Ambridge Success at Borchester Food and Drink Awards 2016

Ambridge sparkled at the 2016 Borchester Food and Drink Awards. The event was hosted in the village by Oliver and Caroline Sterling at their Grey Gables Hotel & Country Club.

All the great and good of Borsetshire were there, with the Mayor of Borchester and his wife as guests of honour.

“It’s a marvellous turnout”, said the event's main sponsor, Justin Elliott, who was presenting the awards. The managing director of Damara Capital was said to be all smiles as he mingled with guests before the ceremony got underway.

Ambridge accolades

While there were some disappointments for Ambridge, (Lower Loxley, Ambridge Tea Room, and Upper Class Eggs all missed out in their categories) overall it was a successful night for the jewel in the crown of Borsetshire.

The popular pub, The Bull, which is run by Kenton and Jolene Archer, scooped a win for Family Dining.

Haute Cuisine went to Ian Craig, the head chef at Grey Gables. As Justin announced Ian’s success, he added his own compliments to the chef describing dinner at the event as “superb”, the dessert of strudel with ice cream and berries being his particular favourite.

Borsetshire Blue

The final award of the evening was for Best Artisan Product which went to Helen Titchener for her Borsetshire Blue cheese. The award was collected on Helen’s behalf by her mother, Pat Archer.

Borsetshire Blue has a long history in the county and Helen Titchener’s product came into being after her aunt Jennifer Aldridge, who has a strong passion for local history, gave her some old recipes for traditional local cheeses back in 2001.

The soft cheese, which is made at Bridge Farm, takes ten weeks to mature. It is said to go well with wine as well as cider. And this isn’t the first time it has been recognised by judges. In 2007, Borsetshire Blue won a silver medal at the British Cheese Awards.

• Listen to the Borchester Food and Drink Awards episode of The Archers (8 July 2016)