For accommodation in this area visit the Enjoy England website where you’ll find the best places to stay. So what are you waiting for? Plan your break today!

The food of Wales
Food served in Wales embraces a wealth of produce, which extends far beyond the fame of locally reared succulent lamb and its national emblem, the leek.

Over the years Wales has developed a varied and thriving food scene, driven by enthusiasm and commitment by farmers, artisan producers and small food businesses.

Try some regional recipes:
Roast Saltmarsh Lamb with Laverbread and Orange Cakes
Snowdon Pudding
Welsh Rarebit

Basic comforts
"Welsh" cooking evolved from the humble hearth, cauldron and bakestone, seasonal ingredients from the locality were gathered and used to make simple dishes.

Classic dishes include 'cawl', a 'one pot' hearty stew of lamb and seasonal vegetables, served with crusty bread.

Frugal, but delicious cuts of lamb such as breast and shoulder are also often stuffed with breadcrumbs and herbs, rolled and roasted.

The humble pig was an important member of any household, and at one time nearly all families would keep at least one. When autumn arrived it was time to cure and smoke hams and bacon. Nothing was wasted, not even the oink!

Sausages were made by hand using off cuts, whilst the head was turned into brawn, and the offal into delicious faggots. When the garden was laden with ripe fruits and vegetables, a good portion would be pickled or preserved for future leaner months ahead.

Bakestone
The beloved bakestone, which still takes pride of place in many Welsh kitchens is used to cook such delights as the unique Welshcake, a warm, soft, buttery, melt in the mouth treat. Piklets (little pancakes), bara planc (bread), and folded fruit tarts sprinkled generously with sugar are also traditional recipes made on the bakestone.

Almost equalling the Welshcake in popularity is bara brith (speckled bread). Like many recipes, you will find variations depending on the region, and of course each cook will swear theirs is the best. However, all of them are made with raisins soaked in tea, giving a lovely rich flavour.

Women who worked in domestic service in the great country houses brought some ideas into their own kitchens, and recipes became a little more sophisticated.

Lady Llanover of Abergavenny was a great influence - she wrote "The First Principles of Good Cookery" in 1867, which included many traditional Welsh recipes, and some of her own such as Welsh salt duck, which can be found on menus throughout Wales as a starter served with a little fruit preserve.

Fresh seafood
Today the Welsh larder is rich with wonderful ingredients, giving talented chefs and keen cooks great inspiration in creating excellent food.

In the North there are oysters and plump mussels, around the coast lobster, brown and spider crab, shrimps and razor clams. In the South, the famous Penclawdd cockles can be sampled at Swansea Market, together with another Welsh delicacy 'laverbread' (seaweed).

The catch of the day may include mackerel, brill, bass, mullet or sole, whilst the rivers produce salmon and the very special and delicately flavoured sewin (sea trout). This has a short season during the summer, and is delicious simply cooked and served with samphire.

Meaty meals
The landscape of Wales are rich with wild herbage, producing the best lamb in the world. Flavour is determined by location and time of year.

On March 1st St. David's Day is often celebrated with a menu featuring spring lamb, which has a mild flavour, while the highly prized saltmarsh lamb develops a unique flavour on the many morfas along the coast.

Beef is produced abundantly on the lower slopes, with the Welsh Black breed being a particular favourite for its great depth of flavour. Venison is also farmed in Wales, and is a popular ingredient with chefs and diners alike.

Award-winning cheese
On to the cheeseboard, and Wales is enjoying enormous success, producing many artisan cheeses. Master cheese makers like Thelma Adams of Caws Cenarth, and John Savage of Teifi Cheese, are currently making some of the finest cheeses in the UK. Last year Gorwydd Caerphilly from Trethowan Dairy scooped the top honour at the British Cheese Awards.

Good food can be found throughout Wales, whether it's at the local butcher making their own delicious pies and sausages, a tea room serving warm Welshcakes with a smile, a traditional Welsh breakfast at a B&B, or splashing out on a spot of fine dining. We salute you all food heroes of Wales! Yechud da!

Angela Gray