Visits
About Us...
- Jill Dyson,
- Southern Highlands, NSW, Australia
- Click on the link to read Jill's latest blog post. Jill has been running FoodPath in the Southern Highlands of NSW with her partner Nick since April 2010. They have grown the business to a level where they now include a range of activities including tours, workshops and collaboration with others (cooking schools, wineries, etc). During the past 10 years Jill and Nick have got to know the local producers and continue to promote and support these local small businesses. They have organised and run many food related activities including taste education workshops and producer visits. It was after they organised a successful tour for a group of chefs from some of the best restaurants in Sydney that they realised they could turn their interest into a business - and this led to the setting up of FoodPath - Culinary Tours with a Difference. Now Jill and Nick are working closely with Southern Highlands Tourism and Wingecarribee Council to help raise the profile of their area as a food destination where everyone will benefit - tourists, local consumers and the producers themselves.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Today was a great FoodPath Day Tour despite the weather. We were so lucky that it didn't really start to rain until lunchtime. The rest of the day we were under cover so it didn't really matter.
Our group was made up of people from Balmain, New Zealand and the Southern Highlands. A mother and adult daughter were part of the group. We often have family groups getting out of Sydney and doing something together which is a lovely idea, don't you agree?
The baby Boer goats at our first farm have grown a lot but were still very cute.
Our group was made up of people from Balmain, New Zealand and the Southern Highlands. A mother and adult daughter were part of the group. We often have family groups getting out of Sydney and doing something together which is a lovely idea, don't you agree?
The baby Boer goats at our first farm have grown a lot but were still very cute.
We also saw the geese, bees, heard about the truffle trees, Learnt how to make a good compost heap, grow vegies and even build a chook pen out of recycled materials!
Alan is a mine of information and his place is a great example of sustainable living!
Since out last visit Alan had built a new green house - complete with potted vegies growing very happily.
We were treated to a taste of Alan's fresh produce too - nice and crunchy and full of flavour.
On to the Burrawang Village Hotel for lunch and the rain came down. However it was cosy inside and we spent a very pleasant time there with the group. The food was yummy!
After lunch we visited the dairy at Mayberry Farm and, as always, everyone found it very interesting. One member of the group had childhood memories of life on the farm and having a glass of fresh milk was very nostalgic for her.
Finally we drove to Small Cow Farm nearby where Mark told us about cheese making and we tasted many of their cheeses - all delicious.
Some we tasted were the Small Cow fetta (which won a gold award at the Royal Easter Show this year), a gourmet fetta marinated in oil, a beautiful ripe brie, a cheddar, a cooked gruyere style cheese called their Mountain Cheeses and finally the famous Small Cow Blue. Mark said they are working on a new creamy blue cheese which should be available soon. We are looking forward to that.
Every time we run one of these Day Tours I am reminded of why we decided to do there food tours - they really are interesting and fun. We always enjoy ourselves too!
We had some enthusiastic feedback from the group today. They said they would come on other tours with us and would tell their friends - that's what we like to hear!
