Tag: local

Gin Tasting: Exmoor Distillery at the Exmoor Store

Join us for a tasting of the latest gin produced on Exmoor at the Exmoor Store* on Saturday, 15 December 2018, from 2pm till 4pm.

Dulverton based Exmoor Distillery will be here to explain all there is to know about Northmoor Gin. You can also buy gin from the Exmoor Store between 15 and 21 December – we are now taking pre-orders!

Here is a bit more info about Northmoor Gin:

‘Infused with passion’

Named after the historic estate of Northmoor, nestled amongst the steep wooded valleys on the southern edge of Exmoor, our Northmoor Gin is a delight for the discerning gin connoisseur. Light on the lips, this full-bodied gin, with 44% ABV, has a punchy three-dimensional taste, leaving a deliciously smooth flavour at the back of the mouth.

Our premium recipe packs an authentic taste sensation of the traditional juniper berry with personally chosen botanicals of angelica root, citrus and spice. Our gin, fine enough to sip neat over ice, comes into its own when mixed with a quality tonic to produce a classic G&T with wonderful citrus notes that linger on the palate, or as the premium ingredient to many a cocktail.

Harvested from September to January, there are over 50 species of juniper grown in the Northern hemisphere. Hand-picked by collectors in the mountains, only the very best berries and botanicals are sourced for our Northmoor Gin.

Located in the idyllic Somerset countryside, near the border of Devon, Exmoor Distillery sits on the southern gateway to Exmoor at Dulverton, on the edge of the Exmoor National Park. 

This historic location, mentioned in the Domesday Book, is the perfect setting in which to distil one of the UK’s finest small batch artisan gins.

With the refined juniper flavour dancing in your mouth, where better to enjoy this premium spirit, than in the rolling hills and valleys of the English countryside at any time of year.

Developed from our own passion for fine spirits, Exmoor Distillery is a small family run distillery, sharing our love for a premium quality gin.

After sampling many of the world’s gins on our travels, there was nothing that quite hit the spot, so we decided to produce our own. Customers love the complex flavours of the juniper and botanicals that give our gin a decidedly country taste and smooth texture.

 

  • Exmoor Store, 1 Friday Street, Minehead TA24 5UB. Tel 01643 704788

You can pre-order the Northmoor Gin from the Exmoor Store for pick-up between 15 and 21 December.
35cl = £19.95  70cl=£35.00
(Send payment via PayPal to exmoorstore@icloud.com using Family & Friends, call the shop on 01643 704788 to pay over the phone, order online or just pop into the shop!)

 

Date for the Diary: Farm & Food Tour across Exmoor

Join Shaun and Daphne for a scenic drive across the moors in a LandRover to a remote hill farm for a tour of the farm with the farmers who will show you their free range pork, Dexter cattle, dairy goats and alpacas. You are then invited into the traditional farmhouse for refreshments and tastings of the delicious food they produce, followed by a demonstration of alpaca wool spinning.

10 February 2017
Depart Luccombe 1.30 pm, transport provided.  
Return to Luccombe approx. 5.00 pm
On the road from Exford to Porlock. Photo by Rob Hatton, February 2013
West Country Farm & Food Tours
When we talk to people about our business, we often receive comments relating to our enthusiasm and passion. We thought you might like to know why we do what we do.

1) We get a kick out of the facial expressions of our tour guests when they learn something new or taste something delicious. We enjoy receiving feedback from our host farmers and food producers – especially when they’ve opened someone’s eyes to something they didn’t know existed. Seeing our group purchase produce direct from its source knowing they will enjoy eating it later really makes us smile.

2) We get to spend the day travelling around the stunning countryside of the West Country, pootling along country lanes and visiting locations that are often not open to the general public – heaven! For our guests who dont know the area or who dont like narrow lanes with high hedges, we take away the stress of reversing or getting lost and replace it with comfort, companionship and commentary.

3) Food. We like food – especially locally produced food. One of the most important elements of a day out with us is our lunch stop. Sometimes we will head to a café, tea room or pub, other times one of our host food producers will provide a light lunch at their location. We can also make use of suppliers to create yummy picnics that we can enjoy wherever we choose.

4) We see ourselves as a link bringing together suppliers (farmers and food producers) and consumers (our tour guests). We might visit a farm to learn about their beef production, but our guests will leave knowing there are idyllic holiday cottages and a camp site there too. Our group will learn where products can be purchased in the future too, such as local farmers markets or on line.

5) Our transport is provided by local community transport groups for which we pay a commercial rate. This enables them to use the money to support the vital community based work they often struggle to fund. We make sure we treat the drivers properly too – they come on the visits and enjoy lunch with us.

6) Children are indeed the future, and we want to give them a taste of our tours too. Already some of our tour guests have given us a contribution to our education fund, and some of our host farmers have insisted on giving their fee to the cause. Our aim is to be able to provide local schools with a taste of West Country Farm and Food Tours.

Date for the Diary: An Evening with Richard Havers, 21 January 2016

Tales by the Fire:  An Evening with Richard Havers

21 January 2016,  7pm at The Culbone

“It’s all Rock’n Roll: The Beatles and The Stones”

£30.00 per person
(incl. two-course menu and canapés on arrival)

The Beatles and The Stones – The two bands that have defined popular music were often pitted against one another during the Sixties.
Richard Havers, who has written extensively about both bands and worked for them on various projects, delves into their enduring appeal and unravels some of the mystery as to what makes them so timeless. With music and photographs.

Canapés

Butternut squash and baby spinach fritters
with cucumber and turmeric yoghurt 

Home cured salmon gravadlax bilinis with lemon jelly and dill

Smoked venison loin crostini with fresh horseradish and cress

Mains

Devon red beef shin stew with smoked bacon, kale colcannon and truffle oil

Pan fried sea trout fillet with purple sprouting, brown shrimps, crushed new potatoes and lemon dill butter

Stuffed butternut squash with wild mushroom, Devon blue, hazelnut and   baby leafs and parsnip crisps

Desserts

Somerset apple and ginger crumble with stem ginger ice cream

Sticky toffee pudding with Devon clotted cream and toffee sauce 

Styles ice cream selection

Richard Havers

Writer and jazz producer Richard Havers

Writer and jazz producer Richard Havers

Richard spent twenty years working in the airline industry before deciding to pursue his passion for music. He worked advertising, writing and producing over 2,000 ads and jingles. He has written and produced in-flight radio shows, launched Turkey’s first commercial radio station, and produced concerts for artists that includes, Paul McCartney, The Beach Boys, Chicago and America. 

His books about music include, Bill Wyman’s Blues Odyssey, which won the Blues Foundation’s Award For Literature in 2002. Richard wrote, co-directed and produced the Peabody Award nominated TV series based upon the book. He has co-authored Rolling with the Stones (2003), and The Stones – A History in Cartoons (2006) with Bill Wyman and written The Stones in the Park (2009) about the band’s pivotal 1969 concert, as well as The Rolling Stones – In The Beginning (2006) a book by Danish photographer, Bent Rej. He compiled and edited Rolling Stones 50, the band’s official anniversary book in 2012. His other music related titles include, My Take (2006), Gary Barlow’s autobiography, Bowie, Bolan & The Brooklyn Boy (2007), legendary record producer Tony Visconti’s autobiography, Woodstock – 3 days of peace and music (2009), Jazz – The Golden Era (2008), Blues  – The Golden Era, (2008) Rock ‘n’ Roll – The Golden Era (2008), The Beatles – The Days of Their Lives (2010), and Read’s Musical Recitor (2004). His biography, Sinatra (2004), according to Marella Fostrup on BBC Radio 4, “Stands out as one of the best books ever written about Frank Sinatra.

His most recent books are Verve – The Sound of America, the 2013 book on the American record label. Uncompromising Expression, that tells the story of 75 years of Blue Note Records was published in November 2014.

His other books include Here Is The News, about the BBC in World War II, Treasure Island, Airline Confidential, Pop!, When Football was Football (nominated for illustrated Sports Book of the Year 2008), Dreamboats & Petticoats – Music & Life in Pre Beatles Britain, Titanic – History As It Happened, When Britain Went To War, Better Late Than Never, Len Goodman’s autobiography, Len Goodman’s Lost London (2013) and Len Goodman’s Dancing Round Britain (2014). He has also co-written As Much As I Can (2010) – The life of film and stage director, Peter Glenville.

His articles have appeared in The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Goldmine and Record Collector; he also appears regularly on radio and occasionally on TV, usually talking about music. He has produced box sets Universal Music, including, 100 Years of the Blues, as well as Satchmo: Louis Armstrong – Ambassador of Jazz (10 CD box set and 200 page illustrated biography), Ella – The Voice of Jazz, Verve – The Sound of America, Blue Note’s Uncompromising Expression and a 10 CD career retrospective of Nat King Cole in 2015. He has written numerous sleeve notes and books to accompany album and DVD releases, including many for The Rolling Stones and in 2015 wrote the historical notes for The Beatles 1+ DVD rand CD reissue. He is Universal Music’s jazz consultant and Editor-in-Chief of Universal Music’s online music marketing site – udiscovermusic.com 

BOOKING ESSENTIAL

Tickets are available from The Culbone – Please call 01643 862259

Launch of Exmoor Horn Wool

enpa              NEWS FROM EXMOOR NATIONAL PARK

DSCF6406A new local venture was given a flying start at a well-attended launch of the Exmoor Horn Wool company hosted by the National Park Centre in Dunster recently. The project, supported by the Exmoor National Park Partnership Fund, is a culmination of two years of hard work by a handful of Exmoor sheep farmers determined to find a way to add value to the fine fleeces produced by the indigenous Exmoor Horn sheep.

On display was the full range of dyed wool for knitting, in five colours that reflected the Exmoor landscape such as purple for heather, yellow for gorse, and a range of socks in a variety of colour combinations, each one unique to a particular village on Exmoor. The knee length socks are designed as shooting socks, but are also perfect as wellie socks or, as one satisfied purchaser pointed out, golfing socks.

Brian Buckingham, an Exmoor Horn breeder for over 40 years, and now chairman of the Exmoor Horn Wool company, is very enthusiastic about the new enterprise, “So many of the towns and villages in the South West were built on the back of wool production, even our launch took place only a few yards from the old Dunster yarn market building, so it is great to see sheep farmers once again restoring that link between their sheep and the final wool product – and what a fine wool product it is. 

“Thanks to their wool our Exmoor Horns can withstand days of blizzard out on the moor, so what better wool could there be to knit into warm outer garments such as jumpers and scarfs?”

Exmoor Horn wool project leader Lindy Head added: “The two years it has taken to get to the final IMG_1668product range has been an incredibly steep learning curve. With the help and guidance of John Arbon Textiles and the Wool Board, all those involved, including the Exmoor Horn Wool board, its shareholder farmers, and the Exmoor Horn Sheep Breeders Society, have had to get to grips with the intricacies of the spinning process – from deciding on yarn specifications to fibre conditioning techniques, the challenge of getting the colour mix right, and understanding the working methods of the traditional sock manufacturing industry.

“Then there has been the digital marketing element, a vital component for any new company, but not something Exmoor sheep farmers normally have to handle. I’m now delighted to say that a website, www.exmoorhornwool.co.uk, is up and running and we are hoping that lots of people will support the new venture.”

PS:  The project has been part funded through the Exmoor National Park Authority Partnership fund, at 39%, and the rest of the funding has been supplied by the Exmoor Horn Sheep Breeders Society and individual Exmoor farmers.

To order wool and/or socks, please go to www.exmoorhornwool.co.uk

Exmoor Horn Wool 1