24 hours to go until we set of for our tour of the South West of England. There is still the odd last minute tweak to our plans but at this point in time we are meeting about 9 British manufactures, producers and farmers of varying sizes over 10 days. We are meeting some really well known business people and are being given intimate tours of their facilities. In some cases these factories rarely open their doors to Joe Public, so we realise how lucky we are.
Our itinerary is currently:
Wednesday 27th March – Salisbury
Lyburn Cheeses – http://www.lyburnfarm.co.uk
Thursday 28th March – Poole
Lush Cosmetics – www.lush.co.uk
Mathmos Ltd – www.mathmos.com
Friday 29th March
Travel
Saturday 30th March – Axminster
River Cottage Spring Fair – http://www.rivercottage.net
Sunday 31st March – Exeter
Beach (optimistic)
Monday 1st April – Truro
Beach (Even more optimistic)
Tuesday 2nd April – Devon
Conker Shoes – www.conkershoes.com
Shakespeare Glass – www.shakspeareglass.co.uk
Wednesday 3rd April – Somerset
Sharpham Park Spelt Farm – www.sharphampark.com
Kilver Court – www.kilvercourt.com
Thursday 4th April – Somerset
Sheepland – www.sheepskin.co.uk
Friday 5th April – Sussex
Bluebell Railway – www.bluebell-railway.co.uk
…and Home
Throughout our adventure we will endeavor to blog, tweet and take pictures in an effort to allow you to follow our journey from the comfort of your living rooms, offices or out-houses (wherever you regularly access your computer).
We want to hear from you
Along the way it would be great to hear from you. If you have any questions for the businesses that we are meeting or advice as to what we should see on any given day please get in touch. Your best is to either leave a comment on the latest post or Tweet us.
Remember that whilst in Cornwall, they have a very well organised and long-standing “Made in Cornwall” scheme. Only products bearing the “Made in Cornwall” logo (a tin mine) have been certified as really being made there. Hope you have a wonderful time and that the buying British is not too stressful – I imagine that you will have a huge amount of support.
Looking forward to the photos. Make sure you take lots of Lucan.
If you get the chance, visit Palmers Brewery in Bridport. I keep a caravan in Charmouth and always drink their beer when out and about. Bridport is very foodie, and has a food market at least once a week. Bridport and West Bay just down the road were used for several locations in Broadchurch the TV drama. Very distracting when watching as I’m too busy spotting places I know to follow the plot
I would like to know if Poole Pottery is still made in England? Any idea? Have a super trip!
Yes it is, well I know a lot of it still is, they may outsource some of their business over seas
You may need to organise a separate South West brewery crawl. I can think of three local ones to me in Wiltshire: Wadworths Brewery in Devizes, Ramsbury Brewery in Ramsbury – obviously, and Three Castles Brewery in Pewsey. There may be more we haven’t discovered yet. You might need to arrange childcare for Lucan though 😉
Tour of Scotland next year? there are a few distilleries up there you could visit!
Sharpham vinyard and cheese near Dartmouth in South Devon would be one to add to your list for another ‘tour’
A busy Easter break, but have lots of fun on this journey of discovery. Looking forward to seeing photos of the inside of Lush HQ, I do love their products but only buy the bath products as little treats. Their eye cream is so soothing, plus good value for the amount that is in the small bottle compared to chemical infused eyecreams in small tubes…
I’m busily jotting down all these British companies to take advantage of buying British made goods when I next need new items….Britian needs The Bradshaw Family and Make it British website…it’s inspired me no end…Thank you for starting this project, we all have a lot to discover about British goods….and a right to buy them through all the other imported tat out there.
btw loving the vintage photo.
Ooh yes vineyard, there’s a vineyard just outside of Devizes too. a’Beckett’s Vineyard. We have ice cream producers too for Lucan in the summer.
Only recently discovered Lush products and am quite envious of you visiting them!
You appear to have a jam packed Easter break ~ enjoy every minute!
Just to expand ~ a friend bought my wife and I a massage bar to share (they’re great!).
Last week, in Peterborough, we stumbled across a Lush Store and were very pleasantly suprised (also quite excited) at the variety of homegrown and fastastic products they have for both adults and children.
That’s where I shop for Lush products Peter but many years ago you could only buy it in Cambridge or say Norwich in this region, so was even more of a treat, as didn’t travel to those cities regularly.