Cirencetera – The Cirencester Blog – Page 2 – Cirencester, The Cotswolds, etcetera.

5 places for a Christmas day tipple

As the lights switch on in our beloved Cirencester and the festive spirit begins to fill the air, the anticipation of a few days to celebrate with friends and family building, we turn our thoughts to celebrations. We love the pre-Christmas parties, hunting for stocking fillers, planning menus and putting up the decorations around the house.

When it comes to the big day, as much as we like to get cosy and spend the day with the family, we always build in a little break, to pop out and toast Christmas with friends. It breaks the day and it gets us out of the house for some fresh air. After unwrapping the presents, breakfast and some food prep, we dress up in our festive gear and hit the road to a jolly country pub to meet friends for the customary Christmas day aperitif. Mine is usually a Bloody Mary with all the trimmings, Worcester sauce, celery salt, pepper, lemon, horseradish and a drop of sherry. Yes, you heard right – sherry: it may sound naff but it really lifts the whole thing, a proper pick-me-up!

When it comes to the choice of pub, it has to be a traditional Cotswold pub, cosy and friendly, with a big open fire and local community. We used to visit the Seven Tuns in Chedworth in its heyday, when it was the beating heart of the surrounding countryside. On Christmas day it would be brimming with the locals coming in for a tipple, sporting wellies, dogs and collecitvely, enough tweed to reupholster all the furniture in the place. Talk about festive, the friendly hubbub was the spirit of Christmas itself, and we’d sit around the crackling fire and listen to the chatter, stroke the dogs and delight in the beauty of the countryside from the windows set within the thick stone walls. Over the years we have tried a few other places, all – happily – equally charming and heart-warming in their way. This year we’ve yet to make up our mind, but we have a few strong candidates lined up, that we’d like to share with all our Cotswold readers. And if you’ve any recommendations, we’d just love to hear them! The current shortlist reads thus:

	1. The Golden Heart. A lovely, cosy, traditional – it dates back to the 16th Century, no less – pub that sits in a dip on the A419 between Cirencester and Birdlip, with a log fire and lots of personality. You can perch on a stool or sit at a table in one of the quaint nooks and crannies. Real ales and hearty pub food on offer too. And a-mazing banoffee pie. http://www.thegoldenheart.co.uk/
2. The Bathurst Arms, North Cerney. A chalky pink farmhouse that stands out as you drive along the old Cheltenham road, this delightful pub is set within beautiful countryside and by a gentle stream. Genteel and beautifully refurbished, it has lots of character and that almost essential open fire. It is always lively and jolly and the food is always very good. It has good WiFi too, which is useful for any teenagers that you may have reluctantly agreed to be dragged away from the television. http://www.bathurstarms.co.uk/contact.htm
3. The New Inn at Coln St Aldwyns. We are big fans of this little jewel of a pub. It has atmosphere, great food, friendly service and it is set in the heart of a charming Cotswold village. And we know it is frequented by one of the best chefs up and down the country. Bob from Made by Bob. Need you say more? http://www.thenewinncoln.co.uk/
4. The Inn at Fossebridge. Charm itself, this is an idyllic place, a cosy, warm place set within a gorgeous garden and by a stream – with dreamy walks accessible from the back. I’ll let you into a little secret. We call it ‘the Dibley pub’. If you are familiar with that awesome series, ‘The vicar of Dibley’, you’ll probably get the feeling of what we mean. It is your classic village pub, where people meet to chat and gossip – a million miles away from the frantic pace of life in the fast lane. Talk about therapeutic! http://www.thenewinncoln.co.uk/
5. The Twelve Bells, Cirencester. We are, after all, Cirencestrians, so no list would be complete without a local. A historical pub right in the heart of Cirencester, with a tradition of serving real ales, the Twelve Bells is an unfussy, yet cosy, kind of pub with that has maintained an old-fashioned charm which is, where possible, what’s required on Christmas day. It is popular and friendly and it serves tasty pub food. http://www.twelvebellscirencester.com

Baker and Graze

There are parts of Cheltenham that just feel nice. Well off, too, of course, but wealth is by no means a guarantor of niceness. Around Suffolk Road in Montpellier, however, the immediate neighbourhood just felt, well, nice. The small terraced houses, white – or pastel – washed to perfection stood out against the grey backdrop, many of their facades, curiously different in height to each other considering they were terraced houses. A hundred years ago, you could see this place having quite a different atmosphere, but today it looked spick and span. And this was despite a downpour that seemed never-ending, the sort of rain that doesn’t seem so bad from indoors, but can soak you through in seconds. It was thus we arrived at Baker and Graze.

Stepping through the door, though, one felt bathed in the orange glow of the antique feel lightbulbs – I keep promising myself I’ll get some – and instantly encouraged further in by the delicious aroma: it’s the one where you can smell pastry, fresh bread, sweetness and coffee all at once. Talk about reassuring: it’s an aroma that lets you know that barring a catastrophe, you’ve made the right choice, and that [insert meal here] should be a treat. If the aroma was not enough to convince you, the array of breads, pastries, and other baked treats perched handily by the till – just in case you want to extend to Baker and Graze experience father into your day – would settle things.

It was still early, so the place was nowhere near full, the the usual screen of condensation that masks a humming and thriving eatery like this had yet to form, so I took my seat and gazed out at the Farrow & Ball opposite. First things first, though: coffee – I could have downed a bucketful – and a hot chocolate for young Miss Cirencetera. The understanding smile that greeted my very hasty order, was still there a few minutes later to accompany the delivery of my flat white and even before taking a sip I felt warmed still further. The coffee was good, though frankly I was in such need of something warm, milky and caffeinated, my critical powers disappeared as rapidly as the contents of my cup.

The menu, delivered attached to a clipboard – I do wonder whether clipboard manufacturers are seeing a resurgence in demand these days, or whether these were procured merely from an office clearance – offered much promise and no little dilemma. There was nothing on there that I did not want to eat, not least because the prospect of sourdough as part of your breakfast is never a bad thing. The ubiquitous avocado was accompanied by streaky bacon and a poached egg, but there was also the option of spicy Nduja with poached eggs, or roasted field mushrooms with spinach and a poached egg, but I went for the fennel sausages on sourdough with anchovy butter and kale on the side. With a poached egg on top. Little Miss Cirenetc. had a sausage sandwich upgraded to the fennel variety – I admit to feeling I felt a teensy flush of pride when she asked if that was possible. Other dishes we sampled were the shaksuka baked eggs and avocado, hummus and roasted peppers on toasted pumpernickel.

As we waited for our breakfast bangers and the other dishes to arrive, hungry diners did also and the place was very soon full and alive with a satisfying buzz – all the better to conceal the rumbles emanating from my stomach. The wait was well worth it, however, as dishes to warm up the heart as well as everything else started to arrive. I can’t pretend to have sampled the sausage sandwich but having opted for the fennel sausage on toast I feel safe in recommending it as an option. As a twist on the boring/traditional – pick your adjective – fennel sausages are to be recommended. My sausages, on toast with anchovy butter, were delicious with the softness of a poached egg and some of the kale. While the addition of the kale may seem unnecessary and faddish, it works, definitely adding to the dish as a whole, rather than being a mere extra.

Good as the sausages were, the other two dishes were probably better. The coolness of hummus, avocado and roasted pepper on the hot, nutty pumpernickel, was a genuine surprise. The poached egg was a good extra hit of protein, but the dish would not have missed it. I’m not entirely sure why toasted pumpernickel should be so much of a revelation, but it was and I can see us having that more often at home. Ditto the shaksuka – a Tunisian dish in case you were wondering – two baked eggs looking so wholesome they might just have been at Sunday School, sitting in a spicy and fragrant tomato and pepper sauce, finished with chopped coriander leave and a couple of pieces of toasted sourdough, wedged at the side. It was fragrant, spicy and immensely satisfying, not least that combination of tomato and pepper with a bit of velvet egg yolk just to cool the heat. It seems to be a regular on the menu, so if you get a chance, I recommend you try it.

For breakfast dessert – who says breakfast has to be a single course meal? – we had the granola and greek yoghurt topped with blackberries and poached pear, and a sticky toffee cruffin, that insanely good combination of muffin and croissant. The granola was a perfect follow up to the baked eggs and the sausages: the fruit and yoghurt providing cool softness as a counterpoint to the sweet cinnamon tastiness of the granola. And that cruffin, OMG. Even after all I had eaten, those mouthfuls I was permitted to enjoy, were moments of pure, sweet, flaky, buttery joy. I’ve always views the cruffin – alongside its portmanteau pastry sibling the cronut – as gimmicks, but count me among the converted now.

When it came time to leave, so sated were we after so much deliciousness, we were deaf to the pleas of those tillside treats to take them home for further pastry indulgence. Baker and Graze has only been in situ for less than a year and is in good company considering some of the eateries it has as near neighbours. And from our relative outsider perspective, it feels like it is already an established part of its neighbourhood that is set to stay should its owners wish to do so. They’re on to a good thing and, I think, so are we.

/etc.

The Burford Garden Company

The first thing you should know about the Burford Garden Company is that it is not a garden centre. I feel I would be misleading you to call it so. It is so much more. An art gallery and a home furnishings shop, a gift shop and a delicatessen, a toy shop, a toiletries shop, a kitchenalia emporium, a fine clothing and hat outlet – all under one roof. Perhaps the term ’emporium’ is best suited to give an idea of the wide array of goods and items you can find at the Burford Garden Company. The feeling of abundance you get by walking around, taking in the wonderful displays – not least in the food section – is bound to enduce euphoria. In a way, I’d say it’s like the Harrods of the Cotswolds, the rural, approachable version of the urban, upmarket, has-everything store.

The second thing to note is that everything you will find here can be guaranteed to be top quality, the best of the best. Sometimes, with a price tag to match. But if your coffers are not overflowing or you are on an austerity drive, this place is still for you. You can still spend a delightful couple of hours here without spending anything. It is a visual delight, a journey of discovery every time we visit this place; beautiful ornaments for your home you are unlikely to find elsewhere, that speak of style and refinement and inspire you to think up a whole new theme for your dwelling. From candles and carpets to sofas and lamps, throws and rugs, in a variety of opulent hues and styles to delight your senses, there is enough here to turn anyone into a wannabe interior designer. Even the basics like greetings cards, stationery and wrapping paper are different and unusual.

My favourite is the food and kitchenalia section though. With its cornucopia of quality ingredients and treats from all over the world and colourful utensils – it inspires me to embark on a new cooking or baking adventure every time. Talk about transporting. Whether it is the range of mediterranean olive oils or the substantial breads – from the sourdough to the focaccias or the middle eastern inspired cakes, it is difficult not to end up salivating at the prospect of such a feast. Beautiful olive wood chopping boards and bright crockery and tableware are there too: a great place to pick up a gift for your cheffy friends!

And we have not event mentioned the garden section: that which gives the place its official and perhaps initial raison d’être. The impressive selection of plants and shrubs and vases and garden ornaments – including garden furniture and paving – mean that all bases are covered, whether you’re merely after a new Cyclamen to sit on the kitchen windowsill or brand new patio complete with shed and conservatory. Me, I love the orchid section: shelves covered with a tumbling display of these plants once considered achingly rare, now so abundant they sit batched together by colour, making you feel like you are in the tropics. And you can pick the best branded wellington boots, gloves and hats, should you wish to look the part while you are communing with nature.

When I was last there, I heard beautiful piano music emanating from the home furnishings section; as I followed it humming to myself, I discovered it came from a real live performance, a lady pianist was delighting us all with her improvisation. What a great initiative! We stopped and chatted for a while, and I dreamt of finding the time to take lessons and learn to play that great instrument. Another one for the retirement list.

When your eyes are full and your legs are tired, you can do worse than to sample the very good food and beverages of the cafe/restaurant there; hot and cold food, roast meat and vegetables, sandwiches and delicious cakes. I do recommend the salads. I had a very tasty quinoa, cauliflower, herbs, fruit and nuts salad. It was both delicious and healthy. My husband and our little girl had roast dinner and the intent silence that descended on the table testified to the satisfaction of all concerned. The cafe is a very nice place to stop and watch the crowds mill around and chat; always lively and looking cheerfully decadent, like the rest of the place.

And as we enter into December and the Christmas season, I am excited to go discover the Christmas section. It is something to behold. The displays are on a grand scale and the range and quality of the decorations are exceptional. Pick your colour theme or your style – red, white, silver, gold, woodland naif or elegant Liberty? The spectacle can’t fail to put you in the mood for singing Christmas carols all the way back home!

Abbey Home Farm, Cirencester

Sometimes you feel the need to go somewhere unfussy and cheerful, where the values that inspire the business transpire into what you see and what you buy. The love for nature and respect for the environment inform how Abbey Home Farm shop and coffee shop are run. It is the very essence of the place. It is a calm yet joyful milieu, with an abundance of seasonal produce grown on the land around the farm or sourced from other organic growers. The flavour of the fruit and vegetables you acquire here is such that it will take your dishes to a whole new level. Beyond veg, you can buy meat, grains, pulses, cakes and confectionery here, all of which taste great. As a keen cook I am a strong believer in letting the natural flavours of quality ingredients speak for themselves; I remember getting a leg of lamb here for Easter lunch and my guests were hugely complimentary about how it tasted – it really made all the difference!

I love coming here even if it’s just to hang out. Whatever the season, you always have a sense of it by the produce on the shelves and the surrounding countryside, whether it’s pumpkin and mushroom-laden shelves in the autumn or gorgeous bunches of assorted field flowers and an abundance of tomatoes and courgettes in the summer. There is a lovely area out front with some wooden chairs and tables where you can enjoy your drinks and food from the coffee shop and restaurant, under the trees, and let the kids play free-range on the climbing frame and swings.

Inside, the restaurant is a light and airy place with lovely views over the surrounding countryside. It’s not fancy, but it’s not meant to be. They do a mean roast dinner on a Sunday and great trays of succulent roast vegetables during the week as well as colourful, scrumptious, nutritious salads. The cakes are not elaborate or refined either but they positively burst with flavour. The lemon drizzle, polenta and orange or flapjacks are all robust and satisfying.

The farm runs seasonal events too: I once came here for a cookery course, invited by a friend of mine who had received it as a Christmas present. It was a one-dayer on their house salads – and it was a thoroughly pleasant experience. I picked up some great tips, too. There is normally a farm day in the summer, with tractor rides and access to the animals on the farm for the amusement of kids and adults alike. Out at the back of the shop there is an area devoted to furniture and gifts, as well as some natural cosmetic ranges and some books too. Enough to keep you interested and amused for a good half hour.

With all that is on offer in town, it is so easy to overlook Abbey Home Farm (or the Organic Farm, as we call it at home). But it is an oversight that is easily corrected if you just want to pick up a few groceries and maybe get a bite to eat. We have made a promise to ourselves that we will make the effort to get there more often, and we think that you should too. And as it’s autumn with all the fantastic flavour the season offers, there’s probably no better time.

Kemble Station: railway Arcadia

Picture this: you are sitting at a station waiting for a train.

What can you see? I’d guess – shades of grey, a mundane image of utilitarian travel, heavy with cement, metal, and perpendicular lines. Not so in Kemble. Kemble station is the antithesis of your average, functional, uninspiring railway station. It is tranquil, quaint, and fragrant – a place you can enjoy. From its beautiful landscaped garden to the brightly painted wooden trimmings edging the station building, to the delightful ‘Off the Rails’ café – I have never found a station so beguiling to the senses.

And customers seem to respond to the environment and mirror its quiet and kindly, relaxed mood. Set in deep Gloucestershire, Kemble is a busy little station – as busy as the bees that populate its garden – frequented as it is by the daily London commuters that live in the surrounding villages.

Travelling from Kemble takes the edge off commuting, with its comforting, human-size experience. It’s a station with personality, one that acknowledges its heritage and people’s need for amenable surroundings.

The station garden – created and maintained by the students at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, with donations from Dobbies Garden Centre, is a fantastic local initiative. It offers a little quiet haven where to gather yourself ahead of a busy commute – all lavender and lilies and buzzing with bumblebees. Starting your journey here, puts you in a positive frame of mind to face the day ahead.

Kemble keeps its charm all year round: in the summer, you can sit in the RAU garden and watch the trees gently sway in the breeze and in winter, the waiting room has a cosy, welcoming feel with its little heater you can turn on and people smiling and saying hello as you enter. You can take a seat on one of the two wooden benches and help yourself to one of the free papers. Makes you feel like you are waiting in someone’s front room!

The ‘Off the Rails’ café, a quaint, little Aladdin’s cave emanating tempting aromas of coffee and grilled bacon, oozes character and charm and despite its diminutive size, offers a great section of freshly prepared snacks and coffees, not to mention other items like newspapers, magazines, greetings cards and even features a book exchange! Delicious, the freshly grilled bacon baps and the Danish pastries! How refreshing to have a privately-run, local café rather than another faceless chain outlet!

As with all ointments though, the proverbial fly applies. Beware of parking your car in the station approach road. There have been several reports of damage to cars there, mine included, alas. Parking here, although perfectly legal, is not advisable. Car number-plates have gone missing and cars have been bashed. So, use the car park, at least it has CCTV cameras!

Bank Holiday Special

On One of My Favourite Shops in Cirencester

Following on from my midweek withering a few weeks back on the unintended consequences of the Market Place refurbishment, I am taking this opportunity – and what better time than on a Bank Holiday weekend – to turn to the positive in penning this paean to one of my favourite shops in Cirencester. You’re going to have to go with me on this, as it is perhaps a trifle unexpected, but for years now, it has been – and still is – one of those places where I will almost go looking for an excuse to go and buy something. I realise that may say more about me than I should perhaps be comfortable with, but let’s give me the benefit of the doubt, and take a moment to appreciate the wonder that is Gardiner Haskins. Like I said: go with me on this.

I don’t know about you, but thinking back to my childhood, I seem to remember that nearly every Sunday morning was spent not in Church (despite my parents’ best efforts) but in the DIY superstores that began to spring up on the edge of towns around the UK. While I know such trip were unremittingly dull for some, perhaps even most, kids, I have to admit to liking them. Perhaps it was the size of the likes of Sandford’s, – remember them? – Texas, and the others whose names I forget, that impressed me, or perhaps it was the thought that this trip marked the starting point for the creation of something exciting at home; to this day I retain fond memories of those places, which may go some way to explaining my liking for Gardiner’s.

But this not just pure nostalgia we are talking here.

I like the fact that is in the centre of town, rather than stuck out on the periphery of the town. I am not, in general, a fan of those out-of-town shopping centres. I know they have their place, but one of the things I like about Ciren is that the town centre is a proper nucleus that holds the rest of the town together, and so to have a town centre where nearly everything you might need is obtainable is a wonderful thing: it is to Cirencester’s great credit, that it houses a shop that you would, under normal circumstances expect to be relegated wallflower-like to the periphery.

Also, it has its own carpark. Again, I suspect that that is a fact that often goes unnoticed, but one that deserves at least a modicum of acknowledgment, not to mention appreciation. In my case it verges on the ridiculous that I drive there, but with the winter – not to mention the recent downpours – we’ve had, I’ve even less compulsion to walk. I can’t help it but it is a facility I like to make use of when I have cause to shop there: even in a town where it’s relatively cheap and easy (most of the time) to park for any length of time, one feels as though it’d be madness not to use it.

Another thing I like is that it has a back entrance to add to the one out the front, something which, like the car park, may not be much to recommend anywhere, but how many stores in the town can actually boast that? Calling it a store rather than a shop is particularly apposite; it’s not just a place where we – yes, more of us than we might think – go to part with our money and walk out with something, it is that we know Gardiner’s is where things are kept for us when we most need to go an buy them. This is something one finds all too rarely. Granted, in the kitchen section for example, it has many items you’d be able to find in Steamer Trading a few salubrious metres up the road, but it has the more mundane stuff as well. Personally, I feel comforted that if ever I have an urgent need for a new frying pan and some kettle descaler, I can pop along to Gardiner’s and be able to find what I’m after, and even get a recommendation from one of the generally very knowledgeable staff as to what one is best.

I’m a big fan of the in-store recommendation; when one is in the market for something, even for such mundanities as caustic calcium removal products, it brightens one’s day to get not just a recommendation, but one with a pros versus cons summary as part of the package. It almost makes me want to go shopping for some lawn feed, and I don’t even have a lawn. We may be used to well-trained and knowledgeable staff in our town, possibly even overprovided for it, but here they take this to another, almost gloriously obsequious, level. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not about the attention – most of the time I heave a sigh of relief if left unbothered by in-store staff – but it is such a delight to see service and attention to detail still being seen as important. It makes a difference.

The minute you walk through the door (either one), you know that this is shopping that is slightly removed from the norm, but in a very good way. Whether it’s from the front into the midst of all the kitchenalia, or from the back where one is greeted by four-way gang plugs, coaxial cables – well, cables, anyway – and possibly even hanging baskets on special offer. From there you can go in many directions – time was when I used to lose my bearings in there – and end up in paint, the aforementioned GreenGro or whatever it’s called, even upstairs to lighting and furniture (both indoor occasional and outdoor): the world is your domestic necessities oyster.

So, there we have it. Next time you need some bin bags or some more clothes pegs, first make sure you actually go to Gardiner’s for them. Then take a moment and look around to discover what is actually in there and consider the sheer amount of useful and not-so-useful – who really wants a DVD of the London Midland Scottish Railway between the wars – stuff that they have: it really is remarkable. I, for one, am very happy that we have a shop like Gardiner’s in our town centre. I treasure its presence, and I think we all should.

Wednesday Whinge – The Market Place

Cirencester has been a market town for centuries. Indeed, the Council’s own website proudly declares that it was mentioned in the Doomsday book and it is undeniably part of the town’s DNA. The wool trade that established the town and maintained its prosperity is now only legacy, with the town now a place for traders of all kinds. The agriculture that surrounds the town, not least in the shape of the Royal Agricultural University is, though, a constant reminder of the town’s roots, and shows its face more clearly every time the artisans come to town to display and sell their crafts and wares.

So it is little surprise that we all hold views on the Market Place, and its lengthy revamp. I can recall various conversations on the topic all throughout 2016 as we worked up to its completion and unveiling, at the switching on of the Christmas lights by the estimable Ben Miller, who even saw fit to make a joke of it. A common thread that ran through all of those conversations was a lack of understanding of: a) what took so long; b) what exactly were they trying to achieve.

The ‘they’, incidentally, in all of this is the Council, the body of women and men who are responsible for the management of the town and its amenities. As such, they are responsible for maintaining and creating an environment that works for the town, its people and its businesses, businesses that contribute to making a community what it is, but also rely on it to be able to survive.

So it is with some concern that within the space of a few days, two of these businesses are literally shutting up shop, and each doing so because of the new Market Place. The first to go was Whiddett’s in Cricklade Street, a bakery that is known to many. Owner Robert Whiddett laid the blame clearly at the door of the Council and its regeneration scheme which, he said, had hit the branch to the tune of £1000 a week. His quote in the local paper, claiming that “the only other Roman town that’s had worse done to it is Pompeii”, may have overstated things, but it does convey a depth of feeling that is genuinely felt. At least they live to fight another day with their Dollar Street branch – do head there and check out their sugar buns!

All but gone too is the Nutrition Centre in Castle Street, which shuts its doors on the 29th of July. This is a particular shame, given the level of nutritional expertise that we will effectively lose from the town. I know some people who have been going out of their way to shop there in a vain attempt to help them survive, but it’s no avail. The owners there, too, privately cite that the regeneration scheme for the Market Place as the reason for the closure. It hit traffic so badly, they say, for such an extended period of time that it did irreparable damage to their footfall and, ultimately, chances of survival.

It’s easy to tell ourselves that the town centre is a thriving and prosperous hub, but these are warning signs that ought to be heeded. The upper end of Castle Street is not what it once was, and Cricklade Street may be heading the same way. Yes, the premises may get filled by some chain or other, or even another local entrepreneur, and we would wish them well. It is undeniably sad, however, that we have lost two local businesses in the space of a few days. We need to cherish – and actively champion – such folks, for they give character, identity, and soul to market towns like ours.

Indeed, independent shops are vital if we want our town to stand out from others, if we want to offer tourists a reason to visit somewhere unique, rather than a carbon copy of smallville, middle England. If our high street ends up looking indistinguishable from any other small town’s – then why would people come? After all, we are the capital of the Cotswolds and we owe some of our prestige and affluence to our visitors. Variety is the spice of life, as they say, and there is no variation in the umpteenth cafe chain outlet.

A few years ago, I was on holiday in and around the town of Holt, a market town in North Norfolk that is not dissimilar to Cirencester. It has a deli-cum-eatery like Made By Bob, a specialist coffee shop with delicious cakes like Cotswold Artisan Coffee, even a pottery painting studio just like our own Pick a Pot and Paint. After a few days there, it struck me that there was not a single chain in sight, not a High Street brand anywhere except for Boots the Chemist. I asked about this and was told that it was the result of Council policy, and I all but clasped my hands in that gesture of half thanks, half prayer. I’ve often wondered whether we need something like that here in Cirencester. It may or may not be the answer, but if another local business ends up having to close and cites the Market Place regeneration as a cause, then we will have serious cause to rethink. The Market Place should make our town, not be breaking it one piece at a time. Fingers crossed that we don’t have to read another commercial obituary in the pages of our local paper.

Breakfast on Love Lane

Breakfast? On an industrial estate? Oh yes.

It may seem a trifle quixotic having just posted about some of the fabulous eating locations on offer in the Cotswolds – the sort of places that lay on a genuine visual feast as well as culinary delights – to suddenly switch modes and go for a place where the surroundings could not be more mundane if you tried. To top it off, it was raining, and raining hard when we went, turning down the potential visual interest, still further. So there we were, on Love Lane – could there be a more incongruously named industrial estate in the world – surrounded by builders’ merchants, plumbing stores and the like, about to have breakfast. And not from some roadside trailer either, but a farm shop: another oddity. (Call me a traditionalist, but I expect to find farm shops in the countryside, not right across the road from Travis Perkins.) The full car park, however, does give one a small clue as to what locals think of the place.

Once you go inside however – and our entrance was rapid to avoid a soaking – all such notions of incongruity disappear, things all make sense, and you are transported rapidly back to all things food. At first glance, on entering, the Jesse Smith Farm shop just looks like a butcher’s shop – no surprise there, they have been selling meat in the Cotswolds for over 200 years – but look around and it is the genuine article. The thought of eating a meaty breakfast while confronted with the raw materials hanging full length behind panes of glass not far away may not sound terribly appealing, but once at table, this doesn’t figure. The range, by the way, goes beyond meat into dairy, bakery, fruit and veg and more besides, so if you need to do a spot of food shopping, there is plenty to tempt.

The restaurant is round the corner from the shop, and as we were exceeding hungry, we turned left, hardly giving the shop a glance and made a quick grab for a table – there are days when you need the reflexes of a German tourist on the Neapolitan Riviera to get a spot, so popular it can be. Having made your choices, you order at the counter, giving your table number and trying to resist the siren call of the delicious cakes and pastries displayed alongside. There is something quite nice about ordering and paying all at once – it may just be me, but parting with money before you’ve eaten is preferable, as it means there is nothing to settle after your meal, except the meal itself. You choose, you pay, you eat and you’re done: perfect.

The menu, an A4 sheet decked out on both sides with colourful graphics depicting rather than listing the choices available, reads like part atlas (‘The Vegas’, ‘The Texas’), part bad joke (‘The Mexican’, ‘The Brit’, ‘The French’) and part humidor price list (‘The Monte Cristo’, ‘The Royale’.) And there is more than just the promise of exotic climes to tempt one: the sound of “coriander hash, spicy sausage, avocado, pineapple salsa, chorizo, poached egg” gets more tempting with each reading of it. And if you’re up for it at 10:30 in the morning (and I most certainly was) you can feel reassured that it looks as good as it sounds, and tastes even better. The smoky heat of the spicy sausage patty and the chorizo is tempered a little by the smoothness of the poached egg and avocado, while the sweet freshness of the pineapple sits on on top like a gilded flavour tiara.

My dining partner had the Spaniard (as it were). This is essentially a breakfast burger, although I confess I think I’d be happy eating it irrespective of time of day. The beef patty is served with crispy chorizo, avocado and topped with a fried egg and all in a brioche bun. The crispy chorizo is particularly good, like crunchy, spicy pennies, they offer a textural as well as a flavour lift to the dish, and if you have not tried a fried egg in a burger, then this might be a very good place to start. I came across the notion of fried eggs in a burger “stack’ many years ago on a trip to Portland in Oregon and have been a big fan ever since. The US may have many gastronomic faults, but they certainly – particularly in Portland – know how to do breakfast too. Try it: I don’t think you’ll regret it.

While I did not have the ‘Vegas’, I couple made their way out to others as I was ordering at the till and they did look every bit as colourful, decorous and tasty as their hispanic cousins on the menu. The pancakes – not too thin, but not too thick – were perfectly dressed with yoghurt, fruit and granola. It looked so good, that were a smaller portion available, it would be a fine follow-up to the savoury splendour of the dishes above. Or you could fill any gaps with one of the glistening cakes or buns that are at the counter, ready to oblige should your will power fail you (and whose wouldn’t, frankly?) The full ‘English’ looks equally splendid, and having enjoyed food from Jesse Smith’s butchers shop, I feel I might be on pretty safe ground vouching for that as well.

All in all, there is little not to like about Jesse Smith’s Farm Shop. From the eclectic furniture choices to the cosmopolitan menu, this is a place where you can do breakfast properly and with a difference. With the usual gamut of hot drinks available it does have all you need. There is a small exception to this, and that is the coffee, which I find to be quite harsh and lacking in just a touch of care. The reason I call this out with Jesse Smith’s Farm Shop in particular (after all, they’re hardly alone as an eatery serving average-at-best coffee) is that Rave Coffee is just up the road where the beans are not only available, they’re actually roasted there. The cognitive dissonance of this is something that jars. We are lucky to have two excellent coffee outlets in Cirencester, but as yet none come with breakfast, and while I hardly suffered through the pot of light and fragrant green tea, I can’t deny that I found myself wanting a nice clean hit of filtered coffee or an espresso chaser to be part of what was an excellent excellent breakfast.

The location may seem odd, the views uninspiring to anyone but a 90s brutalist architecture buff, there is plenty to recommend the Jesse Smith Farm Shop, firstly as a shop, but also – and most definitely – as a prime breakfast destination. Alongside Rave and Dolcetti just a few steps up the road, Jesse Smith’s makes quite a nice little gastronomic enclave in an area where you’d least expect it. It is certainly well off the tourist – or even the casual Saturday shopper -track, but if you happen to be visiting the town on a weekday or weekend and are in need of coffee, ice cream or a delicious breakfast or brunch, head on up to Love Lane (yes let’s call it that, rather than just the industrial estate).

Top seven for brunch in the Cotswolds

Brunch, what a great institution. It has become popular in recent years and it makes a lot of sense. If you get up too late for breakfast and too early for lunch at the weekend, and you are ready for some sustenance, you can enjoy a healthy feast and still virtuously declare you skipped a meal and you would not be lying. It has such a festive and convivial feel to it, and what better way to catch up with family and friends! Ensure the atmosphere is right for you – whether cosy and intimate, rural and picturesque or elegant and refined – the Cotswolds have something to offer to the hungry but discerned diner. I wish we could make brunch an official everyday tradition!

Enjoy the superb sourdough and stroll by the river at Lynnwood & Co in Lechlade, delight in the organic feast and the relaxed vibe at The Canteen in Nailsworth, pick yourself up with a super-hearty meal at Jesse Smith’s Farm Cafe in Cirencester, enjoy the elegant ambiance and excellent food at Made by Bob in Cirencester, join the genteel Cotswold folk in the bright & airy Lavender Bakehouse in Chalford or go boho and celebrate the weekend in a relaxed fashion at Blue Zucchini in Tetbury.

Smashed Avocado with Feta and Mint

The magnificent seven – for location

The Black Horse, Amberley. Luscious views over the Stroud valley.

The Lock Cafe in Stroud. A canal-side haven.

The Crown at Frampton Mansell. Cotswold bucolic splendour

So you are not content with good food, quality coffee and luscious cakes. You want somewhere that will feed your eyes and soul too. Green pastures, shimmering water and verdant valleys dotted with cute stone cottages, plumes of blue smoke rising from their chimneys…Not a problem, in our picturesque region – all you need to do is know where to go – and we are glad to point you in the direction of a few beauty spots we treasure…

The Crown at Frampton Mansell. A delightful traditional pub with excellent food and a lively atmosphere, perched on a beauty spot with remarkable views and a sunny terrace. True bucolic splendour.
The Black Horse in Amberley. A pub full of character, just off the spectacular Minchinghampton common, set in the enchanting village of Amberley. the terraced garden has amazing views over the Stroud Valley. Well frequented by the local rural elite!
The Upper Lock Cafe in Stroud. A charming, cosy hideaway cafe with personality, an organic vibe and a canal-side setting. Lovely cakes and healthy salads!
The Campden Coffee Co in Chipping Campden. Set in lovely Chipping Campden, one of the jewels of the Cotswolds, Campden Coffee Co is light and bright – a lovely relaxed environment where you can relax over a decent coffee and some delicious cakes and snacks.
The Bell at Sapperton. A refined pub and restaurant serving excellent food in a charming village location with a delightful garden area. A top choice with the Cotswold elite!
Gusto in Cheltenham. In fashionable Montpellier, the Italian inspired cafe serves tasty food in the leafy part of town, overlooking the park and next to some of the best boutiques for some choice shopping!
The rooftop restaurant at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon. Fancy some refreshments before or after your Shakespeare fix in Stratford? The rooftop restaurant at the Royal Shakespeare Company affords great views over the river Avon and is perfect for your pre-theatre dining or indeed for a post-shopping treat! Elegant surroundings and food alike.