Gloucestershire Archives

Oldbury Tarts

A traditional Gloucestershire Recipe Do you make a traditional recipe from your locality? As a newcomer to Gloucestershire I really wasn’t aware of a particular recipe to make. There seemed …

Real bread can make you smile: Real Bread Week 2020

All over the United Kingdom (and further afield too) bakers spread the real bread message during the 11th Real Bread Week. It is not just about how good real bread …

How do you take your milk? In bottles or plastic cartons?

The milk vending machine in Ljubljana's market square

Plastic or Glass Bottles, or milk by vending machine? Reducing the amount of plastic I use is on my mind these days. Should I switch to milk in glass bottles? …

Baker Better Bread: Baking in the Rofco

Successfully baking bread in the Rofco oven Baking for yourself It’s quite a shock when you start baking bread for yourself. Justifying a bread oven when you’re not sure how …

Discover Gloucestershire Heritage Apples

How many apple varieties would you guess there are in Gloucestershire? Ten, twenty, 50? More than 100 apple varieties native to Gloucestershire have been documented: Eating apples, cooking apples and …

The Old Passage: Seafood at its best

Mullet ceviche beautifully presented at the Old Passage, Arlingham

An award winning seafood restaurant January 2020 Regretfully this restaurant has now closed. We live no more than 15 minutes away from the Old Passage at Arlingham, but it feels …

Lunch in Bristol, Bath or Tetbury?

Baked oysters with bone marrow and parsley; roast cauliflower, clams, grapes and chervil; ravioli of Cornish cheddar and yarg, Roast langoustine, Cornish duck and shellfish sauce at Lee Skeet's

When did you last eat out for lunch? The average person takes less than 30 minutes to eat lunch, and according to a BUPA survey, it’s affecting productivity. So let’s get lunch back on the menu!

When you do have the chance to eat lunch, do you treat yourself? Taking afternoon tea as a treat just grows and grows, but why not lunch? We’ve found it an amazing way to try a Michelin-starred restaurant for under £30 or to try out another to see whether an evening meal will tempt us. Here are three different suggestions for lunch.

Casamia Bristol – My kind of dining

Recently I was discussing whether ratings helped when choosing restaurants. Reviewing is such a subjective thing. You are there one night, does it adequately reflect what the restaurant is always like? What makes a perfect night out might not be the same for you as it is for me.

Caribineros, seaweed Casa Mia — Caribineros, seaweed

I know people who dislike the descriptions delivered by staff of every dish – me I love this. Especially when the menu only hints to what that course will actually be.

My 7 foodie favourites in 2016

Gloucestershire is just bursting with amazing produce

It’s been quite a different year for me this year – about half in Edinburgh, half in Gloucestershire. One half saying goodbye, one half hello. So, let me indulge, this is my year in food. It is in no particular order, nor does it cover everything, but I think it sets the tone!

Let’s make winning sloe gin

A really delicious alcoholic drink that can be drunk neat or added to a cocktail, sloe gin is easy to make with fruits from the hedgerow

Make award winning sloe gin

Sloe gin is a gorgeous tipple. Drink a tot on its own or add to a cocktail. Simply delicious.

This year's crop of sloes — This year’s crop of sloes

Its latin name is prunus spinosa which might give you a clue to its spiky nature. Do go armed with gloves! Look for the blackberry bushes and if you’re lucky you’ll find the sloe bushes also known as blackthorn. They can grow up to 6 or 7 metres high and live for 100 years! But the ones round here are much smaller. The fruits are mostly similar in size to a blueberry although I did find some woppers this year.