A Tour of Dorset

Over the last couple of days, the bump and I have been on a tour of Dorset. This was a trip I have had planned since January and I was not going to miss out just because I am pregnant. The aim of the trip was to see as many gastronomic delights of Dorset that I could. I am slightly restricted on what I can eat due to limits on what you can eat while pregnant and a slightly decreased appetite.  However, I was determined to see and eat as much as I could. There will be more about the food that I experienced on Jo’s Kitchen over the next couple of days but I would like to tell you about where I went and how I was affected by being pregnant (if I was).

My first stop was the The Wild Garlic restaurant in Beaminster, which is owned and run by 2009 Masterchef winner Mat Follas. I have met Mat a couple of times before at the BBC Good Food Shows and I talk to him on Twitter too. I have wanted to go to his restaurant for ages so while Stuart was away on a golfing holiday, I seized the opportunity to go. I stayed in the apartment above the restaurant and had a fantastic meal in the restaurant. I asked Mat to surprise me with the food as at the moment, I am having many problems deciding on what to eat so as I knew all food would be fabulous and that he would take my pregnancy into consideration when choosing my dishes. I am not going to go into too much detail here but I may develop a craving for Mat’s licorice ice cream, as it was so good, I could eat a bucketful of it! 🙂

The next morning after a very restful night in the King sized bed in the apartment, the bump and I headed to Lyme Regis to see the sea and a have a walk around. We saw seagulls and had a lovely walk in the sunshine and built up our appetite for the next stop.

After Lyme Regis, Bump and I headed to Axminster, the home of the River Cottage Canteen,  another place I have wanted to go for ages.  Unfortunately, while I was there having lunch my pregnancy diet limitations and appetite let me down. Most of the menu had things that I either did not like or could not eat so I ended up choosing on what I could eat without asking them to change the dish. I ordered Spicy Lamb Koftas and although they were lovely, I did not really fancy them so I ended up leaving most of it as I was quite full too. I should not have really had a pudding however as I had 160 miles to eat at the canteen, I had a short break between courses and was able to eat a very delicious Rhubarb Fumble (a cold crumble with cream). I think Bump definitely likes his or her puddings. Lets hope this continues throughout the pregnancy!

I will definitely return to the Canteen when after the baby is born as I would like to enjoy the food fully.  While I was at the Canteen, I brought my first baby oriented purchase: The River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook by Nikki Duffy. I have only had a quick look so far but it looks very useful as it talks about everything from Breastfeeding to Baby -Led Weaning. I highly recommend it.

That’s it for today. Bump and I will be back with more adventures soon 🙂