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PACKED with deliciousDevon delicacies, the foodand drink area is one of themost popular show mar-quees and, this year, the ex-hibit has been upgraded topavilion status.

“We hope that we will be-nefit from this new coverage,it is very smart,” said chiefsteward David Scoble. “Wedo find that there is a lot ofinterest in food and where itcomes from.”

Fresh fruit and vegetables,cheese, bread, honey, meatand many more mouthwa-tering treats will feature atthe food and drinks pavilion.And as one of seven pit-stopsfor the children’s Show Trail— a new scheme whichguides youngsters aroundthe showground to learnabout food and farming —the marquee will be heavilyinvolved in promoting theYear of Food and Farming.

“We are trying to encom-pass the Year of Food andFarming within the exhib-ition,” said David. “It is allabout educating childrenand showing them theproducts of the land and howthey are made into food.

“When the kids get here wewill give them a question-naire to fill in and the an-swers will be in themarquee.

“There will lots of livelyexhibits, like a cider makingdemonstration. Cheesemaker Robert Kitchen, fromLancashire, is back and willbe showing audiences howone gallon of milk can beturned into cheese, whichvisitors can then try forthemselves.”

While many of old favour-ites have returned this year,the food and drinks pavilionis for the first time featuringa small producer’s area, en-abling six less known localproducers to showcase theirgoods.

Dave and Marilyn John-son, of Norsworthy GoatsCheese, near Crediton, areone of the six. They may be asmall cottage industry, buttheir hand-made unpasteur-ised cheese won them gold inthe 2006 British and worldcheese awards.

“Rachel Stephens of Cur-worthy cheese really pushedto have a small producer’stent,” said Dave. “Last year

she sent tickets to us so wecould have a look around theshow and see what wethought. We said if theycould make the pitch smallerit would be better, so theyagreed to do that this year.

“We have got our own goatherd of Saanen, Toggenburand Alpine goats. We makehard and soft unpasteurisedgoats’ cheese and we do somewith added ingredients, suchas our Posbury, which hasgarlic, onion, horseradishand paprika, and a bluecheese called Nanny Bloowhich leaves a tingle on yourtongue!

Cheese“I think we are the only

producer in Devon thatmakes unpasteurised cheesefrom start to finish, hand-made on the farm.”

Dave and Marilyn say theyhope exposure at the CountyShow will raise their profileand increase their trade.

“We are hoping to makepeople aware of us, to letthem know that we are here,”said Dave. “We are reallylooking forward to it. I justhope I have enough cheese!”

Common Loaf Bakery, atStentwood Farm, nearDunkeswell, is one of threebakers exhibiting this year.Established in 2000, thebakery makes make a rangeof sweet and savoury wheat-free breads, pizzas, pastries,cookies and other bits andpieces using mainly speltand rye flour.

“We saw there was a needfor a wheat free bread so wedecided to go that way and ithas been good for us,” saidbaker Christopher Pollen.“We have a large variety ofbread with and without yeastwhich is good for people withallergies. This will be oursixth year at the show and wewill be selling our whole line,including our cheese andonion swirls which havebeen really popular. We’llprobably feature carob andwalnut brownies, Americanstyle granola with honey andan olive and walnut sour-dough.

“To support the Year ofFood and Farming, which isthe main theme of the show,we will have a sign on ourstand describing what thefood is made from.”

Meanwhile, lots of talentedchefs will be lining up at thecookery demonstration tentto show off their culinaryskills.

Mark Street, from DartMarina Hotel, in Dartmouth,and Dez Turland, Chief Ex-ecutive chef of the BrendHotel Group will be hottingup the marquee along withother local chefs.

“They will use as much loc-al produce as possible, andthis year, we will be showinghow to be more economicalwhile cooking and how toturn cheaper bits of food intodelicious meals,” said homeeconomist Celia Hyland,who is in charge of the cook-ery demonstration.

“There are quite a fewpieces of meat which withcareful cooking can be de-licious, such as mutton, shinof beef, breast of lamb, andpork belly!

“We want people to knowthat that cooking is not scaryand local food is not for theelite — everyone can cookand everyone can use localfood.

“For me, a compliment iswhen someone comes up to

me and says, that was easyand interesting, even I coulddo that! — that’s what it’s allabout.”

This year Celia says therewill be a focus on gettingchildren involved. “Cookingties in with the curriculumbecause it involves maths,measuring, following in-structions, tidying up andworking with other people,”she said.

“The exhibit is wonderfuland it’s traditional. Food ispart of our heritage and hav-ing this exhibition is goodfor the county because it pro-motes local industry. And ofcourse you get to meet peopleyou haven’t seen in ages!”

At the Contented Cow tent,12 of Devon’s finest brew-eries will be showcasingtheir top selections. Showsteward Guy Shepard, of ExeValley Brewery, helps to or-ganise the event.

“We pool all our beers to-gether and similar numberof Devon ciders,” he said.“Our feature beer this year isOtter Source, from OtterBrewery. It ties in with whatthe show is all about — get-ting back to basics and show-ing people where food comesfrom.

“We will be open from 9amuntil 11pm each day so otherexhibitors can come downfor refreshments!

“Westpoint is a lovely ven-ue to come to and we are hereto support each other. It's allabout local and all aboutDevon.”

Otter Source is unlike anyother ale at Otter Brewery, afamily-run business, basedin Luppitt, near Honiton.The ale has been speciallymade for the County Showand will star as the featurebeer at the Contented Cowtent.

Patrick McCaigh is brew-ery sales director. He said:“Otter Source is a cask aleand it’s the first beer that wehave ever brewed at four percent. It is made using springwater from our own sourceand malt which is locallysourced, tying in with theYear of Food and Farming.

“It will taste well roundedand bitter, and if it provespopular we might continuewith it after the show.

“The Contented Cow tentin itself is a great platformfor Devon to display its bestbreweries. It reflects the eth-os of the show which is thelocal community working to-gether.

“I think what we will en-deavour to do this year iseducate the public about themerits of regionally pro-duced ales and drinking it inpubs. There is so much neg-ative publicity about pubs

and binge drinking, but pubsin the Westcountry are fineplaces to go.

“Binge drinking is causedby cheap alcohol bought atsupermarkets, not qualityregionally brewed ales avail-able in local pubs.”

The South West Wine andBeer Federation includes 22clubs across Devon, Corn-wall and Somerset. Theirwine and beer tastings arealways popular events and,this year, they have a stag-gering 20 gallons ofwine and 18 gallonsof beer to give away.

The competitionsinclude 12 wineclasses, 14 beerclasses, and four cupclasses, rated bySouth West and na-tional judges.

“We have around16 federation mem-bers helping out at

the tent and speaking topeople about wine makingbeer making,” said showsteward Maurice Powell.

This year the show will bidfarewell to Maurice who,after 43 years of service, hasdecided to retire from hisposition as show steward.

“Unless I can find someoneto take over our tent won’texist next year, I hopesomeone can be found to takeon the responsibility,” hesaid.

Dave Johnson of Norsworthy Dairy Goats with some of his cheeseANDY GREEN EE310308_AG02_17

DEVON COUNTY SHOW SUPPLEMENT 1716 DEVON COUNTY SHOW SUPPLEMENT