The Best Local Food and Drink in the UK is in Ceredigion,  West Wales ......

Ceredigion is a land of low hills, tumbling rivers and fertile valleys. Unsuited to mass arable faming, its many small farms have specialised in cattle and sheep farming and many have diversified to produce a wide variety of local specialties. This has been encouraged by a massive rise in tourism in the area over the last few years and the growth of the internet, which has brought about cost effective and wide reaching advertising for the small producer.

In a  list compiled by   chef Gary Rhodes, Ceredigion  has been named the top UK destination for good quality food following UKTV Food's Local Food Heroes 2006 report. The study looked at locations all over Britain to find out which areas made the best use of their local, traditional ingredients. The top 10 in this survey were: 

•  1 Ceredigion, Wales; 2 Powys, Wales; 3 Shetland Islands, Scotland; 4 The Highlands, Scotland; 5 Monmouthshire, Wales; 6 Somerset, England; 7 Orkney Islands, Scotland; 8 Herefordshire, England; 9 Shropshire, England; 10 Cumbria, England. 

An outstanding Welsh cheese that I was able to sample it at the recent Aberaeron Seafood Festival is the Celtic Blue Brie produced in Aberystwyth by Llaeth Cymreig.  With a creamy texture and a strong yet subtle taste, it bettered all of the French Brie cheeses I have ever tasted.

Gorwydd Caerphilly is an award winning cheese made by the Trethowans at Gorwydd, the family farm, just outside the village of Llanddewi Brefi. They were recently visited by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall who tasted their cheese (see photo left).

Merlin Cheeses are produced by Gill Pateman at Pontrhydygroes. Their goat's milk Cheddar comes in two sizes and nineteen varieties.  Ewe's milk cheeses are produced by Caws Celtica from Friesland milking sheep at Capel Gwnda Farm, Rhydlewis while Water Buffalo milk is used to make Ice cream by La Belle Rouge at Llanon.

Organic ready meals - a range of prepared soups and salads are produced by Lampeter's Knobbly Carrot Food  Company. They use water from 'Ty Nant' at Bethania near Llanon to make their soups.  Ty Nant water is extracted from a porous aquifer being continuously recharged from rainfall. As a result, the water does not remain below ground for a long period and absorbs few of the minerals from the rocks.

Welsh Lamb and Welsh Black Beef are the major meats produced in West Wales and sold by most local butchers, but there are other delights to be found, including Welsh Wild Boar produced by the Harmony Herd in Pembrokeshire. Cambrian Organics at Horeb near Llandysul, specialise in organic Welsh Black beef, but also sell Lamb, Pork, Poultry and much more online. Among their more unusual products are Lamb, Leek and Laverbread burgers. Also selling Welsh Beef and Lamb online is Farmyard Lamb at Llanon.

Nantgwynfaen Farm at Croeslan near Llandysul is an organic farm with Tamworth pigs - the closest surviving breed to the old English Forest Pig, Jersey and Beef Cattle, Chickens, Ducks and Turkeys. The farm sells all of the farm's produce direct to the customer including 'Tamburgers'  - made to a secret recipe, Italian and Toulouse sausages and a new bacon cure called 'Ceri'.

At Rhydlewis, the fishery has a 3 acre Trout lake and a smokery where they produce traditional Welsh smoked Salmon and Trout.

Good food needs good drink. Both Beer and wine are produced in West Ceredigion. 'Bragdy Ceredigion' produce a number of beers at Wervil Grange near New Quay including Red Kite (photo left), Black Witch, Gold Dragon, Old Black Bull and New Quay Honey Beer. Their beer is available at a number of local retail outlets and at the Ship Inn, Tresaith, on draught.

The New Quay Honey Beer uses honey produced by the New Quay Honey Farm ( just across the cwm from our own farm at Motygido ). They have a wide range of honey products including their Mead in a number of flavours including Apple, Ginger, Raspberry, Apricot, Blackberry and Heather. Mead, or Honey wine is a drink that has been produced in Wales since at least the year 600.

The Honey Farm also produces a range of Honey preserves and mustards.

In Aberaeron, the Ffynnon Las Winery produces a number of Welsh white wines - a dry, a medium dry, and a "late harvest", as well as a selection of fruit liqueurs including: Apricot, lemon, cassis, cassis coch, damson, sloe, blackberry and raspberry. also make a range of Country Wines from locally sourced crops, such as Elderflower and Elderberry. They also make a red wine- "Cardi Coch" - from all the black grapes found growing under glass in the area.

Celtic Country Wines are made in the Teifi Valley near Newcastle Emlyn. Their website states: "At Celtic Country Wines, we are dedicated to re-creating the ancient recipes, but with the benefit of modern wine-making knowledge and equipment, we are now producing fresher lighter wines in today's styles." Celtic Country Wines produce  Elderberry, Elderflower, Blackberry, Raspberry, Beetroot, Ginger and Grape wines.

There are a number of reasons why people should buy locally produced food and drink - and not only because it benefits the local economy. As Global warming, land sea and air pollution, and an increasing world population become critical, the need to save energy, conserve resources, and reduce pollution become paramount.

We can all play our part in reducing our environmental impact by the way in which we buy our food.

The easy way is to go to the nearest large supermarket and buy everything we need at one time. It's cheaper, it's convenient and it saves time. Unfortunately, it's not at all environmentally friendly. Large national Supermarkets will buy from any source at the best price, buying produce where labour is cheap and where transportation to Britain often costs more than the food itself. This additional transportation adds on the 'food miles' and adds to the combustion of fossil fuels, increasing pollution and global warming.

There are so many important reasons to buy local produce - not only in West Wales, but wherever you live. 

© Rod Attrill 2006