When Amy Oboussier moved to Crediton a couple of years ago she was so inspired by the town’s thriving food culture, with amazing produce in the gardens, hedgerows, fields and market, that she decided to launch a cookery school. She has also started writing a cookery book and is inviting local people to contribute their favourite recipes.
A local farmer has planted thousands of trees on some of his best land as part of a radical experiment aimed at improving productivity and the environment.
Devon boasts many independent brewers producing delicious ales, but Utopian Brewing is doing something different - producing lager. Set up two years ago in a farm unit near Copplestone, it is already winning awards for its lagers made only with British ingredients. Crediton wine merchant Bruce Evans is impressed by the quality of their beers and urges you to try one on your next trip to the pub.
Like many small businesses, Gourmet Leaves salad farm has had a tumultuous year. Thanks to Covid, they have had to change their business model five times and work flat out to keep their farm afloat. But somehow they have survived. Here Kate Monk looks back with pride on a year of extraordinary challenges and tentatively forward to their plans for 2021.
Gin has recently experienced a surge in popularity, with many small distilleries producing different varieties and flavours to meet the demand. Local wine merchant Bruce Evans looks back at the history of this classic British drink and shares his favourite south west producers.
When lockdown started Gourmet Leaves salad farm had to rapidly change their business model or face ruin. Kate Monk and her family worked flat out to set up a new home delivery service. The deliveries proved popular, but after two months of relentless working, they ran out of salad and energy, so they decided to take two weeks off. As Kate reports, it was far from a restful break.
Coco’s, the new cafe and cake shop on Crediton High Street, had only been open for five months when Covid-19 forced it to close. Luckily demand for owner Chloe Burston-Thomas’ delicious cakes has continued and she has been able to keep baking. Coco’s is now open again, for takeaways only, and Chloe is optimistic about the future.
Gourmet Leaves is a family lettuce farm navigating a new path for their business in response to Covid -19. In the second of her blogs, Kate Monk looks back to 2012 when they decided to take on a neglected vineyard in an idyllic spot of Devon. Life proved to be far from idyllic in the first years, as they battled against the weather living in a dilapidated park home.
