Food businesses vie for Cotswolds title (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Food businesses vie for Cotswolds title

THREE local businesses will be vying with companies across the region in the annual Cotswold Life Awards.

Simple Suppers, based at Ditchford Mill in Stretton-on-Fosse, is celebrating being nominated for the first time - in the Butcher and Meat Processing category.

The firm was started by Gill and David Graham as a pig farm in 1977 and expanded in 2001 to making pies, sausages and ready meals.

"We supply to markets in Chipping Campden and Moreton," said Gill, "And to lots of local shops. We started a new online ordering service on Saturday and we have already had four orders.

"Our best sellers include my own recipe hot pies with pork, smoked bacon - which we do ourselves - leeks, cider and sage, and beef and mushroom which got a good review in one of the Sunday papers last weekend."

Simple Suppers also supplies other shops and hotels.

Nominated in the Best Farm Shop category of the awards to be held on being held on Friday, June 9 is Longborough Farm Shop, based in an old stone threshing barn in the village.

"We've grown from humble beginnings" said owner Katharine Assheton, who started the shop back in 1997. "We've expanded from fruit to stock bread, ice-creams, local cheeses, meat including beef and venison from the neighbouring estate, and local home-made ready meals - our dinner party puddings, such as dark and light chocolate terrine, are especially popular!

"We cram the shop full and everything is very seasonal. We have asparagus at the moment."

"Everything is sourced locally and we grow out own fruit."

The shop, which also organises country-themed workshops during the holidays, has an enthusiastic team of four full-time staff and a regiment of part-timers including local students from the Longborough area who help pick the fruit as well as sell it in the shop.

Also nominated - in the best new business category - is New Farm at Dorn, which launched a website in January, called cotswoldbreakfast.com, especially for B&Bs in the area serving local produce.

"It's really taken off," said innovator Sarah Righton. "We aim to give guests a real taste of the Cotswolds and we are supporting local businesses at the same time. "We have nine B&Bs on the website so far, and in our first month alone we got 450 hits. That's been rising steadily and we may even expand to set up similar sites for Warwickshire and Oxfordshire."

Sarah not only runs a B&B but a farm shop selling meat produced by the farm's Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs.

The magazine contest contenders - there are three short-listed in each of the 15 categories - will learn their fate at an Oscar-style awards evening being held at Beaufort Polo Club at Westonbirt. Poet Pam Ayres will be among the celebrities presenting the prizes.

"We launched the awards four years ago and they have grown and grown. We now received over 3,000 nominations," said Cotswold Life marketing manager Gemma Plum.