Miles Collins

When in Rome!!….

Once again your host finds himself in the Lake District this week, away from the woods and fields of Lincolnshire and across to the other side of the country to dramatic landscapes of mountains, valleys, lakes and rivers. Okay, maybe it’s not exactly Maine to San Francisco in travelling times but it is suprising nonetheless how a country as relatively small as England can be so different in terms of landscape and culture between such a short distance.

The pace of life in Cumbria is far less hectic, I do believe the surrounding countryside has a calming effect on one’s subconscious. There are still many places here which evoke memories of post war England with dry stone walls, thatched cottages and their smoking chimneys, tea houses and steam trains. Cumbria, it seems to me, changes at its own pace, never one to toe the line with the rest of us. It looks at how other counties have changed and modernised before chewing it over for a good while and then, usually, spitting it out. It is one of those counties which seems comfortable in its own skin, there hasn’t been a ‘free for all’ from property developers and town planners with ridiculous plans for bypasses and out of town parking and I like it for that.

So I thought I would share with you a small tea break, five minutes with a cup of tea and a gaze out of my hotel room window before the business of the day ensued once more. I have been given a pack of Sarah Nelson’s famous Grasmere Gingerbread to dunk in my tea and unwrapping the old fashioned parchment made me smile. Despite the current war of words over the rights to this famous name it made me feel very English, happy and nostalgic for that short window in time and that, to me is when food is at its best.

Enjoy your tea, wherever you are.