9 Delicious Food-Based Experiences That Prove Local Produce Is Top

Want to forage your own food, drink sparkling wine on lush vineyards, or eat your own body weight in Bath buns? It’s all possible in England.

Trying local foods and produce is one of the joys of travel, and while travel may be restricted right now, we can always plan ahead. Let some of these incredible local food experiences inspire your next trip:

For the most recently updated government guidance on travel, head to the Gov UK website.

1. Go on a sparkling tour of the South Downs in Sussex.

instagram.com

The vineyards of Champagne in France and the heartland of Prosecco (Italy’s Veneto region) may be more well known, but did you know there’s a region filled with just as many bubbly delights, right here in England? England’s wine industry is centred around Sussex, with a glut of leading sparkling wine estates speckling the county’s South Downs National Park.

Local company Fizz on Foot cleverly makes the most of both the beautiful views and the excellent terroir, offering tours where you walk, eat, and sip your way around the Downs. Their signature long-weekend tour will take you to the area’s most celebrated sparkling wine maker: Rathfinny Estate.

As well as stellar sparkling wine, the South Downs has so much more on offer: Find out what else you can do in the area on the English National Park Experience Collection website.

2. Take tea on a historic estate in West Somerset.

Cross Lane House

The afternoon snack is rightly revered around the world. New Zealanders have their cheese rolls, Colombians their onces, and the French their le gouter. But here in England, the 4pm munchies are elevated to an elegant art form: afternoon tea. Some might try to tell you the best versions of the English ritual can be found in London’s fancy hotels. They’re wrong.

Cream- and jam-slathered scones and hot pots of tea are at their best after a long day of tramping through the countryside. The Holnicote Estate in Exmoor National Park proves this in full, with seven tearooms offering simple, expertly crafted cream teas on its extensive 12,420 acres of land, ranging from scones in a post office to tea and cakes in cosy spots like the Cross Lane House, pictured above.

The Holnicote Estate and its tearooms are just one of the delights that you can see in our national parks; the English National Park Experience Collection has rounded up lots of other things you can see in the area here.

3. Take a beer-and-pilates class in Gloucestershire.

instagram.com

A pilates session on a weekend and a cold beer after work are two equally relaxing things, but not necessarily ones you’d put together. More fool you, says Hillside Brewery, which hosts beer and pilates experience days at their Cotswolds brewery. The small, family-owned business is based in the village of Longhope, makes incredibly fine ales, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Exhibit A: the "Legless Cow" bitter. Exhibit B: this hour-long pilates class, run by a Gloucestershire pilates teacher and done with a "Hillside beer of your choice" in hand.

There are more traditional tours available of course and other experience days that involve axe-throwing and archery. There’s also a kitchen on site, and those who book in for an experience can also order lunch beforehand: usually an ale hot pot made with root veg or beef from the local butchers and served with sourdough from nearby Forest Bakehouse.

Why finish your trip there when Uncover the Cotswolds has plenty of other sites to see in the area?

4. Sample some of Manchester’s best craft beers.

instagram.com

There’s plenty of good scran (or food, to the non-Mancs) to be had in Manchester, but it's the city’s craft beer scene that really stands out. There’s so many innovative Mancunian brews on offer that knowing when and where to start tasting your way through them can be pretty befuddling. There’s only so many you can try before things start to get a bit hazy, so prioritising is key.

The city’s Craft Beer Tour is an excellent way to marshall your time: You’ll taste 10 to 12 craft beers (all a third-of-a-pint) during a three-hour tour across four venues (including microbreweries to beer bars). Each location also has a "beer expert" to talk you through what you’re tasting, so you’ll leave as knowledgeable as you are tipsy.

If you're looking to make a weekend out of your trip, Visit Manchester has lots of suggestions of what else you can pack in.

5. Eat your way around Bath.

Savouring Bath

Bath is perhaps more known for its Jane Austen heritage — many a Regency romance has been set here — than its food scene, but an array of tasty food is most definitely present in the city, alongside all the golden Georgian buildings. A good way to get to know said culinary delights is with Savouring Bath, which runs a number of different food-themed tours featuring "the best of the city’s culinary artisans".

Four tours are on offer, outside of the virtual food tour currently being run through lockdown, and all are classed as "semiprivate" with a max of eight per group. Samples include sticky pieces of Turkish delight paired with hot coffee, pizza slices dripping with cheese, and sultana-studded Bath buns.

Bath and the surrounding Cotswolds have plenty of food and travel experiences. You can plan more of your trip with Uncover the Cotswolds.

6. Forage your own food in Exmoor National Park.

Moor Wild Experiences, Liz Cwilewicz / Via instagram.com

Want free food for life? Just learn to forage. Moor Wild Experiences is set on teaching visitors to Exmoor National Park how to do exactly that, with founder Liz Cwilewicz creating the company with the sole intent of showing just how magical — and delicious — a place Exmoor really is. Alongside guided walks and courses that teach you how to navigate the wilds with just a compass and a map, she runs a "Foraging, Feasting, and Farm Adventures" experience.

The four-hour course teaches how to find up to 15 different wild edibles by the River Yeo, before launching into a local produce picnic and paddling session. Things only get more idyllic from there, with the group rounding up the day drinking sparkling wine in a 16th-century barn and eating slow-cooked casserole around a toasty firepit.

After you've foraged your way through the park, find other things to do in the area with the English National Park Experience Collection here.

7. Drink gin made from 100% local grain.

Copper Rivet

Copper Rivet is Kent’s only "grain-to-glass" distillery. So you can, quite literally, get a taste of the Garden of England here. There are loads of people making craft gin across England — the gin boom is still going strong — but a tour of this particular distillery offers something a bit different.

The one-hour guided tour gives access to "one of the few places in England" where you can see the entire gin distillation process, from the field right up to your glass (a gin tasting is naturally included). Located in Pump House No. 5, the tour also includes a fair bit of history about Chatham Dockyard (which used to belong to the Royal Navy).

Kent has lots more to offer, including the beautiful Leeds Castle and Hush Heath Estate. Find out about the other attractions in the area here.

8. Try the original Bakewell pudding in Derbyshire.

instagram.com

What’s the difference between a Bakewell pudding and a Bakewell tart? The former was invented in the Peak District town of Bakewell in the 1800s, when a cook (Mrs Greaves) at a local inn misunderstood a strawberry tart recipe and made a puff pastry case topped with strawberry jam and a soft-set almond custard. The latter came later and is made with shortcrust pastry, frangipane sponge, strawberry jam, and white, glacé cherry–topped fondant.

Both can be sampled at the Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop. This spot has been selling Bakewell Puddings since 1860, when the building owner Mrs Wilson (and her husband) heard of the aforementioned Mrs Greaves’ new pudding and bought the original recipe. That same top-secret recipe is still used today to make the only original, handmade Bakewell puddings. There's now an 80-seater restaurant above the bakery for diners; but if you go in summer, ask to have your pudding (or tart) in the sunny, outside courtyard.

For more delicious food-based delights, take a trip down the Gourmet Garden Trail.

9. Have a day of fishing and eating in Sussex.

Michael King

The idea of fishing your own supper always sounds relaxing, until you get around to actually having to prepare your catch of the day, which can be a messy, fiddly business. Fins & Forks has the answer to this conundrum. Wearing many fishy hats, this Sussex business is a smokehouse, a chef’s table, a cookery school, and, most importantly, runs experience days through which they'll teach you how to catch and cook your own fish supper.

Their four-hour "Bait to Plate" Fly Fishing Taster & Smokeschool Experience involves "outwitting" (i.e. coaxing onto your fishing hook) a Sussex rainbow trout in the market town of Arundel and cold-smoking it. The results are then posted out for you to turn into brunch. Or, you can upgrade the day with a smokehouse lunch add-on, which involves a delicious-sounding "culinary journey" along Sussex’s coastline.

If you're looking for more things to do in the South Downs, the English National Park Experiences Collection has more information of what you can find in the area.

Discover more of the best of England's local produce with VisitEngland.

Additional imagery from Getty Images / iStock