Leaving Holyport behind us once more, we worked our way South and West, back to one of our favourite little Dorset towns – Buckfastleigh. It is a little bit of a strange place with not a huge amount going on, but for us it is close to Riverford Field Kitchen, Buckfast Abbey, and also home to probably one of the best ‘Aladdins Cave’s’ of Organic stores called ‘The Seed’. The Seed is run by the community and not only stocks lots of Riverford organic fruit and veg, but also other local supplies… including – as I mentioned last time – the best little bites of chocolate deliciousness that Keith doesn’t make himself!! Tuesdays purchase was a Hazelnut Chocolate Tiffin-like cake, with a chocolatey biscuit crunch base, a hazelnut butter mixed in with a chocolatey brownie in the middle, then topped with dark chocolate and a few more hazelnuts. Such intense flavour combinations, we would have bought more of her delicacies when we popped back in just before we left Buckfastleigh, but they had run out and deliveries weren’t due until the afternoon. Although, I still can’t eat most of them for one reason or another – it is still clearly just yet another reason to keep coming back until I can!

The real reason we stop here, and how we found Buckfast and Buckfastleigh in the first place, was to go to Riverford Field Kitchen – which once again, delivered on all levels. The walk from the Tea Plantation – where we stay – is beautiful, climbing up over the hills and then back down again, whilst weaving in and out of the increasing number of Riverford organic fields. Currently the route is lined with curly kale which is in full bloom in some fields, cut in others just leaving some alien-like stalks sticking up in a weirdly linear manner.

Lunch was as delicious and as varied as the landscape was beautiful. The restaurant was full with a lovely buzz of an athmosphere, and the dishes celebrated the best produce of the season – squash, courgette, aubergines and blood oranges as well as some of the Riverford Organic Porchetta. A true celebration for the tastebuds.

Staying only a couple of nights, we moved on from Buckfastleigh to Tavistock on Dartmoor – apparently the home and birthplace of the Cream Tea, birthplace of Sir Francis Drake, known for its Goose Fair and also one of the wetest places in Britain. The Goose fair – just in case you were curious, has existed since 1116 and traditionally it was an opportunity to buy your Goose with plenty of time to fatten the bird before Christmas… I think that is the old version of what we now call ‘ripen at home’!!!

We were staying about 3 miles out of Tavistock just inside the national park at the Camping and Caravan Club site which worked really well, enabling us to walk in the National Park, as well as through it to get to Tavistock itself.

As the weather was completely changeable – varying from misty and mysterious one day, to beautiful sunshine and clear blue skies the next – we benefitted from complete change of scenary which left us with that feeling that our time was over far too quickly and that we will be back for more – four nights just wasn’t enough to enjoy the moors, neither was it enough time to try out all the local eateries, as there are some fantastic ones!

As Monday morning arrived, we braced the weather and moved on to Launceston where Keith had found a small site on a farm and fishing lakes about three miles out of the town itself.

Unfortunately the weather didn’t do it justice, and it is fair to say that it looked a little drab and run down as we drove in. Everything was saturated and muddy and although the road wasn’t too busy, there were high hedges for the best part, so not very walker friendly at this time of year – although I am sure that once everything dries out it would be great as there are lots of footpaths across the fields.

Not wanting to be stopped, we donned the waterproofs and headed the 600m up the road to the garden center which had really good reviews – and to be fair, it was fantastic. A great ‘local’ farm shop and butchers and a lovely cafe which overlooked the rolling hills and valley – apparently, as we couldn’t see much further than a couple of hundred meters!!

The following day, we jumped on the bikes and headed into Launceston itself – definately the safest way. The sun had come out and after a short walk around the fort grounds and town, we sat in the market square eating our buddha bowl picnic lunch and people watching whilst enjoying the sunshine. We then found a fantastic cafe – Liberty Cafe – to have coffee and cake before finding a far prettier and quieter route to cycle back.

Launceston was definately better than we thought when we arrived, but it isn’t somewhere we would be rushing back to in the near future.

We had cut our stay in Launceston short, and moved on to Exmouth to enjoy a bit of the seaside. Stopping off at Darts Farm en-route. If you haven’t ever been and are in the area, it really is worth a visit whether simply to stock the cupboards, pick up some cakes and bits from the butchers or deli, or to eat in the cafe – just an all round fantastic farm farmshop with lots of local produce….and it has a big enough car park for us, although it’s a feat how they have segretated the spaces!!

Although Matt and Jon – our friends who live locally – are away at the moment, we figured we didn’t need an excuse to spend couple of nights of tranquility, taking in the Sea air, eat some lovely fresh seafood, and listen to our friendly owl who lives in the wooded area behind the Aire.

In addition to raiding the local fishmongers and finding a fantastic Italian deli/cafe, Matt and I had previously talked about a restaurant that had excellent reviews – La Mar – and incredibly, we managed to get a table and they were happy to deal with my dietary requirements at the last minute…. must have been fate!

The food was excellent, demonstrating local produce to its best. From Pig cheek to Scallops and Halibut to Gurnard…. a truly delicious meal. However, we have now also confirmed that Shitake mushrooms really are the devil for me…. not great, but not their fault, mine … and they were absolutely delicious!! We will be back for more….sorry Jon and Matt – being out of the country doesn’t mean that you have escaped from seeing us completely!

After a lovely morning walk/jog along the seafront we moved on again on Friday. We had heard alot about ‘Hunters Moon’ Campsite in Wareham and this time managed to actually visit. Keith’s sister and husband have been here a few times, along with another few friends, and as it is nestled in the middle of woodland and nature reserves we thought it was worth exploring. As it turned out the forest and nature reserves are actually Bog’s – albeit, very beautiful and tranquil bog land – but this meant that they were very, very wet following heavy periods of rain!!

The first walk out to explore the surrounding area left me with a rather wet and smelly foot, having sunk into the flooded and sinking path – I think, despite it being very beautiful it is one of those places that if you want to walk from the door, it is best left to the drier months of the year or donning your wellies!

The campsite is about 3 miles outside Wareham, and if you walked along the road for about 600m you arrived at an entrance to the woodland that gave way to the Silk trail and that was fine – but not one to be done if you have dogs or children as although the road wasn’t really busy, it was busy enough during the day and there wasn’t a huge verge to step onto if a vehicle passed. We took the bikes into Wareham though, and walked a couple of routes from there as well which were lovely, stopping at the Salt Pig for coffee and cake. A great little coffee shop and butchers where Keith had an enourmous slice of the most incredible chocolate croissant and butter pudding… where even the lady who worked there said he wouldn’t need to eat that night….. oh how she was wrong, but he was pretty full!! Once again though, we are glad we came but it isn’t somewhere we will rush back to as there are so many more places to see.

After Wareham we had another few days back in Burton Bradstock where we were blown about a little whilst battling with the storm, but still made it back into Bridport to the market to stock up on fresh fish, veggies, some locally made sourdough and enjoy lunch at The Soulshine Cafe. Still a lovely town to visit for foodies and we will keep coming back when passing this way.

This however led us to our last stop of the trip which was to try out the River Cottage Kitchen and a Long Table Lunch on Sunday for Keith’s Birthday. River Cottage is Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall’s cafe, restaurant and school, and the Long Table lunch basically means that all guests sit together on two long tables sharing dishes, encouraging conversation and interaction between strangers – young and old. Their ethos is based around seasonal, local, organic produce and lots of fermenting – from kimchi’s and sauerkrauts, through to Kombucha, breads, yoghurts and cheeses.

With the lunch looking appetising and inviting, we had found Monkton Wyld Camping and Caravan Clubsite as it was well placed to get to River Cottage as well as into Axminster, Charmouth and Lyme Regis. The campsite was lovely and the views out over the surrounding areas were stunningly beautiful – possibly something to do with the ‘extreme’ hills surrounding us as no matter which direction you turned, the land fell away!

As the weather was beautiful on the Saturday, we decided to walk in to Axminster, taking a picnic lunch with us to fully appreciate the views and beauty of the surrounding area. We had visited Axminster once before years ago whilst on our way back from walking part of the South West Coastal path and happened upon the River Cottage Kitchen Cafe when it was based in Axminster itself, but don’t remember much more about it.

Axminster looked a little tired, with lots of charity shops and other empty units, although it did have a very good organic deli and food store and a little hidden gem … The Waffle House

Riverford Kitchen had moved out a few years ago, but weirdly above where it used to be was a community hub and cafe – a place for young and old to meet, drink coffee and eat waffles. It is run by volunteers and has an area for hot desking, another for games, encourages older and younger generations to mix and talk, as well as people on their own to come and chat to someone in a relaxed environment.

We popped in after we had had our lunch and the staff were welcoming and there is a lovely looking menu. The coffee is great – locally roasted – and the cakes and waffles looked delicious too, but for those who can’t afford to pay – they offer a safe place and toast and drink for free.. A truly fantastic concept, one well worth investing time and money in as it obviously works – just a shame there aren’t more places like this as we would be frequent visitors.

On Sunday morning it quickly clouded over and the rain was looming, but we donned the waterproofs and headed towards River Cottage for lunch. The rain held off until we were just entering the barn and the walk was lovely – albeit along a road – taking in once again very different views from what we have had the last couple of days.

We were told to find our place names on the table and I quickly found that I was sandwiched between two lovely ladies – an 82 year old lady who had been brought out for lunch as a treat for mothers day by her son and wife – an ex-chef, and another who was with her husband, both on the cusp of fermentation and exploring local, season and fermented foods further. The concept of a shared dining experience is great, the food however, was a little disappointing – lacking in flavour and texture which is a shame, perhaps we had just set our expectations too high. Oddly, the nicest part of the meal was Keith’s lamb which came from Riverford Field Farm – Quite ironic really! Glad we came to try it but for a place that does such a large amount of fermenting – it didn’t really come through in the dishes as there was a small pot of kimchi to share on the bread board, and Keith had some Labnah (fermented yoghurt) with his starter, but that was it. Needless to say the walk over and back and the setting were beautiful, despite the weather!

Enough of eating out though as we have also been cooking up lots of old favourites, in between which we have managed to find some time to squeeze in a couple of great new recipes to add to our repertoire:-
– Sunflower Sourdough Bread (Gluten Free) – The first gluten free loaf that I have made in a tin in the Remoska and its actually pretty tasty….but could still kill a duck!
– Seafood Moqueca – a really quick and simple dish with huge flavour that can be made with whatever fish / seafood you have. Great with rice or a chunky bread to dunk

…and of course we have the map.