SIX QUICK TRIPS
Must-visit food regions From a cycling trip in Catalonia to catching crayfish in Sweden, six European destinations with seriously good food
The beautiful village of Bibury Smögen harbour BELOW Cooking freshly caught mussels at Musselbaren
Chocolate-box perfect Broadway gets all the tourists, but few villages are prettier than Southrop (pronounced Sutherup), which has The Swan pub at its heart. No ordinary country boozer, the menu has Italian influences with dishes such as red mullet escabeche with fennel, saffron & radish, gilt head bream ‘en papillote’ and garden rhubarb puff pastry tart with clotted cream. Opposite The Swan and under the same ownership is Thyme (thyme.co.uk), a beautifully renovated estate that includes a cookery school, feasting
74 BBC Good Food Middle East August 2016
and fourth Saturdays of the month at Cirencester, on the second Thursday at Stow-on-the-Wold, and every Friday in Gloucester. Within a few miles (you can hire a bike), explore the village of Bibury, with its 17th-century cottages, and Bourton-on-the-Water, billed as the ‘Little Venice’ of the Cotswolds.
Where to stay
You can stay at Thyme too – there are comfortable bedrooms in cottages and the delightful Thyme Manor, where crisp linen, rolltop baths and damson vodka nightcaps ensure a peaceful night’s sleep. Rooms from Dhs1,250 per night.
Gothenburg, Sweden
The buzzing port city of Gothenburg could not rank higher in the Scandinavian hipster food scene. Home to more zero-food-miles cafés, gourmet vegetarian restaurants and coffee roasteries-cum-delis than you can shake a cinnamon bun at (the national sweet of choice), it is also the birthplace of AirDine (airdine.com). This just-launched social dining scheme is being touted as ‘Air BnB for food lovers’, transforming participating homes into makeshift restaurants. The scheme is set to go worldwide later this year.
GETTY, JONAS INGMAN, ALESSANDRO SAFFO/SIME/4CORNERS, SHUTTERSTOCK
The Cotswolds
hall and contemporary bar – The Baa – complete with sheepskin seating. The pub, cookery school and restaurant – due to open later this year – take supplies from the kitchen garden, home to Thyme’s rare-breed sheep, pigs and chickens. Guided visits to the farm are encouraged so that some of the more unusual heritage and heirloom varieties of vegetables can be highlighted, such as puntarelle (chicory) and palla rossa (radicchio). Afterwards, pick up a walking map and do a loop of the surrounding villages. One of the walks takes in four villages before you circle back to The Swan for lunch. Locally, there are farmers’ markets to visit on the second
Feature SARAH BARELL | Cotswolds words CHRISTINE HAYES | Photographs ALAMY,
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