An Edible Voyage

October 2020 I was so excited to come across this peaceful and cosy cafe with it's roaring fire and dappled light pooling on tables by windows.  Hidden down some stone steps within the unassuming Temple Guiting Pantry, discovering it felt like my own little secret. There's a good mix of staples as well as inventive offerings, alongside coffee, tea and freshly squeezed juice.  Eggs Royale with brown butter Hollandaise or corn and kale fritters with black bean and pomegranate salsa, aji verde and chipotle... there are some hard choices to make here!  This is a place to linger, to absorb the tranquility. Find the cafe inside Temple Guiting Pantry, on the square of the village of the same name.  They can provide a leaflet suggesting a 1.5 hour walk through the beautiful Gloucestershire Cotswolds for a pre or post breakfast/ brunch/ lunch stroll, and the shop itself is well worth a browse.

May 2021 Not just your standard village cafe, this Cotswolds hub is owned by a cooperative of more than 650 villagers, and sits alongside a well stocked shop, the result of a successful fundraising campaign. By day, there's an array of baked goods far more elaborate than I was expecting from this tiny cafe - ruby chocolate cruffins, pistachio and rosewater buns and deliciously gooey Black Forest friands, all courtesy of Cheltenham's Baker and Graze.  Breakfast is served with Mark's Cotswold Bakery sourdough; for lunch, colourful salads and fat sandwiches feature alongside more hearty offerings such as Cotswold goat tagine with Israeli couscous, pomegranate, pistachios and harissa yogurt.  New Ground, Oxford's specialist roasters who provide training and employment to ex-offenders, provide the coffee beans, and for dinner, this quaint cafe transforms in to a chic dining venue, creating impressive dishes from seasonal, locally sourced produce. The village itself is rather...

May 2020 Niall Keating.  The name may ring a bell...  The much celebrated winner of the Great British Menu 2020 and the Executive Chef of The Dining Room at the exclusive Cotswolds manor house, Whatley Manor.  This is the brain behind the Paradise Carriage, a converted trailer food truck which he used to deliver meals to key workers during the Covid lockdown around his home town or Stoke on Trent, before taking it to Whatley Manor to act as a drive through, gourmet style.   The menu changes weekly and fellow chefs make guest appearances to host pop up nights.  The food is comforting, using the simplest of ingredients but of the finest quality, think the humble kebab elevated to the highest of levels.   I sampled the anything but plain fish finger sandwich.  Melt in the mouth, juicey Cornish turbot in the crispest of batter with tangy gherkin and lemon mayonnaise and peppery watercress, bursting from a rich brioche roll.  Finge...