Best of Foodie Maitland NSW: Maitland Taste 14/15 March with Chef Adam Liaw, Slow Food Earth Markets, edible gardens, sustainable living.

Maitland NSW is one of Australia's oldest heritage regional centres, built on the banks of the Hunter River and with a growing reputation for a food scene including fresh local produce, restaurants, working farms and bakers. Just the place for a foodie weekend.

Maitland Taste (March 14-15, 2020)

Grow, Create and Taste is the catchphrase for Maitland's foodie weekend, Maitland Taste on March 14 and 15, 2020. Headlined by celebrity chef Adam Liaw, the weekend includes cooking and gardening demonstrations, street food, local wines, live music and kids' entertainment. The gardening demonstrations are designed to provide insights on growing produce, permaculture, sustainable living and edible gardens. The “Farmers Table” will feature produce sourced from the region. Festival entry is free. 

For the full program, visit www.maitlandtaste.com.au. 
Where? The Levee, Central Maitland, NSW 10am – 4pm.

Celebrity Chef Adam Liaw will headline Maitland Taste March 14-15.

Maitland Slow Food Markets (first and third Thursdays of the month)

Maitland's Slow Food Earth Market is one of just 60 such markets worldwide with  freshly picked produce and the chance to meet the people who grow our food and support local growers who work hard to keep our food system “good, clean and fair for all”. The market operates on the first and third Thursday of each month from 8.30am.

More in Maitland

Get hands-on with a range of foodie experiences. Make sourdough with the iconic family of bakers at the Historic Arnott Bakehouse in Morpeth. Learn about sustainable farming practices that can be applied to apartment balconies, backyards or working farms at The Purple Pear Farm.

Sample regional ingredients at café/ bar/deli, Coquun, enjoy quality Italian with  handmade pasta at  Fratelli Roma and visit Melbourne-style wine bar, cocktail lounge and restaurant, The Rigby.

Maitland is home to the Bitter & Twisted Boutique Beer Festival in the historic setting of Maitland Gaol each November, but year-round craft beer pubs include The Pourhouse, The Old Victoria and The Whistler. Try a local brew by the Morpeth Brewery and Beer Co's at the Commercial Hotel.

Complete a foodie weekend with must-haves: brunch, coffee and sweet treats. The Icky Sticky Patisserie offers beautifully handcrafted pastry and cakes; cleanse the soul and the palate at the Organic Feast; or enjoy your eggs with a side of culture at Seraphine in the excellent Maitland Regional Art Gallery (MRAG).

www.mymaitland.com.au 

Source info: Press Release

Loving Wollombi and Lake Macquarie NSW 2020

I've recently been rendered speechless (in print!!) by politics in general and the bushfires in Australia, particularly those surrounding me in the beautiful, historic Wollombi Valley NSW. How to support our own backyard and businesses affected by the bushfires?  Currently my comrades in the ASTW (Australian Society of Travel Writers) are busy reporting from areas including Stanthorpe in the Queensland Granite Belt, the beautiful NSW South Coast, the iconic Blue Mountains and more.  I'm on the case in the Hunter Valley/Wollombi and have been further encouraged out of my bushfire-induced apathy by some great updates from nearby Lake Macquarie, the largest coastal salt-water lake in the southern hemisphere (who knew?) with over 30 kms of coastline!

Wollombi, Hunter Valley NSW

Twine Home Store and Myrtle House (on the left), Wollombi NSW.
Photo: Ken Martin.

It's raining just now (yay!!) and everything will be open for locals, weekenders and visitors including our cafes, cellar doors on the Wollombi Wine Trail, the Wollombi Tavern, Laguna's GNTP, Panino Caffe Restaurant and Myrtle House cafe and bookshop. We have the Providore at GNTP, Laguna, for fresh produce, cheeses, oils and yummy things and the lovely Wollombi General Store and cafe for all kinds of things including delicious gelato!! There's divine shopping at Twine Home Store (above) and innovative upcycled jewellery next door at Kes Harper's Studio Gleaned.

Noyce Brothers cellar door and Panino Caffe Restaurant, Wollombi NSW.
Photo: Ken Martin.

Fossick for all manner of collectables and second hand things at The Forge, find art at the Little Yengo gallery (Aboriginal), the Fireshed and others. For a snapshot of fascinating local history duck into St Michael's Church and the Wollombi Endeavour Museum. 'Our' wildlife includes kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, wombats, glossy black cockatoos, yellow-tailed black cockatoos, gang-gangs, our celebrity lyrebirds, king parrots, eagles, tiny wrens, yellow robins, honeyeaters and heaps more. Wildlife angels are currently hard at work with feed and water stations in the burnt areas of Wollemi and Yengo national parks and in my neighbouring Corrabare Forest.

Book a Valentine weekend away in the Wollombi Valley in accommodation including 5-star indulgence and cosy cottages and cabins to explore this special place!

https://www.visitwollombi.com.au

The Hunter Valley region is famous for its vineyards and wine, but we have coastline, too. The City of Lake Macquarie is a government region within the Hunter and part of the Greater Newcastle area. So 'Lake Mac' is our neighbour for a taste of coast and country.

Lake Macquarie, NSW

Pulbah Island. Photo courtesy of Lake Macquarie Tourism.

20 reasons to Love the Lake!

1.      Lake Macquarie sand islands (swim, explore by boat)
2.      Caves Beach (extensive network of sea caves)
3.      Speers Point Park (think kids play space, flying fox etc)
4.      MACMuseum of Art and Culture (arts, culture, fresh ideas)
5.      Gap Creek Falls, Watagan Mountains (hidden in rainforest)
6.      Belmont Baths (lagre netted swimming area)
7.      Creative LAKE (sculpture trail)
8.      Redhead Beach (red, rocky headland, iconic shark tower, Cargo Espresso Bar)
9.      Float Your Boat (June, when the boats light up!)
10.   Warners Bay (9km Foreshore Shared Pathway)
11.   Catherine Hill Bay (historic mining town, wreck diving , surfing)
12.   JetBuzz (jet boating)
13.   Dora Creek (kayaking, picnics)
14.   Skydiving (Newcastle's beach skydive)
15.   Blacksmiths Beach(sheltered swimming beach)
16.   Glenrock State Forest (beach, bushwalking, skydiving)
17.   Fernleigh Track (restored heritage railway corridor for walking cycling)
.18.  Matt Hall Racing (aerobatic joyflights)
19.   Pulbah Island (only accessible by boat, bushwalking tracks, picnics)
20.   Rathmines Aviation Heritage (Catalina seaplane heritage)

Above and beyond! Phtoto courtesy of Lake Macquarie Tourism.

 http://www.visitlakemac.com.au 

Lake Mac Source: Press updates.

Dora Marr Retrospective at the Tate Modern

Dora Marr. Untitled  (Hand-Shell) 1934.
Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper 401x 289 mm
Centre Pompidou, Musee national d'art moderne, Paris. Photo © Centre Pompidou, 
MNAM-CCI, Dist.
RMN-Grand Palais/image Centre Pompidou,
MNAM-CCI. © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2019.

So many exciting and enthralling exhibitions on for autumn and winter in the UK. DORA MARR runs from 20 November 2019 to 15 March 2020 at the Tate Modern, London. Dora Marr's works became 'celebrated icons of surrealism' and the 200 works on show will span six decades and include social documentary photographs, commissions and paintings. Growing up between Argentina and Paris, she studied art before switching to photography. (Source: Tate Modern.)

Other exhibitions include Tim Walker: Wonderful Things at the V&A, London, Gaugin portraits at the National Gallery, London, and Vivian Suter at the Tate Liverpool, Liverpool. October is Charles Renee Mackintosh month in Glasgow, celebrating the architecture, design and arts and crafts of the great man.

See Visit Britain's list of major exhibitions around the UK for autumn and winter,  here.

Autumn in London and Paris

Oak tree in London's Richmond Park. Photo ©Alison Plummer

Autumn in the UK is a beautiful time of year for travelling, especially if you have the chance to appreciate the woodlands, which you can even do in London. Richmond Park is the largest London park, created by King Charles I as a deer park. There are still plenty of deer about today and it's a special conservation area. The oak trees are really beautiful. According to the Woodland Trust, oak forests support more life than any other types of native forest – hosting insects, birds and bats and supplying acorns for deer, squirrels and badgers. In autumn the leaf mould is home to bells and fungi.

I also have a hankering for Paris at this time of year – today inspired by news from the five star luxury Hotel Esprit Saint Germain on the Left Bank. Tempting offers include five-night packages to enjoy for autumn, the festive season and beyond!

The Church that would not Die, St Michael the Archangel, Wollombi

Book cover image photographed by Ken Martin.

Launched in Sydney last Tuesday and in Wollombi, NSW on Saturday, The Church that would not Die, St Michael the Archangel, Wollombi is a book about a tiny church with a turbulent past. Flooded many times with the water going over the top of the church in 1893, the church was moved stone by stone by the people of the village and re-built on higher ground. It was damaged in the Newcastle earthquake and then put up for auction on the same day as St Patrick's, Nulkaba. The village went into full defence mode – and the outcome was that the church became the property of a group with Trustees and a committee to oversee day-to-day matters, the Friends of St Michaels.

The church was still a church but it required huge efforts with fundraising for upkeep and restoration ... at one point a dynamited wall led to the discovery of stencilling on the interior walls, which then required restoration. I'm still investigating the provenance of the intriguing stained glass window of St Michael – the likely makers have been narrowed down to a few. I'm on the case. The idea for the beautiful modern leadlight windows by glass artist Margaret Ella was the brainchild of St Michael's treasurer, Mrs Mary Fortey.

Like the church itself, the book is the sum of the involvement of many people. Drawing on a heritage architect paper by James Phillip of Weir Phillips Heritage Architects and research into the auction years by Gael Winnick, I tell stories of those involved with the addition of early chapters regarding the arrival in Sydney of the first Catholics and Bishop Polding who laid St Michael's first foundation stone in 1840. The 'mapping' of emerging Wollombi and the incredible engineering feat of the convict-built Great North Road are also included. Also proud to have handled production and publishing, including design with my company True Blue Cockatoo.

RRP $39.95 (+p&p), published by the ACU, Sydney, the book will be available to buy in Wollombi via St Michael's Church or contact me, info@bluecockatoo.com.au for sales enquiries (proceeds to St Michael's).

Book launch, Grays Inn Garden at Noyce Bothers Wine, Wollombi.

Grays Inna nd Noyce Brothers' cellar door, Panino Caffe, (Now Tabu!), Wollombi Village, NSW.

Blues Point walk, Sydney

There's nowhere like Sydney Harbour on a sparkling blue sunny day! The foreshore holds many secrets, walks and vantage points and it was a special experience today to walk along a path beside the water at Blues Point, admiring the city from afar and then rounding a bend to a spectacular view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Photos©Alison Plummer

Find more Harbour secrets at https://www.harbourtrust.gov.au

Best Asparagus, Vale of Evesham

Asparagus with mushroom and garlic filled pasta, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Photo Alison Plummer.©

Just the best asparagus ever from Revills Farm Shop. I enjoyed it with delicious filled pasta and parmesan. Why the best? It was just so tender! It was also a happy surprise as I really only called in to ask for directions to the wonderful, semi-ancient Tiddesley Wood*, but naturally bought a selection of fresh produce from the shop while I was there. The asparagus certainly looked inviting but I was seriously delighted later when I tasted it.

The British asparagus season is from March to June and Vale of Evesham Asparagus has Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status under the EU protected food name scheme covering regional and traditional foods whose authenticity and origin can be guaranteed. The PGI mark is awarded if produce 'has a reputation, characteristics or qualities that are a result of the area it’s associated with'.

Find farm shops, delis, greengrocers selling asparagus around the Vale of Evesham area including:

Revills Farm Shop at Defford near Pershore, sells only PGI status Vale of Evesham Asparagus and is close to Croome Court and on the way to the fabulous Malvern Hills, home of the Morgan Motor Company (you'll see many Morgans on the roads). There's a Farmhouse Cafe for light lunches and afternoon teas with a selection of yummy cakes daily. All-day breakfast at weekends.

Ellenden Farm Shop, Harvington near Evesham. 2019 Midlands Regional Winners for the Countryside Alliance local food and drink award, offering a wide range of fresh vegetables, fruit and other delicious local produce, home-farmed meats. Merguez sausages! The inviting cafe serves breakfast, coffee, freshly-prepared dishes, afternoon tea, cakes. Close to The Valley shopping and garden centre, Golls Garden Centre and not far from Coughton Court. The Ellenden newsletter is a lovely connection to the seasons and produce news in the Vale of Evesham.

Hillers Farm Shop, cafe, gift shop and garden centre with beautiful show gardens to wander through. Near 'Roman' Alcester and not far from Ragley Hall and Coughton Court.

Castle Nurseries Farm Shop on Broadway Road off the A46.

Fruit Salad 48 High Street, Pershore, an attractive town for shopping, bakeries, foodie haunts and cafes plus the wonderful Pershore Abbey, now a parish church.

Wayside Farm Shop on the Broadway Road between Evesham and Broadway, with a teashop.

Broadway Deli in beautiful Broadway village –  the great choice as a base for exploring the Vale of Evesham and the Cotswolds.

The historic Fleece Inn at Bretforton is the home of the National Asparagus Festival, asparagus auctions and many events during the season. (Great range of beers and ciders.)

The Round of Gras pub is named after the traditional rounds (bunches) of asparagus in the Vale of Evesham market gardening region. April-June asparagus menu as well as fish and chips and other pub grub and carvery days – traditional roast with all the trimmings.

Asparagus is on seasonal restaurant menus and find specialist produce in the shops. Abbey Butchers, High Street, Pershore, makes an asparagus pork pie and Vale Porker sausages with black pepper and asparagus.

*Tiddesley Wood near Pershore was once a deer park owned by the Abbots of Pershore, now managed by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. In spring the new leaves are bursting into life on the trees and there are carpets of bluebells, cowslips, violets and wood anemones. Shady areas are home to greater butterfly orchids, herb Paris, dog's mercury, violet helleborines.

Tiddesley Wood, above and below. Photos Alison Plummer.©

Big shout out and thanks to fabulous friends Fiona and Neil whose FB post inspired me to go hunting for Tiddesley Wood in the first place. I am so envious of your orchid finds – native orchids in NSW, Australia, are a passion of mine but  I haven't looked at the British ones, until now. Thanks also to John and Mardy for John's birthday celebrations at the Round of Gras, so much enjoyed.