A land of milk and Cheddar
Country Life UK|April 13, 2022
In their latest celebration of West Country people, places and produce, ‘Deepest’ book authors Fanny Charles and Gay Pirrie-Weir explore why Somerset is so different from its neighbouring counties
Fanny Charles and Gay Pirrie-Weir
A land of milk and Cheddar

WHAT is it that makes Somerset so special? The answer, as Arthur Fallowfield would have said, lies in the soil. Trodden and worked by generations of people and their animals, what is arguably England’s most fashionable county now produces some of our most exciting food, from legendary cider and traditional Cheddar cheese to yoghurt, charcuterie, oysters and even savoury granola.

The food community was one of the most compelling aspects of our home county when we started on our third ‘Deepest’ book. Following in the successful footsteps of Deepest Dorset (2016) and Deepest Wiltshire (2019), Deepest Somerset again sets out to capture the roots of the unique county, neighbouring the others, but different in so many ways. The sales of all three books benefit local charities and each one is based on the ceremonial boundaries of the counties, before unitary authorities were dreamt of and edges massaged to suit electoral patterns.

Our Somerset takes in Bath and parts of Bristol. It’s home to nuclear-power station Hinkley Point C, now Europe’s biggest construction site, Glastonbury Festival at Michael Eavis’s Pilton family farm, Cheddar Gorge, Henry the smiling vacuum cleaner and, increasingly, figures from the worlds of finance, showbusiness, politics and the media, nestling alongside the well-hidden landed gentry.

The introduction to Deepest Somerset, written by The Prince of Wales, stresses the importance of ‘agri-culture’—both parts of the word: ‘We dwell within the landscape that feeds us and within the culture that is derived from maintaining its rhythms and natural cycle.’

この記事は Country Life UK の April 13, 2022 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は Country Life UK の April 13, 2022 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

COUNTRY LIFE UKのその他の記事すべて表示
Happiness in small things
Country Life UK

Happiness in small things

Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming

time-read
3 分  |
September 11, 2024
Colour vision
Country Life UK

Colour vision

In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan

time-read
3 分  |
September 11, 2024
'Without fever there is no creation'
Country Life UK

'Without fever there is no creation'

Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines

time-read
4 分  |
September 11, 2024
The colour revolution
Country Life UK

The colour revolution

Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili

time-read
6 分  |
September 11, 2024
Bullace for you
Country Life UK

Bullace for you

The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright

time-read
3 分  |
September 11, 2024
Lights, camera, action!
Country Life UK

Lights, camera, action!

Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary

time-read
5 分  |
September 11, 2024
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
Country Life UK

I was on fire for you, where did you go?

In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one

time-read
5 分  |
September 11, 2024
Bravery bevond belief
Country Life UK

Bravery bevond belief

A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth

time-read
4 分  |
September 11, 2024
Let's get to the bottom of this
Country Life UK

Let's get to the bottom of this

Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply

time-read
5 分  |
September 11, 2024
Sing on, sweet bird
Country Life UK

Sing on, sweet bird

An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds

time-read
6 分  |
September 11, 2024