An agricultural nation for many centuries, England still can be proud of its fresh and top quality cool-climate produce. 

Let’s take a fast trip around the countryside, to see what the country does best.

Kent, south-east of London, rich agricultural land.

Produce and products: apples, berries, cherries, other fruit, hops, brewing, cider, wine.

Traditional dish: Flead cakes, made with pig’s fat. 

East Anglia, north-east of London, marshy heathland.

Produce and products: Herrings, and other fish, brewing, kippers, sprats, eel, crabs, cockles, mussels, whelks, samphire (a coastal succulent plant), cereals.

Wiltshire in England’s south is pastoral country.

Produce and products: Pig breeding, pig products, black pudding, white pudding (both a form of sausage), brawn, lard, sausages, ham, tracklements (condiments), brewing.

Traditional dishes: Lardy cake, Devizes Pie, fairings, Banbury cakes

Devon and Cornwall in south-west of England, both rich agricultural and coastal.

Produce and products: Clotted cream, and dairy products, ice cream, beer and cider, fish (mackerel, pilchards, salmon), crabs,

Traditional dish: Cornish pasty, saffron cake, fairings.

Hereford, Gloucester, Worcester and Avon, rich agricultural areas, known as the ‘heart of England’.

Produce and products: Cattle, pics, hops, apples and cider, beer and brewing, hops, eels, salmon, lampreys, asparagus, dairying and cheese, Gloucester cheese, Worcestershire sauce.

Traditional dish: Bath chaps, Bath Olivers, Bath buns, Sally Lunn cake.

The Shires, middle of England, the land where fox-hunting has been a sport for centuries.

Produce and products: Pork, dairying, cheese, brewing, Stilton cheese, red Leicester cheese

Traditional dish: Melton Mowbray pork pie, potted meat, Quorn bacon roll.

The Yorkshire dales in the central north, is farming country with wild moorland country.

Produce and products: sheep and pigs, Wensleydale cheese, brewing and beer.

Traditional dish: Oatcakes, Yorkshire pudding, parkin.

Lancashire and the industrial north-west with more barren landscapes.

Produce and products: lamb and mutton, offal, bacon, black puddings, corned beef, elder (cooked cow’s udder), brewing and beer,

Traditional dish: Lambs fry (liver), tripe, a wide variety of pies, Lancashire ‘foot’ ( a miner’s pasty), oatcakes, muffins, crumpets, Eccles cakes, Gingerbread men.

The Lake District in the far north-west has beautiful pastoral countryside.

Produce and products: lamb and mutton, Cumberland ham, black pudding, salmon, trout, shrimps, brewing and beer, fruit – especially damson plums,

Traditional dish: Cumberland sausage, Tatie pot, Lancashire hotpot, potted shrimps, rum butter, Grasmere gingerbread, Kendal mint cake

Northumberland far north-east of England, adjoining Scotland.

Produce and products: kippers, lamb, honey, potatoes, chillies, cheese, Lindisfarne oysters or ice cream from Doddington or Warkworth.

Traditional dish: Singing Hinnies