Safari trips allow food lovers to track Cumbria's big five

Food lovers can head off on a safari with a difference this summer, indulging their passion for real tastes and slow food, whilst eating the views enjoyed during some of the most beautiful journeys in the country.

Food safaris are the brainchild of committed local food champion and 2006-7 Cumbrian Woman of the Year, Annette Gibbons, whose company, Cumbria on a Plate, spearheads a drive to put Cumbrian produce on the dinner table.

Annette is well known within Cumbria as a cook, writer and TV personality, but her career has also covered a period working as a tour guide at the Victoria Falls. Combining her travel know-how with her culinary expertise, she has created a means through which to experience, sample and appreciate the best of Cumbrian produce, in a unique way.

Her food safaris are tailored to the desires of those travelling in her ‘safari-mobile’ – a comfortable people-mover running on LPG, to reduce the carbon footprint. The safaris are of a day’s duration and no one tour is the same as another.

The safaris enable participants to go behind the scenes of Cumbrian food production and meet the characters who have artisan food production down to a fine art. Whilst on safari, guests can see how the producers craft their products and also ask questions and sample the delicious wares on offer.

Unique insights are provided thanks to Annette Gibbons’ relationship with the local producers, many of whom open exclusively for her guests and not for other members of the public.

On this safari the ‘Big Five’ could be deemed to be Herdwick lamb, Cumberland sausage, Solway shrimps, Lyth Valley damsons and fabulous flour-based produce created at a traditional, water-powered grinding wheel. Each speaks volumes about Cumbria and enables diners to eat the view they see during their tour.

A safari could involve seeing how local farmers sensitively farm their land, rearing their animals on the beautiful Cumbrian fells, or growing their crops in lush valleys or on salt-marsh plains, before harvesting their produce.

It might entail focusing on how local artisans produce traditional and exquisite cheeses, such as Birdoswald Organic Farmhouse Cheese, delicious Ayrshire milk ice creams, succulent ham and pork and sensational sausage varieties. Alternatively, it could enable guests to see how organic wheat is ground into flour.

A tour can also look at the tempting bits-on-the-side - organic vegetables and salad ingredients, incredible pickles and the produce created from the food growing on fell and in hedgerow.

With a wide variety of soil types and land across the county responsible for fantastic and unique foods there is lots to track down on safari.

The county’s rich heritage and association with the rum and spice trades, also means a few surprises are in store when guests encounter dishes totally unfamiliar and with more than a hint of regional quirkyness.

A Cumbria on a Plate food safari typically starts at 9.30am-5.30pm on one of three main safari runs – one in the North of Cumbria, one in mid-Cumbria and one in the South Lakes. Different starting points apply to each, but all encompass a wonderful three-course lunch with wine, in a stunning location.

The food safari costs £120 per person. More information about Cumbria on a Plate is available at Cumbriaonaplate.co.uk.

Current diary dates for these food lovers’ tours are August 5, August 9, September 4 and September 9.