Cheese, cider, cycling: a tasty tour of the West Country

Following the Somerset Food Trail by e-bike offers the chance to meet growers and makers, wallow in rural vistas, and enjoy delicious local produce

‘What more do you need than good cheese and a glass of cider?” I’m at Batch Farm, in the Somerset village of East Pennard, and cheesemaker Malcolm Dyer is genially setting out his stall. The farm is one of the highlights of the Somerset Food Trail, a 10-day celebration of the county’s smaller-scale food producers running until 24 July. The trail aims to highlight the area’s bounty, offering visitors the chance to explore farms, meet growers, picnic in community farms and “food forests”, sip cider while watching local bands, and generally guzzle, graze and shop to their stomach’s content.

Somerset is a surprisingly extensive county, so the trail’s organisers have helpfully sliced it into 11 areas. Setting out to get a taste of the terrain in advance, I decide to focus on the patch I know best – Bruton, Castle Cary and Wincanton – but to explore it anew on one of Bruton Bike Hire’s guided electric cycle safaris. Ten of these tours will be running during the event, along two different routes, and I’m trialling the northern loop.