Posted on

TOP GIFTS FOR MOTORISTS

image of The Motorway Card Game (c) Bubblegum Stuff

1. A 'coffee by post' gift subscription

Need to buy a gift for a driver or a present for a motorist? Our top tips will provide all the inspiration you need.

Now, our first suggestion isn’t the most obvious gift for a motorist but it will surely become their instant favourite. Many local roasters (such as Unorthodox Roasters in Kinross, if you’re local to them) provide brilliant ‘coffee grounds by post’ packages. Buy a three, six or 12-month subscription to keep your favourite driver alert when on the road. Join The Extra Mile’s mailing list between 11th and 18th December 2023, to be in with a chance to win a 12-month subscription from Unorthodox Roasters, worth £126.

Explore coffee subscriptions here.

2. Make them a modern-day mix-tape

This is my personal favourite: take advantage of tech to make the driver in your life a modern-day mix-tape. It’s the perfect present for a motorist as they can simply pop it into their USB port to hear your lovingly compiled tunes while driving to see you. Alternatively, make one for them to play on the way home to hasten their journey back to you. 

Explore and customise your options on Etsy.

Image of a modern, USM mix-tape

3. Buy The Extra Mile near-motorway café guide

C’mon, of course we were going to recommend our best-selling, ‘most gifted’, indie café-packed guidebook in this list! To be honest, I’m surprised we managed to wait until No. 3. The Extra Mile: Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services truly is the perfect gift for drivers and motorists who prefer independent cafés and like to find fresh local food when on the move. For those who (inexplicably) love motorway services and know them too well, read on: you’re going to love No. 5. 

Support local! Buy The Extra Mile from our online shop. 

4. An audiobook subscription

If you haven’t heard of audiobook provider, Audible, we honestly don’t know which soundproof rock you’ve been living under these last years (other audiobook subscription services are available). But what a great gift for a motorist. It’s an easy way to help them while away those long, tedious road-trip hours by listening to their favourite authors, plus if you’ve missed the last post, this can all be sent digitally. Check out the differences between service providers below. There’s even a free audiobook service called Librivox whose strap-line is: acoustical liberation of books in the public domain. Sounds brilliant: here’s to acoustical liberation!

Get your geek on and compare services at TechRadar.

Image of the word audio to suggest audio book

5. The Motorway Services Game

Now, though we might avoid motorway services like the plague (apart from the fantastic, local food focused ones like Gloucester and Tebay, of course), we do love this game. Dubbed ‘The “Pit Stop or S*** Stop” Card Stealing Game’, it really is a great gift for motorists who find themselves on the road a lot. Buy them The Extra Mile first, then pop this one in their stocking or glovebox as a little something extra, too.

Buy The Motorway Services Game.

 
image of The Motorway Card Game (c) Bubblegum Stuff

6. FM Transmitters (for drivers with older cars)

I’m not sure I’ve ever driven a car younger than myself, so ‘in-car tech’ is never a strong point when it comes to my vehicles. If you need a present for a driver with an older car, consider one of these handy little FM transmitter gadgets. Plugged into the lighter socket, it will allow you to broadcast your phone’s audio out via the radio. No idea how: some higher magic is at work. The perfect gift for drivers who are tired of flipping through radio stations to stay interested: choose your own noise.

Read more and buy your FM Transmitter here.

Image of bluetooth transmitter

7. The AA's emergency car kit

This is a genuinely useful gift for drivers who mightn’t be as prepared as they could be. Find everything inside from a folding snow shovel and torch to a hi-vis vest, booster cables and a rain poncho. The perfect present for a new driver, or those driving in remote areas or bad weather (image is indicative, check your chosen version for specific contents).

Dip inside the AA’s emergency car kit: be ready for anything.

Inside the AA's emergency car kit

8. Travel activity packs for drivers with children

Journeys can seem oh-so-much longer for drivers when there are kids in the back to entertain, too. Browse around or create your own in-car travel activity pack, with anything from stickers and colouring to card games, quiz books and more. Some pre-made examples exist from organisations like Friends of the Earth and the excellently named ‘Keep’em Quiet’ company. Browse their age-banded activity packs which make a great gift for drivers heading off on car holidays ‘en famille’.

Explore the range by Keep’em Quiet.  

9. A cup-holder-ready reusable coffee cup

There are many fantastic reusable coffee cups on the market but we love this one (as does The Independent, which has awarded Circular Cup Co. its Best Buy for three years on the trot). Drivers need coffee, and perking up, and gifts. So, for the motorist in your life, this is an excellent choice.

Circular Cup Co. A great gift choice for the driver in your life. 

Circular Coffee Co cups

Gifts for motorists: any great ones we've missed?

Here at The Extra Mile, we always love to hear from you, whether it’s with ideas for new farm shops and cafés to go in our guides, or suggestions to add to our ‘listicles’ like this. Do email me if you have any ideas to brighten, enrich or further caffeinate our lives here at Printslinger Publishing HQ. Bye for now; happy holidays and we hope that this list of great gift ideas for drivers and motorists has struck a few road-trip related chords. 

Email Kerry today.

Buy The Extra Mile. 

Coffee competition: runs 11-18 Dec 2023

Graphic of coffee offer, valid 11-18 Dec 2023

Visit this post for info on our Christmas 2023 coffee competition. Simply sign up to our mailing list between 11 Dec and 18 Dec 2023 to be in with a chance to win this fabulous prize from Scotland’s inimitable Unorthodox Roasters, of Kinross. 

Visit Unorthodox Roasters here. 

Posted on

WIN COFFEE GROUNDS FOR A YEAR

Unorthodox Roasters, Kinross, image of barrista

Win coffee: delivered to your door for a year!

Would you like to wake up and smell the coffee not once, not twice but monthly for a whole year? Join Printslinger’s mailing list from 11th – 18th December 2023 for your chance to win one pouch of coffee grounds per month for a whole year (Jan-Dec 2024) from Scotland’s inimitable Unorthodox Roasters. This is an excellent treat-to-self or we can provide a lovely virtual voucher so you can give this as a gift this Christmas. How to win friends and caffeinate people…

To enter, join our coffee-fuelled newsletter community here. Find out more about Unorthodox Roasters of Kinross (and this offer’s Ts and Cs), below.  

Subscribe to enter

Unorthodox Roasters in The Extra Mile​

Unorthodox Roasters joined The Extra Mile for our new 2023 edition. One of their founders and chief roasters, Chris, is so happy with being in our guidebook that he’s made an over-the-top-generous offer to supply one of you with free coffee for a year. This is excellent news and we’re going to pretend that we don’t work here so that we can enter ourselves: sssh, don’t tell him.

Interior of Unorthodox Roasters

This is what our 2023 café guide ,The Extra Mile (an online ‘Bestseller’ and ‘Most Gifted’ in its category) has to say about Unorthodox Roasters. 

Everything about Unorthodox Roasters is just that: unorthodox. Their beans are roasted and named with humour; each chat with the friendly baristas spirals off in an entertaining direction; and their flavours are punchy and bold.

Chris and Neil started roasting beans at home while saving up to launch their first place. Their Kinross roastery and café is fun, with bronze and bare bulbs against blue and white walls. You’ll be greeted by a V60 brew bar and manual espresso machine: every stage of the process has gravitas here (though it’s all served without pretension and with a smile). Grab and go or settle in for brunch or some home-baking with your expertly crafted drink.

Their best-selling beans are the single origin Wee Stoater, with notes of chocolate, hazelnut and caramel. Other treats include beetroot hot choc; experimental lattes (‘Chai Harder’), and an ethical tea range. Browse the coffee-lovers’ kits and take some pouches of beans to enjoy at home.

If you like who we feature and how we phrase things, why not check the guide out for yourself? It makes a great gift for anyone who drives a lot and likes to eat well. You can buy it at many of the venues featured in the book (such as Unorthodox Roasters if you’re passing) or you can order direct from us here. Get in quick if it’s meant as a gift for 2024. 

Like Unorthodox Roasters on Facebook here. 
Follow Unorthodox Roasters on Instagram.
Buy their Single Origin coffee for delivery.                 

Draw Terms and Conditions

  • One entry per person.
  • One name will be chosen at random from those who sign up to join our Mailing List between 11th and 18th December 2023 to win this prize. 
  • First name, last name and a correct email address must be included in order to be entered into the draw. 
  • The winner will be contacted via email on 19th Dec. Two attempts at contact will be made within 14 days. If no response with the further information required is received by the original winner within 14 days of the second attempt, we reserve the right to redraw and to contact another person, drawn at random, to receive this coffee subscription. The original winner will forfeit their right to this prize and no alternative prize will be available or offered. 
  • The winner will allow for the prize, or the first instalment thereof, to be delivered by end January 2024.
  • The winner must provide Printslinger Ltd. with their full name and postal address, to be passed on to Unorthodox Roasters, for them to correctly deliver the coffee.
  • Unorthodox Roasters will supply the coffee(s) of their choice which will depend on availability and other factors. 
  • Unorthodox Roasters reserve the right to deliver the total weight of coffee in larger packages (i.e. 500g+) if agreed with the winner, to reduce packaging. 
  • This competition is only open to mainland UK-based entrants. 
  • The prize, of 12 x 250g coffee pouches (or the equivalent weight in different weight pouches), includes free delivery to one mainland UK address. A postal surcharge may apply to some Highlands, Islands and other non-standard UK addresses. 
  • The winner’s first name, last name and town/ city of residence, for example Kerry O’Neill from Bristol, may be used across our online and offline channels to publicise the competition once finished.
  • Further opportunities for the winner to participate in Social Media promotion following their win may be offered; participation is totally optional. 
  • This competition is being run by Printslinger Ltd., with a prize provided by Unorthodox Roasters.
  • With any questions, please contact The Extra Mile via email
  • Printslinger Ltd accepts no liability for any damage, loss, injury, or disappointment suffered by any entrants as a result of participating in the competition or being selected for a prize.
  • You agree that any personal information that you provide when entering the competition will be used by Printslinger Ltd for the purposes of administering the competition and for the other purposes as specified in our Privacy Policy.
  • Printslinger Ltd reserves the right, at any time and without prior notice, to cancel the competition or amend these terms and conditions.

Buy The Extra Mile guide today

Visit The Extra Mile Guide’s online shop to buy your own edition of the guide today (or buy a few to give away – it makes a great gift for your foodie friends). 

The Extra Mile edition 4 cover
Posted on

WIN TICKETS TO THE THREE COUNTIES FOOD AND DRINK FESTIVAL

Three Counties Blog Header Image

The Three Counties Food and Drink Festival

The Three Counties Food and Drink Festival is the most exciting culinary event to hit Malven in…as long as we can remember. Packed with first-rate local and artisanal food products to sample, award-winning chef demos to watch and fantastic stalls to browse, this event has us clearing our diaries for Sat 29 and Sun 30 July in anticipation. 

Win two free one-day tickets to the show (worth £24)

As readers and lovers of The Extra Mile, we know that you love to eat locally. You like sampling freshly-made flavours and talking to producers who really care about where their ingredients come from. At the Three Counties Showground in Malvern, this is exactly what you can expect. To give you a little helping hand on your way to the show – freeing up a few pounds to spend on the excellent foodies wares once you get in – we’ve got a pair of tickets to give away. Simply visit our Facebook or Instagram pages and Like the relevant Three Counties food and Drink Festival post, tagging in a friend, to be in with a chance to win. We’ll announce the winners on 24 July, to give you a handful of days to get organised.

What's on at the Festival

Cookery demo at the Three Counties Food and Drink Festival

There is an embarrassment of activities to enjoy, including demos, tastings, cocktail-making, family-friendly workshops and more.  There’s a Celebrity Chef Cookery Theatre, with guests including Rosemary Shrager, John Whaite, Matt Pritchard, Chris Bavin,  Matt Tebbutt, Jean-Christophe Novelli and Masterchef finalist, Pookie. 

Celebrity Chef Cookery Theatre

To find out more, visit The Three Counties Food and Drink Festival, and set your Sat Nav for WR13 6NW now (opens Google Maps).  To be in with your chance to win two free tickets, head over to our Social channels and Like and tag in a friend now. Good luck!  

Image of a wine tasting at the Three Counties Food and Drink Festival

The Festival line-up for foodies!

Visit the Three Counties Food and Drink Festival’s website here. Find them on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Here’s their full What’s On timetable. And if you can’t wait for the competition winner to be announced – get your tickets online in advance. Have a great show everyone! 

Posted on

6 ORGANIC CAFES NEAR THE ROAD

Organic leaves being grown at Plaw Hatch Farm

We pride ourselves on championing some of the very best, and most considerate producers in the country, but some of them really go the extra mile when it comes to minimising their use of chemicals and nurturing nature in the process. Here are a few of our favourite cafes, restaurants and farms walking the organic talk, but for more stops featuring organic goodies, just have a look at the ‘find a stop’ section of our website and search using the ‘organic’ icon.

Helen Browning’s Royal Oak

Run by the CEO of the Soil Association, the Royal Oak has the organic ethos in its DNA. The dining pub stands at the centre of Eastbrook Farm, an organically run outfit in Wiltshire’s Marlborough Downs, and serves home-reared meat and home-grown produce. You will genuinely taste the difference in the quality of the ingredients. Mouthwatering.

Owens Coffee

The beans might not be grown on our shores, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care where our coffee comes from. Owens sure does. Committed to supplying organic beans from ethically run estates, the company walks the sustainable, nature friendly talk. That means you can rest easy when you sup on a cortado and cake on the sunny terrace.

Plaw Hatch Farm

As a proudly biodynamic, community-owned farm, Plaw Hatch is guaranteed to supply similarly organic ingredients to its café. After watching the cow milking at 4pm, head to the pantry to stock up on locally produced cheese, honey, loafs of sourdough, and veggies from the garden, and grab a coffee and cake while you’re at it.

Piercebridge Farm Shop

There are more than 2,000 organic products at this beautiful farm shop in the Durham countryside. Careful stewards of the countryside, the owners here rear cows, sheep, pigs and chickens in step with the local wildlife. Stop in to stock up on deli goods and enjoy a nice cold drink.

Arthurs Farm Kitchen Cafe at Fordhall Farm

A trail-blazer in the organic movement, Fordhall Farm ditched chemicals in its farming more than 65 years ago. Today, it’s community-owned and still true to its nature friendly ethos. The same goes for the food in Arthurs Farm Kitchen, housed in a beautifully renovated old dairy. Enjoy plates made from organic cheddar, pasture-fed pigs, and chemical-free jams.

The Prospects Trust: Unwrapped

Shelves at this socially inspired enterprise are filled with organic vegetables – many grown up the road at the charity’s own fabulous Snakehall Farm, which is committed to organic growing methods. The same ethos applies to the food available in the café, where you can grab a barista coffee and warm bake from the kitchen.

Posted on

PLACES TO EAT ON THE WAY TO GLASTONBURY

Glastonbury Festival's pyramid stage

Road tripping to Glastonbury? Looking for somewhere to stop for food on your way to the mighty Glasto? If you’re in need of proper, good food ahead of a weekend of hedonistic indulgence, we’ve got you covered. These fabulous local businesses are mere minutes from some of the main road routes to the great tented music city.

Driving to Glastonbury from the north: Hartley Farm Shop

Hartley Farm Shop

For those wending their way south of the M4 on the way to Pilton, it’s worth planning a stop at Hartley Farm Shop near Bradford-on-Avon. You can line stomachs with proper farm house breakfasts or wood-fired pizzas (depending on the time of day) and grab some car snacks for the onward journey. We’ll never stop going on about sausage rolls as a supreme car snack, and theirs are excellent. A first-rate place to stop to eat en route to Glastonbury. 

Heading to Glasto off the M5: Honey and Ginger

If you’re driving the fast M5 route to Glastonbury, it’s a short swoosh off the carriageway to find Honey and Ginger. As the Extra Mile is Bristol-based, you’re in our stomping ground so we’re regulars at this fabulous shop and café. Grab yourself a frothy coffee and pastry to tide you over the rest of your journey, and if you’re a late arrival to the festival and passing on a Friday, don’t miss the doughnut specials.

Driving to Glasto from the east: Teals Farm Shop, Somerset

Driving to Glasto from London or the east? The A303 takes you most of the way from London to the Glastonbury festival site. The most direct Google maps route will take you off a little earlier to cut through Warminster, but stay on the main road a bit longer and you’ll avoid some traffic AND get to stop at the marvellous Teals Farm Shop. You can stock up on camping supplies in the cavernous food hall, have a hearty plate in the café, or cool down with a gelato ice cream.

Teals of Somerset signage

Driving west to Glastonbury: Longstock Park Farm Shop

If you’re driving from the east to Glasto on the A303 and want to find somewhere good and local to eat on your way, a 10-minute detour can have you at the door of Longstock Park Farm Shop. Estate-harvested ingredients are whipped into  delicious brunches and lunches and the cakes are second-to-none. Grab a bench in the orchard to peruse the set listings over an iced coffee before you reach festival bedlam. This is actually the farm shop of Waitrose and Partners (not a lot of people know that) so the quality is predictably high.

 

Longstock Park Farm Shop, Waitrose's Leckford Farm

Driving to Glastonbury from Wales: visit Haughmond Village Store

Driving down to the festival of festivals from North Wales? Split the journey at Haughmond Village Store, Café and Bakery. As the name suggests, it’s an all-rounder. Pep yourself up with a coffee while you charge your electric car, tuck into a homemade pasty, or stash some sandwiches and supplies for later in the journey.

Haughmond Village Stores and bakery from above

Driving from Wales to Glastonbury: Forage Farm Shop

Those making the pilgrimage to Glastonbury from South Wales would do well to stop at Forage Farm Shop. A celebration of Welsh food and flavours, the kitchen serves up tantalising and hearty meals (even late into the evening on summer weekends), so you can enjoy a proper feed before letting loose on the dance floors. The farm shop shelves are stocked with seasonal, natural products too, so it’s a good place to stock up the cool box.

Driving to Glasto from the South West: Sheppy's Cider Farm

Get into the Glastonbury spirit by pausing your journey at a Somerset cider farm. Sheppy’s is a well-established family cider business that has successfully branched out (pardon the pun) into hospitality. Non-drivers could sup a refreshing glass of the good stuff, while everyone will enjoy the sizzling sausages and tasty plates in the café. Stash some deli goods in your bags for some decadent festival treats later in the weekend. A classic West Country stop on your way to the West Country’s best-known event. 

Food stop near Pilton: take me to The Bridge

Just half an hour away from Pilton, you’re probably at the fringe of the festival traffic here, so if the queues are getting too much pull into The Bridge Bakery and Canteen for a tasty brunch, cooling sorbet milkshake, or moreish cookies. Enjoy a moment of rest on the banks of the River Parrett before embarking on the final furlong of your Glastonbury journey. A great place to stop to eat on your way to Glastonbury 

The Bridge Bakery and Canteen

Buy The Extra Mile Guide: find better places to eat

Enjoy finding places to eat near you and near motorway junctions that are more interesting than boring big brands? Buy The Extra Mile Guide, out now and currently an Amazon No. 1 Bestseller (as at April – June 2023). It’s packed with almost 300 better places to eat where you can find local food and flavours produced, picked or made by local people, to help support the UK’s small food businesses. 

Coming next from The Extra Mile team: The Coastal Café Guide

In 2024, Printslinger Publishing (the team behind The Extra Mile) will bring out a new guidebook to the best cafés and places to eat around the UK’s coastlines. Visit our new website here and follow us on FB and Insta to keep up to date with Coastal Cafés. Got a great suggestion for somewhere that would be great in this new coastal café guidebook? Email us today. Happy Glastonbury, all!

Man with Coast book
Woman with coast book
Coastal Cafe woman with dog at tent at festival
Posted on

WHY LOCAL FOOD MATTERS

Garden-fresh seasonal vegetables

At the Extra Mile, we’re firm proponents of local food. We crow about it at every opportunity. You’ll see it plastered throughout the book. But why?  

Industrial scale farming and huge supermarket supply chains have served us well in feeding the growing population, but it has come at a cost. The quest for cheaper food has meant the increased use of fertilizers, pesticides, energy, land and water. As a result, our global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss and a major driver of climate change, accounting for around 30% of total human-produced emissions.  

Local food is the antithesis of this form of production. It’s produce grown within a short distance of where it’s consumed (although there’s no formal legal definition). Here are some of the benefits. 

Salad heads growing in raised beds

Buying locally grown food encourages small scale, nature-sensitive farming… 

…and shifts away from harmful industrial monocropping. The impact on bees is just one well-documented example of the harm monocropping can wreak on nature. By contrast, farming in harmony with the local microclimate can have a restorative effect on the soils and wildlife.  

Smaller scale local food production - allotments from above

It supports local farming businesses and gives back to the community 

Money spent with growers and neighbouring cafes and restaurants keeps money close to home, instead of going to faceless national businesses. That develops agriculture and hospitality in the area and keeps communities and economies thriving. The New Economics Foundation estimated that for every £1 spent in the local food network, £3.70 is generated in social, economic and environmental value. Food festivals (such as the eatFestival shown in the two images below) are a great way to discover some of your very local producers. 

People browsing local food stall at an EAT festival

It has lower food miles  

In the UK we import around half of our food. Buying local means crops don’t have far to go once they’ve been harvested. Without the need to drive crops long distances between where they’re grown and consumed, the carbon footprint shrinks, reducing the impact of your lunch. 

Woman trading at the EAT Festival holding a wrap

It’s tastier and more nutritious 

Crops can only be grown in accordance with the prevailing weather, which means local food is largely seasonal. Produce that ripens or matures naturally is served fresh, which means it’s tastier and more nutritious than food that is picked early (or out of season) and ripened artificially on its journey to shops.  

If shopping locally, choosing food that hasn’t travelled far, and supporting smaller-scale and often independent food businesses is what gets you out of bed of a morning, dip into The Extra Mile. The guidebook is packed with small local cafés and offers viable alternatives to monotonous, motorway service station food, and disappointing forecourt food. Browse our Venue Finder here or buy the most up-to-date version of the guidebook for your own glovebox or that of a friend today at The Extra Mile’s online bookshop

Bowl of freshly-picked tomatoes
Posted on

EAT:FESTIVALS – TRULY LOCAL FOOD

Man from Ginger Beard Pickles and Preserves holding a jar of pickle

eat:Festivals are renowned across the South West not just for the excellence of their festivals and traders selection, but for their award-winning efforts to produce a sustainably run festival. We talk to festival co-founder, Beverley Milner-Simonds, about the importance of shopping locally, eating local foods and supporting local businesses.  

Q) You run a series of award-winning local food festivals across the West Country. What does local mean to you, and why is it so important that you only feature very local traders at each event? 

A) We’re all from somewhere, and making where you live work and play a better place seems the right thing to do. Focusing on local producers allows us to keep that money in the local community and introduce people to producers they can buy from easily time and time again.

Woman trading at the EAT Festival holding a wrap

 

Q) If people are used to buying big brand products, what do you think are the key things they’ll notice if they start to shop at smaller local places, or to buy locally made, hand-crafted food from local producers (and why does it matter)?

A) Buying from small local producers allows you to get the story behind the product. To understand how it was grown, made and ultimately brought to life for you. Understanding where your food comes from, meeting the maker, and having a great time is the underlying ethos to eat:Festivals.

Q) Why is it important to support local producers and do you have any specific examples of a business that suffered then bounced back or had to innovate or diversify as a result of the huge challenges of recent years? 

A) Being able to help micro and small businesses thrive really gets us out of bed in the morning with a big smile on our faces. Watching fledging businesses grow, become employers, develop new products and get stocked locally is incredibly rewarding. Take for example Nutts Scotch eggs. They relied heavily on face-to-face sales, pre-pandemic. Now, they also focus on their online sales, supported by some of their previous direct sales to customers, and have developed their kitchen space ready to supply bigger customers wholesale in this post-pandemic world. They’ve seen a big switch in their business balance; having more regular wholesale customers now enables them to have a steadier income and to employ two more members of staff. 

 

Crowds at an EAT Festival

Q) You’ve won multiple awards for your green, planet-first ethos. What environmental, green or ‘local’ related award are you most proud of and why, and do you have any nuggets of advice for small food businesses who want to minimise their impact as they grow? 

A) We are very proud of how we run our business. Sustainability for us has six key parts. Transport, energy use, water use, food, waste and impact in the community. The events industry has been a very wasteful sector over the years, with temporary structures erected and scrapped after the event. We were recognised at the Tourism Excellence Awards South West in 2019 for our responsible, ethical and sustainable approach to tourism. We have proved that you can run events differently. At a festival, you have an opportunity to engage with people in a different way. You can prompt behaviour change by encouraging people to walk, cycle or scoot to your event, or mandating no single-use plastic (which met with no resistance whatsoever from any of our producers). You can encourage people to switch to fully compostable materials, or to those that can be recycled at home for those who are taking purchases away with them. Our top tip for small food businesses starting out is to look at the different aspects of their production along those six areas we highlighted. Transport, energy use, water use, food, waste and impact in the community. 

Q) Where might your traders’ products be stocked, locally and in the region? Will you find any of them at motorway services?

A) We get such a buzz when we spot one of our producers being stocked locally, regionally and in some cases nationally. You’ll find our producers at your local farm shops and sometimes even at farm gate sales too. But you’ll also spot them on the menus at independent restaurants and cafes and bistros and at some petrol stations and forecourts, especially businesses like Touts, based in North Somerset.  

 

Man enjoying a Secret Orchard cider

Q) The Extra Mile book exists to help people find good local food in lovely surroundings just off motorway and main road junctions, to stop them having to go to the Services. Can you name a few of your own favourites (here is the Extra Mile map if that helps)?

A) Top tips off the Motorway? Well, obviously Gloucester Services for anyone heading up and down the M5 in the West Country. We also love Pyne’s of Somerset, just south of Bridgwater. Brockley Stores on the A370 in North Somerset, OMG, it’s worth the detour, let’s face it, such incredible stuff in there! If you’re heading further south on the M5, then Darts Farm is a really good food hub, with lots of amazing producers stocked there. And if you’re looking for a cracking cup of coffee, we’d love you to turn off at Wellington and go and explore Brazier, a coffee roaster based in Wellington with a lovely back story. 

Q) Will you use The Extra Mile Guide – Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services?

A) Being able to get to the root of where your food and drink comes from, to meet the maker and to hear the story behind the product, is a really nourishing way to eat. The Extra Mile enables you to discover great local food and drink on your travels so we think it’s a great idea! 

 

People browsing local food stall at an EAT festival

eat:Festivals are a great free day out. You’ll find them in 17 town and city centres across the South West, showcasing the very best of local food and drink from within 30 miles of the town. In addition to the truly incredible food and drink on offer, each festival offers free entertainment, education, sometimes free bike mechanic sessions and a whole heap of foodie fun. 

Visit eat:Festivals on Facebook and their website for more details on upcoming events and how to join as a local trader.  

To buy The Extra Mile Guide (from Glovebox Guides) visit our Shop now. The fourth edition is underway and will be out in spring 2023. Contact us now if interested in joining its collection of memorable local places to eat, drink and rest.

Posted on

TELL US YOUR TIPS

The Extra Mile from Glovebox Guides (ed. 3)

Avoid the Services: Nominate great cafés for the new guide

Research is underway for the 2023 edition of The Extra Mile – Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services – every driver’s essential guide to good food on the move.  
 
Nominations are welcomed from (or for) independent cafés, cosy tea rooms, quirky pit-stops and welcoming farm shops – within a 15-minute drive of a motorway or main A-road junction – to feature in this useful glovebox guidebook and on its companion website. Is there anywhere we really shouldn’t miss?
 
Writer, Kerry O’Neill, said, “We’re keen to fill the upcoming fourth edition of this sell-out guide with some classic and new foodie destinations to help drivers avoid the monotony of motorway services. We’ll uncover the best farm shops, cafés, tea rooms and eateries we can find near motorway and main A-road junctions, many of which would love a helping hand following the challenges of recent years. The Extra Mile helps its readers find and support the small and independent food and drink businesses who are going the extra mile to keep us all fed and watered in local, low-food-mile style.” 

 
England, Scotland and Wales: the café hunt continues 

In early Sept 2022, Icelandic foodie and photographer Iris Thorsteinsdottir will set off to explore Scotland’s off-motorway and A-road wilds on a quest to find more venues to join The Extra Mile while author Kerry O’Neill continues her quest across Wales and England.  
 

Nominate yourself or a favourite venue 

To nominate a venue to join The Extra Mile – Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services for the team to visit, go to Find a stop to see if it’s already part of the collection. If not, submit the information at Join the Guide. Nominations should be interesting and independent (or part of a small regional chain) with a strong locally-sourced food ethos. They must be within a short drive – 15 minutes maximum and the closer the better – of a motorway or main A-road junction in mainland England, Wales or Scotland. Most importantly, they should be friendly, foodie and fabulous!
 

Who can be nominated? 

  • Coffee shops and tea rooms 
  • Cafés and bistros (including those within gardens or visitor attractions) 
  • Farm shops, farm shop cafés, garden centre cafés 
  • Delis and bakeries 
  • Vegetarian and plant-based cafés 
  • Unusual take-aways, pre-order picnics/ veg box companies 
  • Ice-cream parlours 
  • Breweries, wineries or distilleries with sit-in food options 
  • Family-friendly and dog-friendly spots 
     

Buy a copy for yourself or for a gift

The Extra Mile – Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services is the essential glovebox guidebook for anyone seeking interesting eats while exploring England, Scotland and Wales by car. It’s the ideal gift for drivers, food lovers and gloveboxes everywhere. The most recent edition (ed. 3, 2019, by Laura Collacott) sold out and was refreshed and reprinted for 2022 by Glovebox Guides. The new, fourth edition is being compiled now, with a deadline for inclusion of 30 Sep 2022. The book will be in good bookshops and online in 2023. For updates and an alert when the new edition is available to order, subscribe to our newsletter on the homepage. Buy the current edition now while stocks last.

—– ends —- 
 

Notes for editors 
For further press information and to discuss related content, photography, book giveaways and reader competitions, email Kerry at The Extra Mile Guide.

 
The Extra Mile guidebook 
The Extra Mile – Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services is the essential glovebox guidebook to memorable food and drink experiences while on the move. It helps readers replace monotonous motorway food with the fresh, colourful and often locally sourced flavours of over 300 independent cafes, growers, makers and bakers, all within a 15-minute drive of a motorway or main A-road junction. Plan your journey, explore the alternative eateries and eat better when on the move, while supporting local producers. 
 

The Extra Mile website 
The Extra Mile site is an extension of the print guidebook with venue details and a ‘search by map’ function to direct hungry drivers to their chosen foodie venue. The site is updated regularly, with a curated collection of stop-offs, eateries and farm shops featuring in each new edition of the book. To submit a venue or request to join the collection, visit Join the Guide.
 

Glovebox Guides 
Glovebox Guides is an imprint of Printslinger Ltd, the independent publishing company run by renowned slow food lover, Alastair Sawday. Glovebox Guides will publish the fourth edition of The Extra Mile – Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services in 2023 as the first in a series of new titles.  Buy direct from Glovebox Guides to ensure you get the refreshed 2022 reprint.
 

Kerry O’Neill, author 
Kerry O’Neill is a UK-based travel researcher and writer with an MSc in literary tourism. She has collaborated with key sustainable travel, food and wine brands including Secret Compass Expeditions, Sustrans, TravelLocal, Sawday’s Special Places to Stay, Sidetracked magazine, Avery’s Wine Merchants and FoodWorks South West. The Extra Mile is her first collaboration with Glovebox Guides.   

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn