Shorefield Holidays was delighted to sponsor the Hampshire Life Food and Drink Awards 2014

The awards dinner held last night at The Elvetham, and Simon Pitman Group Head of Marketing at Shorefield Holidays said: 

‘It was a real honour to attend the awards yesterday, and to be able to present Mike the final award of the evening, he was a very worthy winner of the Hampshire Food Hero 2014.

At Shorefield Holidays we have been welcoming guests and visitors to our parks for over 55 years and operate six holiday and leisure parks in an enviable location around the New Forest on the stunning South Coast. We provide high quality holiday accommodation in fully equipped chalets, caravans, holiday lodges and touring and camping pitches. Our Hampshire and Dorset parks offer our holiday guests an extensive range of leisure facilities and activities not to mention a huge variety of restaurants, bars and retail outlets plus the superb Reflections Elemis Day Spa at Shorefield Country Park.

We have always sought to promote and work with other local businesses for all our business activities, and as hospitality is such an integral part of our business, sponsoring the Hampshire Life Food and Drink awards is a perfect way to continue this support.’

The awards were hosted by Hampshire Life and compared by Sarah Parish.

Local Produce Evening among the vines at Setley Ridge

Local Produce Evening among the vines at Setley Ridge 

I often pop in to Setley Ridge farm shop as they stock a great selection of local produce from the New Forest, Isle of Wight and Hampshire. Jane and Andy the proprietors are available to talk me through the products giving me often interesting information about what's on sale. The shop has recently won an award as the "Best supporter of Local Produce" which was presented at the New Forest Show by the Earl of Wessex. Whilst in conversation with Jane earlier this year she told me about a series of local produce evenings being held over the summer, I booked four places for Saturday 10th August.

A tour of the Vineyard and talk on wine production at Setley Ridge

The evening began with a tour or the vineyard and an explanation of how the wine is made at Setley Ridge. Paul who is Jane's brother gave us the tour of the vines and explained the wine production. After the tour and talk was an opportunity for tasting the wine, which we all enjoyed enormously.

Mum, Paul and I on tour in vineyard

After the tour and wine tasting was the dinner under the vines with the menu being sourced from either within the New Forest or from its surrounding borders. As you can see from the photo below the setting was magnificent and a really unique place to experience such wonderful produce expertly cooked.

A wonderful setting for dinner

The starter as with all of the food was served on a sharing platter and comprised an interesting take on a New Forest breakfast alongside chicken livers, bruschetta and pigeon breasts.

Crispy Pork Belly with Andy's Piccalilli

Dishes served  for the main course on the night included: Local Roasted Free Range Chicken, Crispy Pork Belly with Andy's Piccalilli, Local Wild Rabbit Thai Style, Tear and Share Lamb Shoulder with Oven Baked Tomatoes and Venison Sausage and Cannellini Bean Cassoulet with Setley Red Wine Jus all served with great locally grown vegetables and freshly baked bread.

A fantastic dinner, the food was delicious and there was plenty of it

The highlight of the food was for me definitely the puddings which came as a Strawberry Meringue Cream Roulade and a Raspberry and Blueberry Bakewell Tart, both were amazing and served with a New Forest Fruits coulis

Bakewell Tarts and Strawberry Meringue made using local fruits

Last on the menu was a Selection of New Forest Marque  cheese from Lyburne and Loosehanger  these were a great compliment to an amazing showcase of the food and wine that is being produced in and around the New Forest.

Delicious cheese and coffee

Everyone I spoke to at the event was wowed by such a fantastic experience, I am going to be booking again for next year and I'm sure most people who attended will be doing the same. I recommend Setley Ridge as a foodie destination to anyone enjoying a New Forest Holiday with Shorefield.

Follow the links in this blog for more information or call Setley Ridge on Tel: 01590 624682 BL

As mentioned what a great place to have dinner!

Something for the Weekend: The Show Must Go On

This weekend we'll be preparing for the New Forest Show taking place on the 30th, 31st July and the 1st August. We'll have a fantastic trade stand on the park that we are hosting in association with Regal holiday homes; where we'll be able to guide you through lots of elements of the Shorefield Holidays experience including the spa, health and fitness, holidays homes and much more. We're also looking forward to seeing what reaction we'll get to the camping pod we'll have on display. 

We'll also be sponsoring the local produce area of the show for the second year in a row. We are proud holders of the New Forest Marque and we are constantly wowed by the incredible produce that is grown on nearby farms and produced by our local food heroes. I would recommend that you lace up the eating boots and bring your tasting fork as you won’t leave this area hungry.

There's so much going on throughout the three days, so once you've popped into see us you can explore what the show has to offer including equestrian classes, 600 trade stalls, a flower show, a whole host of animals including ferret racing and much, much more. It's certainly a good way to get a flavour of what the local area offers.
Last year we were very lucky to have the Queen arrive opposite our stand and although she isn't scheduled to visit this year, we're hoping the The Earl and Countess of Wessex will maybe pay us a visit as they will be in attendance this year.

So come by and say hello if you're planning to be at the New Forest Show, we'll be opposite the West Ring for all three days. WI