Taste of the Teign Food and Drink Festival 25 September - 1 October 2017

South Devon’s third year of the most exciting celebrations of local produce is Taste of the Teign Food and Drink Festival. 

This festival puts produce that’s been picked and reared in the surrounding fields, caught in local waters or harvested from the hedges firmly at the heart of this food and drink celebration.

This is held in Teignmouth, Shaldon and Bishopsteignton.  This year it will be held Monday 25 September - Sunday 1 Oct.  Over the course of the festival many  events will take place; each one using locally sourced produce as the centrepiece for culinary creativity - it is usually a combination of demos, workshops and other events like cream teas; sausage tasting; a food quiz and tours of local food producers

For more information on the festival visit: http://facebook.com/tasteoftheteign 

It's such a good festival with lots to see and do and I think this year they have permission to host events on the Den, Teignmouth on the Saturday and Sunday.

See you there!

Ring of Bells - Pub Review - North Bovey, Devon

This is the Ring of Bells, North Bovey and this is just how a pub should be in Devon.

Attractive, thatched, quiet village, space to sit outside, well-decorated with modern 'murky' shades of paint, but not 'gastro-pub'-ed to within an inch of its life, great local beers, a warm welcome, a woodburning stove, dogs welcome, tasty homemade food at affordable prices.

We had a simple lunch: soup for me (roasted garlic + celeriac with croutons), sardines on toast with roasted vine tomatoes and a ploughman's - all done fantastically well.

Their unpretentious formula for success is proving a hit - getting a table for Thurs - Sat night can be tricky - phone well ahead.  Thoroughly recommended.

NORTH BOVEY, DARTMOOR, DEVON TQ13 8RB
Tel: 01647 440375 W: www.ringofbells.net E: mail@ringofbells.net

Enough to Turn a Girl's Head - Skinners Heligan Honey Beer

I am a confirmed non-beer drinker.  Have never liked the stuff (and boy, did I try to when I was in my teens).  However, I had a wee sample of  N's beer during a balmy evening bbq a couple of nights ago and....this was a beer I could almost enjoy.  Skinner's Heligan Honey - with the addition of Cornish honey and apparently commissioned by the fabulous Lost Gardens of Heligan.  These gardens, restored by Tim Smit of The Eden Project, are an amazing place to visit if you ever happen to be in the region of South Cornwall.

This was when we visited in 2006:

But back to the beer! I chose the beer from a service station and, I have to say, it was chosen because it was local and Cornish brewed, not for their classy graphic design: the label is hideous.  N was pleased I  bought it for him to try as he said it was delicious and he would never have bought it with this label on.  Apparently, they also do a well-known (in beer circles) beer called Bettie Stoggs.  There was an even more grotesquely labelled beer called Cornish Knocker - I will try to find a picture - but I didn't like that one.  On so many levels.