Food for thought : finding quality food and produce

The force of circumstance

I’ve never experienced a white Christmas. This rarity value meant that I was unlikely to be alone in my fond imagining that snow would make the seasonal holiday period somehow more cosy and special for everyone. Until this year! I can’t previously remember snow hanging around on the ground for more than a couple of days or so.

Whenever travel becomes disrupted, by force of circumstances, people tend to stick to trips within their immediate local area, and I’m no exception. After a few days,  boredom, or a feeling of cabin fever can set in, and eventually sheer necessity means that you have to venture out for supplies. So it might have been for the first time this year, with snow underfoot and icy conditions on the roads, that it became necessary for people to find out what was available, by way of produce, in the immediate neighbourhood or general vicinity.

Benefits of shopping locally

Potentially, shopping locally has the added benefit of accessing fresher, and therefore better quality food, since it’s likely not to have travelled far; and if you can get used to buying seasonal produce as well, you might well also benefit from keener prices and have less packaging to throw away,  than if you buy from a supermarket.  Watch the video Ninjin – vegetable assassin from Do the Green Thing if you want to see this point made with real impact.

Hotels and restaurants usually find they can benefit by highlighting local delicacies, especially if they’re cooked to order, something which allows guests to appreciate locally sourced  ingredients from local suppliers in peak condition.

In fact I believe that it’s something that helps differentiate a hotel or restaurant from the crowd, if producers of local specialities are highlighted on menus, and in some cases, the producers are actively promoted as places to visit. This is something I’ve recently seen done with great success at the Beechwood Hotel in North Walsham in Norfolk, which actively promotes it’s  ’10 mile breakfast’ with all ingredients sourced inside that radius. The reviews on Trip Advisor speak for themselves.

Supporting local producers can be a winning move for everyone, as it increases awareness for producers, might also gain them incremental spend from people taking goods home as a special, or even unique edible  souvenir or gift, and it creates goodwill for the person or business who makes the recommendation in the first place.

How visitors can find the best local suppliers and retailers in the area

Common Ground provides information online, concerning their Producing the Goods project which showcases food producers and markets across the UK. However, I have to acknowledge that generally consumers are likely to have a problem in finding beacons of originality, quality and freshness when they’re on unfamiliar ground away from home, unless they’re literally stopped in their tracks by a sign (which might be the case when there’s snow on the ground). It’s happened to me.

If you fail to discover any intriguing signs on the street, there’s no real substitute for local knowledge; so in many places I’d urge visitors to seek recommendations from staff at their nearest local visitor information centre,  ask their hotel concierge, accommodation provider, or host.

In my particular area, Kent, as well as a local producers network called Produced in Kent, that offers downloadable food trails and online information about members; there’s a great scheme that helps meet the need for a more personalised service. It offers visitors the opportunity to meet a ‘volunteer friend’ called a Greeter. A Kent Greeter can answer questions and take you on an orientation walking tour as well as providing you with information and tips to help you make the most of your visit – completely free of charge. The Kent scheme is modelled on the Big Apple Greeters scheme of New York City, and is part of a network of similar schemes around  the world, known as the Global Greeters Network.

Here are links to a few more sources of online information about local food producers and retailers in areas of England outside London that are popular with visitors:

The Lake District Cumbria

The Peak District

Cornwall

The New Forest

Isle of Wight

Farm shops

I’ve also recently come across a food safari operation in Suffolk run by an old girl of my former school; although I haven’t tried it out yet. See my post dated 11 September 2009 for information about Daylesford in the Cotswolds.

If you have any tips about ‘foodie places’ in the UK, or other online resources that helps you find them, let me know. Until next time…

Marketing a rural idyll

With an Indian summer in prospect, my thoughts have turned to the marketing of rural areas to people living in cities. In 1950, the population living in UK cities was 79% – which is a frighteningly large figure – but one set to rise to 92.2% by 2030! In fact globally over half of the planet’s population now live in cities, with the proportion set to rise further.

The rural business challenge

The pressure is on for businesses involved in tourism in rural parts of the country,  to make the most of the opportunity to market the rural idyll that so many of us take for granted, to the urban dwelling majority. Unsurprisingly that’s going to mean serving city dwellers needs better.  Whether we’re an acommodation provider (even if just for visiting friends and relations),  a self catering operator, a farm shop, or an operator of autumnal fungi forays or boat trips, it looks like if we’re going to be really successful we need to make sure we understand and serve the needs of city dwellers.  NPC’s Country Living magazine certainly understands the business model, (and there’s a Hearst Communication US version as well). Many people dream of living in the country, and enjoy reading about it; but a short break or holiday/vacation is likely to be their reality.

The really interesting thing from a rural businesses point of view, is that I know that some  of these city dwellers taking a trip into rural areas of the UK this year still have plenty of money to spend. And how do I know…?

A Daylesford experience

I started to look back for evidence from my own experiences visiting the Cotwolds and Dorset this summer. Immediately I thought of   Daylesford. Owned by Lady Carole Bamford (wife of Sir Anthony, of the JCB empire), it’s a complex of rural farm buildings near the family estate, in Kingham, between Chipping Norton and Stow on the Wold, in Gloucestershire. They also have various shops in districts like Pimlico and Notting Hill, concessions in Harvey Nichols and Selfridges in London, and even a concession in the Bergdorf Goodman store on 5th Avenue, New York. Daylesford has become a destination in it’s own right, responsible for a big increase in local house prices in that part of the Cotswolds, to the evident satifaction of locals including Liz Hurley, Kate Moss and Jeremy Clarkson, who all patronise  Daylesford.

Daylesford’s customers are offered everything from pilates classes and a hay barn spa, to designer chicken arks and gardening tools ; and children can wear their mini cashmere jumpers and join in butter making classes. It wasn’t particularly crowded when we  visited; but those who were there were spending – a lot. Personally I couldn’t resist buying a jar of organic bramble jelly as a gift for my mother; as well as a Daylesford branded hessian potato sack and a book entitled ‘A Slice of Organic Life’ as a treat for myself. It just seemed – well appropriate, somehow. My husband drew the line at me swanning round our local Waitrose with a Daylesford shopping bag, but perhaps now I regret not buying one of those as well!

A bright future for rural retailing

Daylesford as a brand of super farm shop and lifestyle business points the way to the future for rural retailing, and a successful one at that.  Is there room for other competitors? Yes. Some are already out there. Look at the businesses run by people like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage in Dorset, and Sarah Raven and her Cutting Garden in Sussex and Kent; or specialist craft galleries like  Dansel in Abbotsbury, Dorset where I made an impulse purchase of a bird sculpture by Brian Dawson.

So if you provide accommodation for visitors or business travellers, or if you’re involved in a rural business in any way, my advice this week is get to know innovative local retailers, visit their websites, offer links to them on your  web site, and tell your guests about them. They’ll thank you for it. The business owners will thank you for it, and might agree to link their website to you.

People who like what they see at places like Daylesford are likely to recommend them to others. A great rural retail destination can even provide the reason for people to make a trip in the first place, or to return.

If you own a rural retail business yourself, there’s much to be learned from the successful branding and merchandising of businesses like Daylesford.

Further reading

A Slice of Organic Life, edited by Sheherazade Goldsmith, Dorling Kindersley £16.99

Until next week…

PS Do you know any innovative rural retailers ? I’d love to hear about them.