Food Trails

Yesterday I went on a Taste of Chester Walking Tour. It was launched this April and I thought it was an excellent idea.
We went to some places that have already been featured in this blog, like the fantastic Cheese Shop, but I was surprised how many places we went to which I didn't know (some will be featured here later). We went through parts of the cathedral, and the refectory:
and I learnt that beer used to be be put on tables outside some churches after services to encourage attendance!
We learnt about Chester Ale, to quote George Borrow's Wild Wales "Chester ale had a villainous character in the time of old Sion Tudor, who made a first-rate englyn upon it, and it has scarcely improved since"! We were then taken to a shop selling a good Chester ale, made in Tarporley.

Like this blog, there was a pleasant mixture of history and food. We sampled ice-cream, cheese, oils, vinegars and cakes. As a extra bonus, not normally in the tour, we tried some fruit gins (I had a silky rasberry) and a very nice crab apple vodka. But that's enought Talking about My Gineration for now.

I never knew that the white shop to the right of this Georgian house used to be it's bakery:
We also learnt the significance of Gorse Stacks (a place in Chester just outside the city walls).

The next picture is not upside down:
it's the ceiling in a room where nearly everything is upside down, commemorating Cheshire author Lewis Carol and the Mad Hatters tea party!

The tour ends up in a café, which specialise in food based on traditional recipes. Here you're served a small sample of Chester Cake which traditionally was made using stale cake:
I highly recommend the tour, please email me if you think I should do a Taste of Nantwich Tour.

A Taste of Chester Walking Tour:

Before I went on the tour I had a fantastic lunch at Joseph Benjamin, below was my starter a warm salad of asparagus (from Claremont Farm), mushrooms and watercress:
Here I picked up a leaflet for the new Taste Cheshire Food Trail. I'm intrigued why Snugburys isn't in their Nantwich Trail....

Whilst on the subject of Food Trails I thought I ought to mention some others:













Have I missed any?

Lastly I must mention Henry and Carolyn Chesshire 's Food Tourism web site. They offer "discovery tours, food safaris, cookery courses and gastro adventures to bring you:
  • Herefordshire on a Plate
  • Shropshire on a Plate
  • Worcestershire on a Plate
  • Wales on on a Plate"
They have a bed and breakfast at Leintwardine, which is handy for the above counties. I've spoken to Carolyn, she's quite an enthusiast. I think others could follow their excellent example.

Comments

EB said…
Brilliant post - now all I have to do is find a reason to get over to visit those places!
17 May 2009 at 10:06
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