Episode 18 - Somerset
A tour of Somerset wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the makers of the county’s world famous cheese – Cheddar. Ade meets James Montgomery, and hears how the Montgomery family maintain an old-fashioned and traditional approach to making their unpasteurised cheese.
A guide to Somerset...
Weston-Super-Mare, Wells, Glastonbury, Exmoor and Yeovil are all places in the south west county of Somerset. Coastlines, seaside resorts and English countryside, Somerset has a rich history and tradition. The Ancient Welsh Celts and the Saxons described the county as ‘the Land of Summer People.’ A land of legend, it’s also thought to be the resting place of King Arthur.
Food the Somerset way
Agriculture and food and drink production continue to be important industries in Somerset as with other south west counties. Apple orchards were once plentiful and Somerset continues to produce a lot of cider. The area around Taunton was described as ‘cider country’ as early as 1584. The cider can also be used for a traditional Somerset recipe for Cider cake.
Mendip Wallfish are snails and have been rediscovered since the 1960s, the snail as a foodstuff dates back to Roman times and was introduced to Britain over 2000 years ago. Why it survived in Somerset is hard to say but it may be the warm damp climate the south west provides.
Somerset Priddy oggy
At the end of the programme, Ade cooked up some Somerset Priddy oggies, ‘oggy’ being the West Country name for pastry and Priddy being a name of a town in Somerset. The Priddy oggy is made from pork mince, Cheddar cheese and apple and Ade served them up with some Apple chutney.
Get Ade's recipe for Somerset Priddy oggy
What Ade did...
Mud-horse fishing in Bridgewater Bay
A nature reserve with 30 square miles of mud, Bridgewater Bay has been home to now ancient fishing techniques since the Saxon era. Ade met Adrian Sellick, the sole remaining mudhorse fisherman in Bridgewater Bay. Made out of driftwood, the mudhorse stops Adrian from sinking in the mud and allows him to bring back his heavy loads. After 60 years of fishing, Adrian’s father Brendan, now 78, works in the shop where the catch is gutted and sold. Ade tried his hand at mudhorse fishing but had to do so before the tide came in, it’s safe to say, it’s a job for the experts.
Willow weaving
Also in Bridgewater, Ade stopped at the Somerset Willow Company. The company is four generations old, and there are three generations at work there today, Aubrey Hill, his son Darrell Hill and Darrell’s son Anthony Hill. Willow is a unique industry in Somerset, although on a smaller scale than it used to be. There's evidence of willow being used in Somerset for centuries; for track-ways and baskets as far back as prehistoric times, and by the Romans for basket-making, furniture and even for their chariots. Today it's used to make hurdles, artist's charcoal, baskets, furniture, cricket bats, and hot air balloon baskets. Ade met Darrell and Aubrey who showed him the ropes, or the willow should we say.
Cider brandy
Next it was to Burrow Hill where Ade met Julian Temperley at the Somerset Cider Brandy Company. The first written records of cider brandy go back to 1678 and apples have been grown and cider pressed at Burrow Hill for at least 150 years. The apple variety and soil in Somerset give cider brandy its unique qualities and Somerset. Ade tried his hand at making up his own cider brandy with the help of Julian’s 40 years experience.
Mrs. Price's parlour
At the end of the programme, Ade cooked for Somerset folk duo, Amanda Boyd and Emma Wilkinson or Mrs Price’s parlour as they are known. Taking inspiration from Cecil Sharp’s Somerset song collection, many of the songs the duo sing are over a hundred years old. Mrs Elizabeth Price, the inspiration for the duo’s name, was a singer from the Mendips who worked in the fields and sang one song for Cecil Sharp himself ‘Blow away the Morning Dew.’
Somerset facts and traditions
• The Glastonbury Festival, now the world's largest performing arts festival, was launched by the dairy farmer Michael Eavis in 1970.
• The game of skittles, from which American ten-pin bowling derives, originates in Somerset. Many pubs in the county still have a skittle alley. Natives play with nine wooden pins instead of 10.
• After the Monmouth rebellion of 1685, which centred on Taunton, no member of the Royal Family visited Somerset for 300 years. It is said that Queen Victoria was so ashamed by events there that when she took the train through Somerset she pulled her blind down as she passed the town.
• The Old English word from which Somerset is derived meant "people living at or dependent on Somerton". The market town of Somerton in south Somerset is still thriving today, but is no longer the county's most important town.
• The popular legend of King Arthur’s burnt cakes comes from the 12th century and tells the story of when the King fled to the Somerset Levels. Given shelter by a peasant woman unaware of his identity, she left him to watch some cakes on the fire which he burnt whilst preoccupied by the problems of his kingdom.
