Category: Exmoor

The Exmoor Food Fest is about to start

Eat your way across Exmoor during February 2020

It’s that time of year again!  If you are planning to go on a diet in February – forget it. The Exmoor Food Fest kicks off with a launch dinner at Kentisbury Grange on 28 January, and then it’s all go from 1 February for a whole month across Exmoor.

For the sixth year, restaurants across the region are celebrating the best our hospitality industry has to offer. Special deals for two and three courses invite people to try out new restaurants and new dishes. Many venues also have a special accommodation offer to allow customers to turn the evening out into a short holiday.

As a first in 2020, the learners from Foxes Hotel in Minehead will be joining in the fun of taking part in the Exmoor Food Fest.

Foxes Hotel is a very special hotel indeed. From the kitchen to the serving of the delicious food and the cleaning of the rooms, all jobs are being done by young people aged between 16 and 24 under the guidance of their teachers.  Foxes is the UK’s only fully operating training hotel for young people with learning difficulties.

Foodie fans should also look out for special events.  One event that is going to be quite different is the Winter Feast at Horner Farm on the Holnicote Estate on Exmoor. It will be rustic dinner in one of the barns, with a chance to try meat from Dexter cattle and sheep raised on the farm.  This will be a unique experience where amazing food will be served at a very unusual location.

On the final weekend in February (29 Feb/1 March) a Taste Exmoor Food & Drink Festival beckons:  Traders and local producers will be putting up their stalls at the Porlock Village hall. The Harbour Cafe & Gallery – who will also be offering special deals throughout February at their premises at Porlock Weir –  will be running a cafe over this weekend, and there will be ample opportunity to try (and take home) lots of delicious food and drink from our region.

All participating restaurants will be revealed on the website www.exmoorfoodfest.com by the end of January 2020.   Anyone wishing to plan their gourmet trip across Exmoor will be able to look up restaurants on a map and see what will be offered when and where. 

(PS There is still time for restaurants and producers to sign up! Just drop us a line at info@exmoorevents.com and we’ll see what we can do for you)

And the photos keep coming….

Over the past few days, lots more photos were submitted to the January part of our 2020 Exmoor4all Photo Competition.  They all have one thing is common: the photos show the beauty of Exmoor and the diversity of the UK’s smallest national park. And that Exmoor is beautiful at any time of the year, and whatever the weather!

At the beginning of February, all January entries will be collated in one album on our Facebook page and also here on the website. We will then invite the public to choose their top 10 photos – photos which have captured best the essence of Exmoor.  These 10 images will go through to the semi-final:  In July, the 60 semi-finalists will be presented to a panel of judges who will pick the 13 images to go onto the 2021 Exmoor4all Calendar.

 

A cloud inversion over Selworthy, Porlock Vale & far, far away…

Some mornings are just so much better than others and that counts for weather as well as my ongoing and boring health issues (syringomyelia) with my damaged spinal cord.
Mornings can be really hard and painful for me to get up, get moving and get out but this is one I didn’t want to miss when I saw the forecast for morning fog across Exmoor 🌫
Out & about & aloft exploring a fog bound Exmoor National Park.
Selworthy Church and Village green on the edge of a huge cloud inversion stretching over Porlock Vale & beyond 🌫 👀

Drone…DJI Mavic 2 Pro. Edit…LumaTouch LumaFusion.
Music & Effects…LumaFusion & StoryBlocks, “sweet piano.m4a” & ‘Church Bell 4” 🎵

My website… http://getjourneyman.co.uk/ 👍

Paul Feeney

 

Sea mist over Exmoor

Bat’s Castle settlement – Cloud inversion with sea mist rolling in!  Photos by Tom Tier.

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Looking through the clouds at Bossington & Porlock Weir from North Hill. Photo by Ken Broom.

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Porlock Bay. Photo by Jacqui Brasted.

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Looking west over Sticklepath. Photo by Mike Lanning.

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Looking down from Porlock Hill and Dunkery Beacon. Photos by Aga Karmol Art.

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William Chapman: Sea of Cloud

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Porlock Common. Photo by Alan Maddog.

Suspected Wartime Ordnance uncovered by the Tide at Kilve Beach

HM Coastguard Watchet reported tonight:

“This lunchtime some of our team were tasked to attend Kilve Beach following a report of some found suspected wartime ordnance uncovered by the tide.

On our arrival at the beach we were able to go direct to the location of the described 6 found items thanks to the use of the what3words app and the 3 square meter unique identifier passed by the finder.

Despite our Coastguard Rescue Officers in attendance being trained in the recognition of suspect ordnance and experienced with many similar finds in their careers, photos are taken and forwarded to the Royal Navy Dive Clearance Team (Bomb Disposal) for their expert opinion.

On receipt of the photographs the Military confirmed they would be attending at the next daylight low tide to investigate and deal with the items. Until then the high tide tide has now covered the items and our team will return on low tide to cordon the location until the military arrive on scene.

The Kilve Beach & Lilstock Beach area had been military target ranges during the Two World Wars used by small arms, artillery, tanks and more recently by fixed wing aircraft and now by rotary wing (helicopters).

If you should find anything suspicious on the shoreline in these areas we remind you not to pick it up or remove it, but instead, record its location and inform the Coastguard on 999 .

An update will follow on this post once the items have been dealt with.

HM Coastguard

To Search To Rescue To Save”

PS Here is a link to What3Words – a very useful app if you need to describe your exact location to emergency services. You can also follow them on Facebook.

Happy 7th Birthday to us!

This week, we are celebrating our 7th birthday! They do say time flies when you’re having fun, and we certainly have enjoyed sharing photos and stories with you all these years.

On a dreary day in December 2012 the idea of an Exmoor community on social media and beyond was raised at a Christmas lunch at the Culbone Inn.  Exmoor4all was born and, thanks to all you lovely people, we have grown a lot since then.

Let’s have a look at some statistics:
Our Facebook page now has close to 20,000 followers and reaches over 120,000 people each month.  Over 80,000 people engage with our posts regularly.  We also started the Exmoor Conversation Group as well as the Exmoor4all Photo Group on Facebook  – both have well over 1,000 members, and both groups are growing steadily.
Twitter and Instagram are very popular, too, with close to 6,000 followers on Twitter and close to 4,000 followers on Instagram, and a lot of engagement as well.
And then there’s our website which has nearly 30,000 followers.
All in all, with your help, we are able to reach a quarter of a million people each month – and thanks to the amazing photos you allow us to share, people from all over the world have discovered our beautiful National Park and have fallen in love with Exmoor.

It is a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed photos and stories and has shared our posts – without you, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this.  Exmoor4all has sparked off a number of ventures which all support the Exmoor community.  We have listed some of them below – it would be fantastic if you could have a look, put dates in your diary, and if you can’t make any of the events, please share them on Facebook and Twitter with your friends.

We raise our glass to all our wonderful supporters,
Here’s to the next seven years!

Your Exmoor4all Team

 

The Exmoor Food Fest will run again during February 2020.
This month-long food festival, which is now in its sixth year, celebrates the best food and the most amazing chefs our region has to offer.
Participating restaurants, among them Michelin starred Thomas Carr at The Olive Room, offer special deals for two and three courses, highlighting local produce and the talent in our hospitality industry.
Pop over to www.exmoorfoodfest.com for the latest updates and check out Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well.

In 2020 we are organising the first Taste Exmoor festivals!
There will be a Food & Drink Fair at Porlock Village Hall on 29 Feb/1 March which will conclude the 2020 Exmoor Food Fest.
And on 29 – 31 May there will be a big Taste Exmoor Festival at Horner Farm near Porlock with lots of traders, cookery demonstrations by award winning chefs ( we have teamed up with The Chefs Forum for this) and a pop-up restaurant.
We are also working on a Summer and Autumn Taste Exmoor Festival – dates and venues to be announced shortly.
You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and of course the website (which still needs a bit of work).

An Exmoor Beauty.

Photo by Donna Cox Alsoomse.

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