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Growing interest in Great British Food
has led the cross-Solent specialist Wightlink (0871 376 4342/click
here) to launch The Wight Taste Trail,
which plots a food and drink route through the Isle of
Wight, allowing short break holidaymakers to eat their way
around the most scenic parts of the Island landscape. Timed
to coincide with British Food Fortnight in late September,
the 28-page illustrated pocket guide features 19
independent producers as well as growers who sell their
produce at the Farmers’ Markets in Newport and Ryde.
The Wight Taste Trail celebrates the
diversity of natural produce grown on the Island, which is
rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the UK’s top regional
food centres, and features the pick of its producers. Among
them is a new wave of local food heroes like 27-year old
Richard Hodgson, an ex-TV editor who scooped this year’s
Best British Cheese award for his Isle of Wight Blue,
produced in a cowshed and barn converted into a
state-of-the-art product facility adjacent to Queens Bower
Dairy near Sandown. His new cheddar-with-a-difference,
Galleybagger – Isle of Wight slang for scarecrow – will go
on sale shortly
Hodgson’s Isle of Wight Cheese Company
is one of 10 detailed producer profiles. Others include two
free range producers: Susannah Seely, whose Dunsbury Lamb
comes from her flock that grazes on hillside overlooking the
chalk cliffs of Tennyson Down, and Sue Brownrigg, who rears
chicken and ducks on her traditional farm near the picture
postcard village of Godshill. Familiar faces from UK
supermarkets are also included, as the Isle of Wight is one
of Europe’s most prolific producers of garlic and cherry
tomatoes.
Another feature of Wightlink’s Wight
Taste Trail is that it profiles nine gourmet restaurants,
which focus on serving local food produce. These range from
the fine dining restaurant at the hotly rated Hambrough in
Ventnor and the brasserie-style St. Helens, which under
chef/proprietor Mark Young is a finalist the national UK TV
Food Local Hero 2007 competition, to the cream teas served
at Warren Farm, close to the Needles. A two-night Wightlink
package at The Hambrough, including dinner, bed and
breakfast and ferry crossings from Portsmouth or Lymington
costs £207pp midweek (two sharing) or £290pp at weekends.
The latest in a series of consumer
guides produced by Wightlink, The Wight Taste Trail is
available free from Wightlink by calling 0870 582 7744 and
can also be downloaded from the Wightlink website –
click here. Others include The Rare Plant
Trail, a guide to the rare plants of the Isle of Wight, Easy
Peasy Pedalling, which provides family friendly cycling
routes and, the latest, Green Getaways, a brochure featuring
eco-friendly breaks on the Island.
STOP PRESS:
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ARRETON
SWEETCORN FAYRE
27TH – 30TH
SEPTEMBER 2007
A MAJOR NEW
EVENT FOR THE ISLE OF WIGHT DURING BRITISH FOOD
FORTNIGHT
A major new
event on the Isle of Wight, timed to coincide with
British Food Fortnight and a celebration of the
sweetcorn harvest. The event – which includes the 2007
Isle of Wight Food Festival and brings together local
producers and restaurant chefs who are committed to
‘cooking local’ - is sponsored by Wightlink, which will
launch its new Wight Taste Trail of local producers and
restaurants there on Sunday 30th September.
The four day
Fayre takes place at Arreton Barns in the rural heart of
the Isle of Wight, the location for Farmer Jacks’ Farm
Shop, which sells fresh local producers from a growing
number of Isle of Wight producers seven days a week,
year round. The Festival will be open daily from 10am
and is free. |
ENDS
Issued on behalf
of:
By:
WIGHTLINK LTD
Christine Ball PR
10th September
2007
Tel: 01798 874177 |
