England Raises the Bar

My husband tells me that English cooking is the worst in the world.

I, of course, think he’s wrong and every time I go home, I wander around a different off the beaten track part of the land and always have a smashing time.

The English countryside has long been admired for the richness of its history, traditions, cozy B  & B’s and snug pubs. Now there is an exciting new edge to touring the counties with five-star accommodations, innovative cuisine, and even a fledgling wine industry.

As we leave traffic-congested London and head northwest for the undulating green countryside of the Cotswolds, it is as if we cross an invisible border and enter a different country as the last vestiges of city life are left behind.

Soon we are in the charming former wool town of Tetbury, where the l7th century flower-trimmed market building acts as a traffic roundabout.   The main street is lined with antique shops, and quality produce stores like the House of Cheese displaying the Prince of Wales “feathers,” the heraldic badge for service to Prince Charles, whose estate Highgrove is on the edge of town.

As it is lunchtime, we head for the Priory Inn, where owners Dave and Tanya Kelly have turned a regular pint-o-bitter country hotel into a gastropub serving simple, yet outstanding fare. One of the Kelly’s house rules is a commitment to buying seasonable produce from local farms and suppliers. Hence, pork comes from the Naughton family’s West End Farm, guinea fowl from Great Farm at Fairford in the Cotswolds, and free range duck and chicken from Maggett’s Farm overlooking the River Wye in the Forest of Dean.

The River Wye is a great place to fish.

Flavorsome organic vegetables come from the Duchy Home Farm owned by Prince Charles while the inn’s chefs bake bread and pizza dough using organic flour ground at Shipton Mill. While savoring this excellent fare you can sip on a crisp Arkadian Schonburger from the delightfully named Bow-in-the-Cloud Vineyard in Malmesbury or their medal winning Cloud Nine bubbly.

We drove on to Calcot Manor, a former farmhouse hidden behind hedgerows on an 89 acre estate in a peaceful farming area just west of Tetbury. Its ancient stone barn and stable date back to 1311 and it is set around a courtyard of espaliered lime trees. From the minute you arrive, you are welcomed and shown to splendid rooms overlooking the croquet lawn.

The award winning restaurant the Conservatory is filled with local diners who appreciate their commitment to using locally produced organic meat and vegetables. There might be seared diver-caught scallops with fennel puree, roast rump and braised neck of lamb with peas and mascarpone cappelletti, twice cooked crispy pork belly with lemon grass and langoustine, hot English strawberry soufflé and British farmhouse cheese.

Visit Berkeley Castle which dates from the 12th century and has been in the same family for hundreds of years. This is a very pretty part of English and you will weave your way thru postcard villages with improbable names like Upper and Lower Slaughter, and Stow-on-the-Wold, dodging tractors and children on horseback in narrow country lanes.

You must visit the Wedgewood Centre at Stoke on Trent, and there are lots of outstanding gardens to visit on the route.

Visit England and enjoy my favorite drink. A Shandy, half beer and half lemonade.

Maureen Jones is President of All Horizons Travel at 160 Main Street in Los Altos. The staff are all experts on family travel, cruises, business travel. All Horizons is part of the powerful Signature Travel Network.