A type of foraging!

Tunbridge Wells — what can you offer?

Kate Hagger
Jul 10, 2017 · 3 min read

A mother of four writing her first blog about food and drink in the #TunbridgeWells area.

Having moved down from London four years ago along with the four children, husband and purchased the necessary black lab the time has come to start enjoying Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding villages. Four years on might seem a long time to take to settle but throw in four children at four different schools, extra-curricular stuff, getting to know people and rebuilding a house to name just a few the years have passed in a flash. Relocation has been hard work. But we are settled and the kids are happy and it’s time for us grown ups also to start enjoying our local community. And between you and me us grown ups have been a little sniffy about the restaurant scene in particular. Can the restaurants even compare to London? The pain of having to drive or organise a taxi, the food and service not being of the same standard. If I had started looking too early and found things too different would I have wanted to return to my roots — London? So I didn’t really bother for quite a long time. Four years on and now happily settled I can accept that we might not have the variety that you have in a large city, but we have fantastic country pubs, farm shops, vineyards, beaches, plenty of options on restaurants, gorgeous open spaces and countryside. And now I’m ready to share them!

A local farm shop

Why am I doing this?

The aim of my campaign is not only to highlight quality restaurants for both families and grown ups but also to source, cook and eat local produce. Although restaurant chains and supermarkets have their place I want to encourage and support our local community as much as possible. Is it possible to eat local healthy produce at the same price or for less than what a supermarket can offer? What about Kent and Sussex vineyards? Do they produce a quality of wine on parr with other countries. What will persuade locals to buy Kent/Sussex wine rather than wine from abroad?

Other bits and bobs

I’ll also take a look behind the scenes in the food and wine industry and interview people with different careers from chef to wine grower which I’ll post each week.

My youngest has been coerced to be involved. I’ve not told him in what capacity yet! His column shall be called Fred’s Veg — what seasonal vegetables will he eat? Not many that’s for sure! We need to move away from the obligatory Shreddies and greek yoghurt as a snack! The boy needs more vegetables.

Fred’s non veg

I hope you will join me on my #AFoodieRoot to #EatVeryWells in Tunbridge Wells and enjoy all things local. If you have any tips, recipes, restaurants, reviews you would like to share I would love to hear from you. You can follow me on:

https://www.facebook.com/AFoodieRoot/

Thanks for reading!

A Foodie Root

A fun grassroots campaign to inspire people to buy, cook, eat and drink local and highlight how brilliant food and wine is from the #TunbridgeWells area and beyond.

Kate Hagger

Written by

A Foodie Root

A fun grassroots campaign to inspire people to buy, cook, eat and drink local and highlight how brilliant food and wine is from the #TunbridgeWells area and beyond.