We sneaked off for a wintery weekend in Cheddar Gorge recently on a risky no-booking jaunt. These can go horribly wrong or you can find yourself in a hitherto unsuspected gem, which is just what happened this time. We found ourselves in the tourist office in Shepton Mallet as our first port of call and the town itself didn’t look too promising. But we were directed to Bowlish House, not only a gorgeous C18th manor house, but a restaurant with rooms offering an excellent vegetarian menu! As this was a sneaky quick trip, I didn’t remember my camera, so please excuse the phone camera quality!
The owners were still fairly new, having moved back to the UK after running a place in France, but they had perfected a warm welcome and found great local produce for the kitchen. The vegetarian menu was imaginative and prepared with great care. Our vegetarian breakfast the next morning rounded off a lovely stay.
, but as always didn’t have quite the right ingredients, so made a few adjustments. Denis Cotter serves this dish stirred into couscous, but it was a delicious light lunch served with quinoa, and made a great side dish to sausages and mash!
One more (rather belated) word about Swansea, while we’re at it. We discovered a restaurant on our last trip that was new to us, but which has been serving the city for 25 years. Bizzie Lizzies is very friendly to vegetarians, with a choice of four main dishes, as well as starters. The Moroccan Filo Parcel was excellent, with wonderful layers of flavours in every mouthful. The Wild Mushroom Strogonoff was serious comfort food, creamy and filling. They are currently doing a Christmas menu, and say they are doing a daily veggie offering as they try and cook with the seasons and what they have available.
