Yesterday I visited Claremont Farm in Bebington on the Wirral, a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Having finished my interview I had a good look round the farm shop, needing to buy bread in particular. I purchased a couple of loaves, the first already finished and it was excellent. But the cheese I got was better, and though expensive it was great value, which when you think about it is not a paradox.
I spent £10 or so on two big chunks, one was Doddington from Northumberland, bought after tasting a tiny piece. It was still with me half way up the M6 on the way home. The other was the wonderful Montgomery Cheddar, one of this country's great cheeses. My son raised his eyebrows when I did my wine-tasting bit that evening: first flavour herbaceous, a bit grassy, then you get cream which morphs into acidy strength, and the whole gels at the end. Sounds pretentious, maybe is a bit, but it's true.
OK, £10 on two pieces of cheese is not what IDS will be spending from his £53 a week budget, but it is still for those of us with reasonable if limited funds a bargain, maximising taste for your pound. It satisfies the austerity thing as we need eat just a little to have huge pleasure, so it will last longer. What a pity it's hard to find such fantastic produce.
To Booth's shame their stock of decent cheeses (at Fulwood anyway) has diminished, with Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire no longer available. File under bloody stupid. Yet you can buy horrors like cheddar with mango there. File under bloody criminal.
No comments:
Post a Comment