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Over the past decade or so, the long tradition of quality food growing and manufacturing, in Bridport and the surrounding countryside, has been augmented by the development of the West Dorset Food and Land Trust. Started in 1996, this community development organisation has played a key role in developing the local food sector in the West Dorset area.

From it has sprung the Centre for Local Food which has provided a commercial kitchen used both for adult and children’s education, an ICT centre, and the Children Out of School Service. Amazing projects have been developed from the Centre, such as the Local Food for Local Schools project, which has brought fresh fruit and soups into Bridport Primary School, and this is now being rolled out into other schools.

Bridport was awarded Beacon Town status in 2003 by the Countryside Agency, setting Bridport as an exemplar of good practice, the only town in the country recognised for its food initiatives, and this led to a very successful Year of Local Food in 2004, and the first Bridport Food Festival. In 2006, Bridport was the runner up for the South West Local Food Award.

Now a community based group, the Bridport Local Food Group, has emerged, involving all sectors from the town and surrounding countryside, and this has organised the second and third Food Festivals, each one increasing in size and entertainment. The focus is very much on local foods produced by local people. The support of local writers and chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Lesley Waters is much appreciated.

One of the best, and most popular, Farmers’ Markets in the country is held in Bridport on the second Saturday of every month. Based in the Arts Centre in the centre of the town, it now spills out onto the forecourt. The town also has what is reputed to be the oldest family-run butcher’s shop in the country and a small brewery, still producing local ales. Cider is produced on local farms.

The diversity of the area is staggering. Agriculture is very much geared towards livestock, and there are still many small farms in the area whose families go back generations. Dairy and sheep are the main activities, but certain areas lend themselves to horticulture, and vibrant farm shops and box schemes have developed in recent years. The area is also famous for the most unlikely of West Dorset products, the hottest chilli in the world.

At a recent international food competition, the first and third best products out of over three thousand, came from Bridport!!

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