Monmouthshire’s food and tourism industry has been honoured at the Wales The True Taste Food & Drink Awards for its role in making the county a top food tourism destination.
Monmouthshire achieved a bronze award, having been narrowly beaten to the highest honour of being once again Wales’ official ‘Food Tourism Destination’ by Pembrokeshire, with Blaenavon's fledgling food offer achieving silver.
Judges were keen to praise the commitment to quality shown by the local food and hospitality industry in Monmouthshire, as well as the depth to which an enthusiasm for local food has become part of the county’s psyche and an intrinsic element of its tourism offer.
In confirmation of this, judges awarded two of the highest honours of the night to eateries in Monmouthshire. In the Eating Out category, sub-divided into 'Pubs, Restaurants & Hotels' and 'Cafes & Tearooms', the regional winners for southeast Wales were the Crown at Whitebrook, near Monmouth, and Gentle Jane Tearooms at Grosmont. Both went on to become overall winners in their categories, putting Monmouthshire firmly back on the food map of Wales.
Local producers were also honoured including: Usk Vale Poultry for its free-range, oven-ready turkey (silver award); Ty Bryn Cider for its apple juice (silver award); Sugarloaf Catering for its oak-roast salmon fishcakes (bronze award); and Wye Valley Apiaries for its local honey (bronze award).
The awards were announced at a gala ceremony held on Thursday night at Abergavenny’s Market Hall, attended by 450 guests drawn from all corners of Wales, including Elin Jones, the Minister for Rural Affairs, and a wide range of representatives from the food and tourism industries.
The application for the food destination award was made jointly by Monmouthshire County Council’s Tourism section and adventa, the Rural Development Programme for Monmouthshire, and follows a year of marketing promotions undertaken to highlight the county’s win last year, the first occasion on which the ‘Food Tourism Destination’ category was included in the awards.
Nicola Smith, Principal Tourism Officer for Monmouthshire County Council, said:
"Although Monmouthshire County Council, together with adventa, submitted the application, this recognition couldn’t have been achieved without the hard work and creativity shown by our numerous local food and drink producers and chefs, and events such as the Abergavenny Food Festival, which bring the use of local food and drink to the forefront of the county’s visitor experience."
Wales The True Taste is a Welsh Assembly Government initiative which recognises the achievements of artisan producers and hospitality businesses in furthering the interests of the Welsh food industry and promoting the economic benefits of using local food and drink to residents and visitors.
The decision to host the 2009 awards in Monmouthshire was made in response to the county’s status as the first official food tourism destination in Wales, with the historic Market Hall in Abergavenny being chosen as the venue in a bid to get back to the very roots of food production.
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Abergavenny's Market Hall dressed for the awards ceremony. Image courtesy of Visit Wales.
