goose eggs, along with some genuinely free range hen eggs.

Chris relies on contacts built up with producers over many years. Goods are not sold just because they are local — suppliers are carefully selected for quality. For instance, he would like to sell country wines but the better ones are to be found further afield. There are local quality drinks, however, including ale, cider and liqueurs and you can taste the latter before purchasing. You can even buy locally made cider flagons. There is a range of cakes from Janet Middleton of Porlock Weir and jam from Jill's Marmalade at Bicknoller, a village that seems to produce a number of different food and craft products. From nearby Broomfield is Quantock Muesli, with freshly toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds to give extra crunchiness.

The Smiths are members of the Exmoor Producers' Association and there is some overlap with the Association's shop at Friday Street in Minehead. There are more craft products at Minehead and more food at Porlock. For instance, you can buy a range of Somerset honeys from Pearce's of Bathealton at Porlock and their beekeepers' equipment at Minehead. You will find Michaelmas Goose conveniently opposite Doverhay Car Park, Tel: 01643 862459.

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