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Wales Online
21-05-2025
- Wales Online
The Times has named this Welsh area as the perfect place for a ‘gourmet mini break'
The Times has named this Welsh area as the perfect place for a 'gourmet mini break' It's been described as 'the surprising rising star of the Welsh food scene' Looking for a romantic, wine-filled getaway? Check out Llanerch, the UK's first vineyard hotel, where you can swill wine in a beautiful leafy setting. (Image: AA Hospitality Awards ) The Vale of Glamorgan is probably one of the most crowd-pleasing spots in Wales when it comes to easy walking options, activities and glorious views, with everything from stunning seaside's to open countryside and within easy reach of cities, it ticks all the right boxes. But it's also recently been getting some love for its foodie offerings. According to The Times, the Vale is emerging as 'the surprising rising star of the Welsh food scene', making it an ideal spot for a 'gourmet mini break.' The paper has praised the region's growing number of award-winning restaurants and artisan producers in an article written by journalist Sarah Baxter. For the latest restaurant news and reviews, sign up to our food and drink newsletter here The Hare & Hounds in Aberthin is highlighted as a standout with The Times noting that the ''community soul has been retained under its present owner." The decor of the pub is rustic and homely without being too fussy Sarah describes dishes such as beef shin pappardelle with sourdough crumb and confit pork belly, and says the three-course evening menu offers 'exceptional value at £30." It's also been a long time holder of a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which recognises 'establishments that serve good food at moderate prices.' Article continues below Also mentioned is Home in Penarth which won a Michelin star in 2022 just six months after opening and is famous for its immersive, intimate dining experience where diners have to ring a doorbell to enter the venue, and nearby The Touring Club diners can expect 'on-trend small plates' including 'a mean Welsh rarebit dripping with beery cheese'. You may have noticed that Penarth has been having a moment on the foodie front, with the popular new restaurant changing up the feel of the high street, Hickmans Bar and Restaurant, opening last year and the brand new Goose on the Loose also taking over The Deck, on the marina. (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne ) Later in the piece, Sarah encourages food lovers to stay at Llanerch Vineyard in Hensol which is the UK's first vineyard hotel, and enjoy tastings from its cellar. Llanerch, which is surprisingly only a 20-minute drive from Cardiff city centre was named as Britain's most beautiful vineyard out of 268 locations throughout the UK in 2022, and if you've ever visited or seen photos it's easy to see why. With the Welsh rolling hills providing an incredible backdrop, the scenery is immaculate. On site, there's also a rooftop terrace and a stunning permanent wine tasting lodge (you can read more on that here), which features some of Llanerch's own award-winning Cariad wines. (Image: ALS Photography/Llanerch Vineyard ) From vineyards and cheese shops to sea swims and pastry stops, it's unsurprising that The Times is the latest to recognise the region where top-quality food meets down-to-earth charm - and while we might be a tiny bit biased we couldn't agree more that the area is definitely one of a kind. Article continues below Describing the Vale, Sarah noted: is 'a fertile, flourishing foodie destination, yes, but one with its feet still on the ground.' So if you're looking for a short trip to indulge in the best of the best of food and drink, you definitely don't need to travel too far, as if you're based in south Wales (or further out) it might be the perfect time to explore more of what's right on your doorstep.
Times
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
The boozy base from which to explore Wales' exciting new food scene
Tom Watts-Jones had his first pint in the Hare & Hounds. The chef — since trained in lauded London restaurants — grew up in Aberthin, just outside the town of Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan. The old drovers' inn he now owns was once his local. 'It used to do pickled eggs. And corned beef pasties on match days,' he says. I thought of this while sitting in the pub's crisp white dining room, eating Watts-Jones's beef shin pappardelle, topped with a golden sourdough crumb from his own bakery. I thought of it again as my teeth broke his confit pork belly with a satisfying crunch, and as his house-churned ice cream oozed on my tongue. Everything on the menu — and I'd opted for the evening saver option, exceptional value at £30 for three courses — is made from scratch and even, when possible, picked from the pub's smallholding ( Safe to say that, while the Hare & Hounds' community soul has been retained under its present owner — 'I couldn't strip everything out, they'd attack me!' — the food scene has evolved. As it has across this overlooked chunk of Wales. The Vale of Glamorgan is Wales's double chin, bulging into the Bristol Channel just west of Cardiff and south of the M4, easy to bypass en route to Pembrokeshire — unless you're a Gavin and Stacey fan on pilgrimage to Barry. But the hungry should also take the slip road at junction 34 of the M4. With its rolling, fertile lowlands the Vale has always been an agricultural county. Recently it's become the surprising rising star of the Welsh food scene. Award-winners have popped up: the Hare & Hounds has long held a Bib Gourmand (the Michelin rating that recognises places that serve good food at moderate prices) and was joined in 2024 by Penarth's hip Touring Club restaurant. In 2022 Home, also in Penarth, won a Michelin star six months after opening (eight courses from £145pp; There are also great producers doing interesting things, from coffee roasters and tea growers to a dozen or so vineyards including Llanerch, home to the UK's first vineyard hotel (opened 2019) and my base for an unlikely foodie mini-break. A big plus of sleeping over was the chance to drink from Llanerch's cellar. Vicky Hamm, who guided a small group of us through a hugely entertaining tasting, was certainly keen for us to drink. She started by explaining how to properly assess a wine, from sniffing for faults — 'does it smell like wet carpet?' — to swirling and slurping. 'The wine wants to battle everything we've eaten, to enliven our taste buds,' Hamm said. 'The only way to help it is to drink more.' I obliged, slurping gooseberry-ish dyffryn, earthy pinot noir sparkling rosé (unexpected, with a hint of tomato) and peppery red rondo. Hamm made us giggle while outside March vines, pruned to their nubbins, lined up like athletes on 'set', waiting for 'go'. Later, at dinner, I ignored usual pairing rules and ordered the pinot noir précoce with my whole roasted fish, on Hamm's earlier recommendation. No regrets. • Read our full guide to Wales After day one I was fairly full but I knew how to work up an appetite again: a brisk dip in the Bristol Channel. Formed during Covid, the Dawnstalkers wild swim club meet daily, year round, at Penarth seafront, come hell or freezing water — and they welcome all comers. My alarm beeped horribly early and I had to scrape ice off my car but, soon after arriving, I was buoyed by the cheery group and the sort of peachy sunrise that makes you feel smug about having got up. The water was speech-stealingly cold but undeniably invigorating. Fortunately Piotr Skoczylas soon turned up with his yellow cart, selling coffee and divine banana bread. For him, and I suspect many of the Dawnstalkers, this morning ritual isn't just about cold water wellness, it's about human connection. It was still early so I headed off on a short walk along the Glamorgan coast, leaving Penarth's elegant pier behind. I strode out to Lavernock Point, a crumbling layer cake of cliffs and fossil-flecked pebbles where Marconi sent the world's first over-sea radio transmission. The morning sun dazzled, the air trilled with greenfinchs and linnets. • 12 of the best things to do in Wales By the time I returned to Penarth it was time for my second breakfast — a citron knude pastry at the cool Danish bakery Brod (£3.45; — and a spin around this attractive town. My nose soon led me to the fromagerie Fauvette, whose owner, Jean-Marc Delys, was preparing platters. He sliced me a piece of hyper-seasonal la bouse, cut through with wild garlic ( As I groaned over how good it was, I asked what made him open his cheese shop and tasting bar here. He'd initially thought about the Cotswolds but said, 'That's a bit done.' And, he added, 'There's something about this place.' I lunched at the Touring Club, where the chef Mark Dowding makes a menu of on-trend small plates in the open kitchen, including a mean Welsh rarebit dripping with beery cheese (mains from £14; I ate as much as my belt would allow before returning to my boozy base — not just Llanerch but Hensol Castle, only half a mile down the road. This restored turreted pile now has a craft distillery. You can learn to make your own gin or rum but I figured I'd leave that to the experts, preferring a tasting tour. The Welsh Dry was dangerous, smooth enough to drink neat (gin tour £25pp; To help counterbalance all this consumption, I spent the next day walking one of the region's ten Vale Trails, which explore Glamorgan's coast and rural hinterland ( The 6.5-mile Vale Trail 9 centres on the pretty market town of Cowbridge, following in the wake of the poet Iolo Morganwg (1747-1826), creator of the Welsh order of the bards. It was also a good foodie choice. I ignored the 'historic' Costa Coffee (once Morganwg's bookshop) and got my fix instead at Watts-Jones's Hare & Hounds bakery. Then I added my own detour, heading west out of town to Forage Farm Shop, stocking up on Welsh cakes shaped like bottoms (£3.59; A loop from here into the Penllyn Estate took me past happy far-roaming chickens and onto a wooded ridge, skirting Penllyn Castle. I couldn't see much but I could hear the banging: this is one of Wales's most ambitious amateur doer-uppers (just visit @mywelshcastle). I wound back, eventually picking up the burbling River Thaw and emerging in St Hilary, once named Wales's best village by this newspaper. Well, it does have a fine old pub, the Bush Inn. And since 2021 it's had its own vineyard. I met the owner Liz Loch at her house and she led me onto the slopes behind where, almost accidentally, she and her husband Peter started growing grapes. Neighbours kept asking what they were going to do with their land and eventually, to shut them up, they said: plant a vineyard. It's small in scale, producing up to 5,000 bottles of natural, low-intervention wine a year ( They're open by appointment and as part of the Vale Food Trail, a celebration of local producers (May 25 to June 3; Loch and I walked between her young vines, then she invited me into her kitchen for a taste of her rosé, all apples and summer berries, deep-pink but nicely dry. Not bad for accidental amateurs. I bought a bottle and carried it with me over St Hilary Down, around Cowbridge's edges and to my final stop: Aberthin's Hare & Hounds. A tasty ending but also pleasingly down-to-earth. I ate in the smart dining room but half the pub is still a proper old boozer, with well-worn benches and old rugby photos, featuring men who still prop up the bar. The Vale is a fertile, flourishing foodie destination, yes, but one with its feet still on the Baxter was a guest of Llanerch Vineyard Hotel, which has room-only doubles from £120 and one-hour wine tastings from £25pp ( and Visit the Vale (
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Top Gear star James May spotted filming new TV show this week
James May has been spotted filming a new TV show with Alexander Armstrong. The presenter is known for starring alongside Oxfordshire farmer Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond on BBC's Top Gear and The Grand Tour on Prime Video for the past two decades. Alexander Armstrong, who lives on the Oxfordshire border, is the host of the BBC One game show Pointless as well as a comedian, singer and actor. The pair were spotted filming a new pub TV show at The Famous Hare & Hounds in Hebden Bridge. READ MORE: Opening announcement for Cotswolds Designer Outlet this year The celebrity pair inside the watering hole. (Image: The Famous Hare & Hounds) Posting several photographs on social media of the celebrity pair with drinks and food in the venue, the pub said: "Big, big news! "We can finally reveal filming has officially taken place tonight at the famous Hare & Hounds, Hebden Bridge for the upcoming BBC programme 'Perfect Pub Walks'. "[This is] hosted by the brilliant Alexander Armstrong with special guest James May who was a real champ. "The atmosphere was absolutely electric, and while the stars and crew were fantastic, it was our incredible locals and customers who truly stole the show. "Alexander and James even took on our legendary 42oz mixed grill challenge made famous by Beard Meats Food and Leah Shutkever. READ MORE: Jeremy Clarkson wants Top Gear to return for BBC comeback Readers can subscribe for just £5 for 5 months in this flash sale — Oxford Mail (@TheOxfordMail) April 29, 2025 "They also sank several pints of Timothy Taylor's Landlord pints, both commenting on the epic flavour. "The Famous Hare & Hounds Hebden Bridge was specially selected out of all the pubs in the area to host this amazing evening of filming. "What an honour! Keep your eyes peeled as the episode will air this autumn or winter. "A huge thank you to everyone involved and to all our amazing guests who made this such an unforgettable night."
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Country pub of the week: the Hare & Hounds, Aberthin
Aberthin's Hare & Hounds has been keeping locals fed and watered for the past 300 years. Head chef Tom Watts-Jones, formerly of Anchor & Hope and St John, returned to his teenage boozer in 2015 with a plan to well and truly prove Welsh cooking is so much more than a sorry-looking bowl of cawl. Consider it a job well done. The white-stone walls, roaring log burners and a wooden dresser lined with Kilner jars are more farmhouse kitchen than the fine-dining of his London past. The relaxed dining room fits nicely within the beloved local boozer, where Watts-Jones enjoyed his first pint, and on the wall is the pub's range of ales, wines and homemade seasonal drinks scribbled across three cobbled-together blackboards. The Vale of Glamorgan, where the pub is situated, boasts some of the most productive soil in the UK and game, meat and vegetables taste all the better for it. The twice-daily changing menu means what's on each day is largely guesswork, but big portions and bigger flavours are guaranteed. Go for Welsh Rarebit dripping with cheese and drowning in punchy Worcestershire sauce; crispy pig's cheek so jammy it's like bacon; irresistible roast plum madeleines to finish. Prices are beyond fair, especially with the lunchtime saver menu. French doors open out onto the garden. Step through them, breathe in the air and, sighing, relax into the afternoon. Aberthin , Glamorgan,
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Yahoo
Couple found dead in van were followed by police
A couple were found dead inside a crashed van hours after it was followed by a police officer on mobile patrol, an inquest has heard. Ryan Duffy, 24, and Ellie Marsden, 20, both from Wigan, died when their white Citroen Berlingo van left the B6260 near Drybeck, Cumbria, on 5 September 2021. Earlier that night a police officer saw the couple get into the van outside a pub and, having seen it travel the wrong way along a one-way street, decided to follow, a jury heard. At about 07:40 BST, the bodies of Mr Duffy and Ms Marsden were discovered in the extensively damaged vehicle, close to skid marks on the road. The couple had travelled to a hotel in Appleby-in-Westmorland on Saturday 4 September 2021. They were leaving the Hare & Hounds pub just after 00:30 BST when the officer decided to follow their vehicle. The officer initially lost sight of the van until he saw it again as he was approaching Boroughgate in the town centre. He then followed it on rural roads around Appleby, the inquest heard. Assistant coroner Joseph Hart told an 11-strong jury at the inquest in Carlisle: "At times he seems to have [again] lost sight of the van. "You will hear about how the officer followed that vehicle on those rural roads but at that stage you should be aware the officer didn't illuminate his emergency blue lights." After a distance the officer ceased to follow that vehicle because he thought the driver might in fact have been aware of his presence, Mr Hart said. The officer notified police control of his observations regarding the van. He returned to Appleby and later pulled over a similar van in the town centre which proved not to be the Citroen he had originally spotted. A statement from a witness who discovered the couple in the morning said: "The van was straight off the road and had crashed into a big tree. "The front of the vehicle was destroyed. It must have been a huge impact with the tree." Before evidence began, Mr Hart told jurors they would have to consider a number of issues during what was a hearing to establish facts but not to apportion blame. Jurors would consider the route and journey taken by Mr Duffy and the movements and speed of the police officer's vehicle. Mr Hart also said: "You will have to consider whether the police officer was involved in pursuing the Duffy van. "You will have to consider the officer's decision to stop following that van." The hearing, which is expected to last several days, continues. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Tributes to couple killed in crash on rural road Two killed in van crash on rural road
