Just a few miles north of your lodge is the award-winning Otley Village Store and Post Office, Tel: 01473 890257 selling a selection of necessary supplies including milk, bread, a selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, alcohol and newspapers. Swiss Farm is an award-winning local butcher Tel: 01473 785520.
Suffolk has a rich and diverse network of artisan food producers. From rare breed meat and freshly caught fish, to locally made drinks and chutneys, the range of food on offer in local shops and farmer’s markets will inspire your mind and delight your taste buds.
Below is a selection of recommended foodie destinations.
ADNAMS BREWERY Southwold - IP18 6JW/33.5 m9
Behind the walls of a Victorian building in the heart of Southwold sits one of the most modern breweries in the UK. Tours of the brewery explain the beer-making process from choice of malted barley and hop varieties through to tasting the delicious finished product, and reveal parts of the brewery not normally accessible to the general public. The one-hour tour is followed by a tutored beer tasting before heading to the Adnams Cellar & Kitchen store to collect your bottle of Adnams Beer. Tours only available to over-18s. Booking essential.
ALDER CARR FARM SHOP Needham Market - IP6 8LX/11 m
Award-winning farm shop and deli overflowing with fresh produce. Field-fresh fruit and veg (and you can pick your own), rare-breed beef & lamb and free-range eggs all grown or raised on the farm. Alder Carr fruit cream ices are justly famous. Cheese, cold meats, wine, beer and cyder all available from the deli counter. Plus good range of fair-trade and organic goods. Barn Café's seasonally changing menu serves breakfast, lunch and afternoon teas.
EMMETT'S OF PEASENHALL - IP17 2HJ/21 m
A Rick Stein Food Hero selling Suffolk hams and bacon made in a traditional manner: mild cured, gently smoked or sweet pickled, a great black Suffolk ham. Production takes place on the premises and all the pork used for hams and bacon comes from four local Suffolk farms. Plus British cheeses, Greek olives, Spanish cakes & chocolate and Sri Lankan chutneys. Café serves luncheon platters and glasses of wine. Picnics prepared to order.
FOOD SAFARI Sibton - IP17 2NE/23 m
Billed as “Gourmet experiences from field to fork” Food Safari's imaginative programme includes butchery workshops at Suffolk Food Hall, Mushrooms in a Day at HQ and Childrens' Safaris where they find out about bees, make sausages, bake biscuits and more.
LAWSON'S DELICATESSEN AldeburghIP15 5AQ/27 m
Lawson's won Best Delicatessen in the Suffolk Food and Drink Awards in 2011, 2009, 2008 and 2007 and were named Deli of the Year in 2010. Their pork pies, made with locally produced Blythburgh free-range pork, were awarded “Champion Pie of Pies”at the 2009 Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival. Many of the products stocked are sourced within Suffolk. Those made daily by the kitchen team include, in season, local game terrines, asparagus tarts, salads, soups and sweet pastries.
http://www.lawsonsdelicatessen.co.uk/lawsons
LEO’S DELICATESSEN Framlingham - IP13 9AN/15.2 m
Tucked into a corner of the market square, Leo's has a welcoming atmosphere and stocks a wide range of high-quality deli and pantry goods from fine cheeses and charcuterie to home-cooked lunch dishes and deli sandwiches. Freshly baked bread available every day.
PINNEY'S OF ORFORD - IP12 2LH/21.1 m
Pinney's of Orford, and its restaurant the Butley Orford Oysterage, produce fresh local food by catching fish from the North Sea with their own boats. They have grown oysters at Butley Creek since the 1950s. Trout, mackerel, cod roe, wild and farmed salmon, kippers and eels are among the products that are smoked every day for the shop & restaurant.
ST PETER’S BREWERY St Peter South Elmham, Bungay - NR35 1NQ/32.5 m
St Peter's brews traditional cask-conditioned beers as well as some more unusual ones such as honey porter and fruit beer, replicating what was common practice up to the nineteenth century when fruits and honey were added to beers to create special seasonal brews. The beers are all “real ales” using locally malted barley and Kentish hops. A range of superb bottled beers is also made. The water is drawn from the brewery's own deep source within the chalk layer way below St Peter’s Hall and is ideal for brewing. Shop, barn-restaurant in St Peter's Hall, brewery tours at weekends (booking advisable).
SHAWSGATE VINEYARD Framlingham - IP13 9HZ/16 m
One of East Anglia's oldest commercial vineyards – some of the vines date back to the early 1970s - producing a range of red, white, rosé and sparkling wines. The white wines tend to be fresh and flowery, the red surprisingly full-bodied. A guide leaflet is available from the Shawsgate shop, detailing several circular walking tours through the tranquil vineyards. For more dedicated oenophiles guided tours can be booked on-line.
SUFFOLK FOOD HALL Ipswich - IP9 2AB/7 m
Celebrated food and drink emporium which is a collaboration of local businesses, all situated in a large renovated barn. Farmers Oliver and Robert Paul teamed up with specialists, including Hamish Johnston cheese, Crystal Waters fishmonger, and Helena Doy Bread to provide high-quality, traceable food alongside other local products. Also a butcher's shop, extensive delicatessen, fruit and vegetable stalls, wine and beers. Situated within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The licensed Samford Restaurant enjoys panoramic views down the River Orwell.
THE WILD MEAT COMPANY Sweffling - IP12 2DY/17 m
Supplies healthy natural meat including wild boar, wild venison, pheasant and hare. Three-bird ballotines (pheasant, chicken and goose or duck, pheasant and pigeon) make a fabulous celebration lunch. Highly recommended by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and Rick Stein. On-line orders despatched within four days.
WYKEN VINEYARDS Stanton, near Bury St Edmunds - IP31 2DW/28.8 m
Once occupied by Romans and recorded in Domesday, the ancient estate of Wyken is quintessential Suffolk: country lanes, hedgerows, patchwork fields and woodlands. Award-winning wines are the products of a seven-acre vineyard set among the 1200 acres of Wyken farm, which supports a flock of Shetland sheep and a small herd of Red Poll cattle. In 2009 “Wyken Bacchus” won the East Anglian Wine of the Year.
FARMER'S MARKETS
Farmer's markets are a regular feature of the Suffolk scene, for example at Wyken Vineyards every Saturday morning and in Lavenham Village Hall, where over 30 traders gather on the fourth Sunday of the month.
Our reception office will be pleased to give you information about other local shops and the whereabouts of supermarkets in Ipswich.
