'Last weekend we headed down to Ipswich. We had a few things planned while we were there, one of which was the Sausage & Beer Festival at Jimmys Farm.
We stayed for two nights at the Premier Inn at Chantry Park. It's a nice quite location with a country pub The Beagle next door. It was within ten minutes drive of everywhere we were going which was good.
Anyway hotel breakfasts for me are always the same. I stick to my safe options and don't often stray. I like to have bacon and grilled tomatoes, cranberry juice and peppermint tea. I did take some DS brown ciabatta rolls with me too so the 2nd morning I used one of those to make a bacon cob (roll, bab, tea cake, butty...whatever you may call it). The breakfast was nice and cooked to order. I did notice The Alpro logo on the menu so assume they have soya milk available.
On Saturday afternoon we headed over to Jimmys Farm for the Sausage and Beer Festival. We'd been two years ago and really enjoyed it so we thought we'd go again while we were in the area. Much to our surprise the festival had grown in size compared to when we last went. It was huge. Lots of food stalls, craft stalls, music stage, kids areas, smaller stages with cooking demos, sausage making classes and other performances. The sun was beaming down and the atmosphere was great. My husband even won me a pair of Joules Wellies in the wellie wanging :)
The hunt for safe food began. I saw a few stalls with "Gluten Free available" signs but obviously it didn't mean it was also dairy and egg free for me. I don't like to ask too many questions especially when stalls are busy so I wondered around until I came across Glorious Fodder. They had all their food marked with allergy information so it was easy to pick a safe option. I chose a sausage pasta box. It was a great choice as it was really yummy :) They are on twitter @gloriousfodder and make savoury and sweet foods that are gluten free and some dairy & egg free. As the temperature heated up I headed into the farm shop to find an ice lolly. I found a Chilly Billy which was made of pure apple juice and mango juice. It was tasty and refreshing.
Over all I would highly recommend visiting the festival or even just visiting the farm. It's a lovely place to relax and have a stroll looking at the animals, plants and shop.
After the festival we headed to The Brook Inn for our evening meal. A tip would be to book as it seems to be a popular place. I found it by searching for gluten free food in Ipswich. This place had great reviews for the amount of choice there is for GF diets and the quality of food. They are also more than willing to help with other allergies too. You can find their sample menu online. You will be spoilt for choice with the options. I believe the owners wife is coeliac which is why the focus on great GF options.
It was a toss up between fish & chips or scampi for me. I've not had scampi for years so I made my choice. The waitress checked with the chef that it was also DF & EF which it was. It came out with hand cut chips and a side salad. It was really really nice and a good portion size. The others I were with really enjoyed their meals too and we all left with full belly's. It's not often that a pub goes to so much effort to cater for allergies. More should follow in their footsteps.
The following day we decided to break the long journey up by stopping at Stamford, Lincs. We knew we needed to find lunch somewhere so started to wonder the lovely quaint streets. First we spotted a building that was hosting a "quality market". We went inside to investigate. As soon as we stepped through the door I saw a food stall, not just any food stall though, to my delight there were veggie, vegan and gluten free options. My eyes lit up. How lucky! The company was called FarrinHeight Foods (@FHFoods). I chose a GF & Vegan Blackberry Sponge cake. I ate it later in the day and it was scrummy :)
We decided on Pizza Express for lunch sat on the terrace overlooking the river. I didn't fancy pizza so I chose the Leggera Salmon Salad. It was marked as GF and upon checking was also DF. I really enjoyed it. I love hot smoked salmon so it was a perfect salad. I'll definitely be having it again.
I went into the weekend wondering when or if I'd find free from food but it actually turned into a really great weekend will lots of options and no need for me to use the emergency supplies I'd taken (well except for a late night Lazy Days Millionaires Shortbread).
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