Eating locally in mid-Devon

Dairy, obviously, and it is worth the fuss. Lamb and beef from pasture. Apples, and everything made from them. Good bread if you know where. Vegetables in season, which in Devon means brassicas for a long stretch of the year and a glut of everything in August.

Start from what is ready rather than from a dish you have decided on. A menu written in February around Devon produce looks very different from one written in July, and pretending otherwise is how you end up flying beans in from Kenya.

We grow a portion of what we eat here. It never covers a full event, and anyone claiming a garden feeds a venue is either exaggerating or has a farm. What it does do is set the tone for the rest of the menu.

Farm shops rather than supermarkets for meat and veg. A local butcher will talk to you about quantities for thirty people in a way no one else will. And ask your venue — anyone who lives somewhere rural has a list.