The Old Riverside Cafe and West Bay Post Office. Courtesy of Keith Alner.

The Post Office was busy and the Cafe was mostly used by holidaymakers staying on the municipal camping ground, and coach parties from Dorchester, Yeovil, Chard, and Taunton. Locals enjoyed playing dominoes there.

A wider view. Courtesy of Keith Alner.

March 12, 2010, and West Bay no longer even has a Post Office while the Riverside – now a restaurant – serves a lot more than the crab sandwiches, cream teas and roast dinners that it used to specialise in. Nowadays it has an international reputation.

Arthur and Jan Watson took over in 1964. Earlier this year, the Bridport and District Tourism Association gave Arthur an award for his lifelong services to tourism. Just think how many people he and Jan have made happy…

Arthur Watson with his award

Arthur Watson

Congratulations to them both, and to their team!

You can read a pdf of the Golden Jubilee Riverside Times, and see lots of great pictures, (including – and this is important – some of Jan!), by clicking on this link.

Brian, Elliott and Gloria Dodge, of The Market House, Bridport, with Palmers Head Brewer Darren Batten

DAVID Graham of On In Bridders – whose purpose is to support, develop, and promote Bridport’s social scene - has written a very thoughtful and observant account of his preview tour of The Market House in West Street.

“Very impressed,” is his overall verdict, although he notes there’s no Wi-Fi, a detail which actually serves to reinforce his overall theme of how people’s expectations of pubs have changed because of factors like the rise of Wetherspoons, and the smoking ban.

He also comments on the apparent removal of disco lighting. He’s got a sharp eye, Mr Graham! You can read all of what he has to say by clicking on this link here.

He’s also put up lots of photographs which you can see by clicking on this link here. 

The Market House opens on Wednesday, March 10, in West Street, Bridport.

The Market House, Bridport: "The sort of place that I would take my Mother for lunch."

PURELY in the interests of informing the readers of this site what-is-what, I managed to bluff my way through the security cordons and gain admittance to the new Market House pub in Bridport this morning.

I must have been in luck because I not only did I get in, but I managed to down a pint before the mounted police arrived. So, all-in-all a fairly successful outing around the town.

Now, whatever you might be expecting from the successor to the Royal Oak, you would be wrong: it is much better than I, or you, would have dreamed possible. In fact I shall go back, even when I can’t blag myself one on the house and that is saying something when it comes from the town’s premier soak, bore and general down-at-heel undesirable.

In fact it is the sort of place that I would take my Mother for lunch and that is saying something since the old girl usually forgets her teeth along with her cheque book, so I normally end up getting stumped for the whole lot.

The décor is attractive and yet strangely unobtrusive, I might say if I were writing for some poncey colour supplement, but I’m not, so I’ll just tell you that it looks pretty good on the inside. In fact it looks better in there than it does from the outside when you’ve got your nose pressed up against the windows trying to sneak a peep.

The prices are surprising as well: pretty much in line with what others charge - and a good deal less than a fair few – for the wallop, and the grub looks to be pretty much in-line with other nosh houses that don’t exactly stick their fodder in a trough and supply you with a sheet of newspaper to eat off.

It opens on Wednesday and I shall be stepping in there at some time for a drop of IPA, so don’t forget to greet me with the traditional line: “You are The Red Bladder, what are you having?”

Editor’s Note: The Red Bladder was attending an event organised for Palmers Brewery by Watershed PR, which company is run by the wife of the editor of this site. I have made some minor changes to punctuation, but otherwise the Red Bladder’s words and opinions are entirely his own (as they always are).

I had another reason too. One of the most under-reported aspects of West Dorset’s economic and cultural life is the number of people who regularly head out from its small towns and villages to work much further afield. It’s a factor that’s had a significant effect on the housing market of West Dorset – and, behind the scenes, on policies affecting the building of new housing. So, I was curious to hear an unvarnished account of how someone came to live in West Dorset but work across the world. And this (lightly edited) is what Mr Harrap wrote…

Tim Harrap

JONATHAN HUDSTON at Real West Dorset has been following me on Twitter and he challenged me to explain my biographical comment: “Nomad in the cheese industry”! Fair enough, such cryptic devices do need teasing out at times.

Wikipedia thankfully defines three types of nomads, the last being: “Peripatetic nomads, who offer the skills of a craft or trade to those they travel among… [they are] most common in industrialized nations.” That will satisfy our needs during the following.

In the 1970s I left school only to find the oil crisis of 1973-74 making life in the UK uninspiring. So, I took off around the world, travelling for eight years, working in oil and mineral exploration in Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe. This was my introduction to a nomadic lifestyle, and I wasn’t the only one; there were and still are plenty of folk moving around the planet for work.

For a brief time I found myself milking cows on a kibbutz in Israel, the milk going to the local cheese factory. Little did I know such a seed of an experience would return to flower later in life!

After undertaking a course at the University of East Anglia in Development Studies, (an academic version of nomadism if ever there was one!), and doing a post-graduate research degree on farm forestry, it was time to settle the “yurt” in one place with a wife and young family.

Sadly the recession of 1990-91 hit hard and work was difficult to find. My partner and I decided to up sticks, “retire” to Dorset and allow fate to take its course.

Tim Harrap was an early West Dorset adopter of the internet

Fortunately, after a couple of false starts, I was offered a job at the Ashley Chase Estate cheese house. Mike Harp, the cheesemaker, and Cedric Littman, the owner, managed the farmhouse-cheesemaking at Park Farm in the Bride Valley: quite an idyllic spot as anyone who knows this area of West Dorset will know.

Having established sales of farmhouse cheese in the area, there was at that time no opportunity for me to expand operations further as the business was already committed to working with wholesalers on the national market… but there was perhaps exporting. This was 1995: the Littmans understood the importance of computers to the business and we had the opportunity to go off to see this newfangled internet stuff with the launch of Tim Snape’s West Dorset Internet service in Abbotsbury. We immediately got Ashley Chase up on the internet and waited for things to happen!

It’s the same for everyone isn’t it, surrounding fate – it’s all down to people.

One day James Hamriding the West Dorset District Council (WDDC) Economic Development Officer called into the farm office and the word “export” was mentioned. James suggested that as WDDC was supporting businesses to develop export activity we should look at the upcoming Europartenariat in Lisbon. These EU sponsored “B2B” events were then taking place across Europe twice a year. In for a penny in for a pound – well £150 all in! – I took off to Lisbon.

As a self-certified “nomad,” travelling to Lisbon would be a doddle, I thought. But what a wake-up call. A learning curve like no other – there were 3000 business people at the event from across Europe all keen to make connections – the energy and buzz was quite overwhelming and addictive. Whilst “old school” business mentality had expectations of only selling product and services, EU expectations were for a deeper cooperation to develop between businesses and nations. It certainly was a constructive environment at the outset of the internet age.

The scope to really undertake cheese exports at that time was still in its infancy for a small farmhouse producer (not now by the way), and I moved on to Dorset Cereals who were conquering the world with their fabulous breakfast cereals. Terry Crabb, the founder of the business, kindly gave me the freedom to research and implement an extension to their 24 overseas markets. In three years we managed to open 12 additional markets, taking the cereals to Japan, Canada and Israel to name but a few. Having picked up two consecutive Cereal Exporter of the Year awards in 1997-8 from the Government’s Food from Britain organization and the Queen’s Award for Exports in 1999, I was offered a new role back in the dairy industry with North Downs Dairy – better known through its brand Pilgrims Choice.

Tasting Cheddar in the Middle East

So, since 1999, I have been travelling the world extolling the virtues of British cheese and making sure that people know that cheddar originated from the West Country! We have clients in over 40 countries on five continents and with an exporting business you have to travel and visit the clients and their markets – you learn so much more that way. As well as visiting clients I get to attend many food fairs around the world and meet up with the familiar faces of other “peripatetic nomads” in our industry.

The first part of this journey started in the 70s with one recession, developed further with the 90s recession and now we’re in the depths of a new phase of economic upheaval and one hopes that my knowledge and experience will now lead on to further endeavours on the road.

I suppose it’s true these days that there might be girls and women who genuinely prefer pasta or even rice or cous-cous… and I can think of men who don’t mind eating these potato-substitutes (sometimes), but their inner Homer Simpson soon goes back to craving spuds.

They are irresistible and fascinating, hence:

And it’s just before Valentine’s Day…

One of the organisers is Brian Hesketh, who’s expecting Drimpton’s third annual potato day to be busy: “We have been quite surprised how well supported it was on the first two occasions, it seems to be meeting a need.”

Mr Hesketh has his own gardening blog covering the Dorset / Somerset borderlands near Drimpton (click here to link). “As gardeners,” he writes, in a philosophical moment, “we are amongst the stewards of Nature’s Life Support Systems, offering up not just tasty lunch time snacks, but also practical examples of sustainable methods, environmental awareness and harmonious living with nature.”

He publishes lots of appealing photographs, including this, an orb-like turnip amidst diamonds of ice: 

“Much easier to dig up than parsnips,” comments Mr Hesketh, as proved by this picture:

Which made me think of a fabulous essay by John  Carey, called “Vegetable Gardening” in Original Copy (Faber, 1987). He writes about how “it’s an immense and exacting pleasure to grow” parsnips, and continues:

“Come the summer, you pull out all but one of the seedlings from each cluster – pale gold pencils, with feathery tops, which it always gives you a pang to throw on a compost heap, though there’s nothing else to be done with them.

“Then, as the winter approaches, the great spreading leaves of the survivors rot and yellow, and the parsnips withdraw into their subterraranean existence until, some time after Christmas, the time comes to crack the frosty crust over them and lug them out gross, whiskered and reeking, from their lairs.”

Isn’t that fantastic? Especially the last bit. If there’s a better passage ever been written about parsnips, I’ve yet to read it!

One final thing I would love to know if anyone has the answer: Why do parsnips sold dirty taste better than ones sold clean?

Unfolded waves of hessian shows beans like cowrie shells

A PILE of hessian sacks filled with raw coffee beans are stacked up on a wooden crate in the corner, while a traditional roasting machine churns its first load of coffee of the day, and the bitter-sweet aroma of freshly-roasted coffee fills the air. 

I almost expect a rugged explorer to come climbing out of a plantation, with a glowing jar of nature’s brightest protruding from his backpack.

Giles Dick-Read. The Read family name can be traced back generations through Reads Flour Millers, of Norwich

Instead I find myself looking on as coffee connoisseur and founder of Reads Coffee, Giles Dick-Read, moves deftly around a converted milking parlour close to his rural home.    

Giles and his wife Charlotte operate their roast-to-order business from their home at Limekiln Farm, just outside of Sherborne. So how did a quintessentially English couple bring a taste of the exotic to the Dorset countryside, and why?

Having set up shop in Oxfordshire eight years ago, the couple, who hail from Buckinghamshire, moved down to Dorset nearly five years ago to be nearer their families.

Charlotte and Giles pause for a chat. A typical working day lasts for ten hours, roasting, bagging, installing machines in cafes, making deliveries... At weekends, they visit farmers' markets or events within a 40-mile radius of Sherborne

Giles said: “What we like about Dorset the most is that there are lots of ‘foodie’ people here – so many are extremely enthusiastic about eating and drinking great produce.”

During a trip around America and Canada in the early 1990s, just as Starbucks was exploding across the USA, and on his return to the UK Giles found himself frustrated: he could not find a decent coffee anywhere.  

A discussion with the doctor about the side effects of caffeine convinced him that good quality Arabica coffee offered a healthier choice, as opposed to the cheaper Robusta coffees, which often have a far higher caffeine content.

So, as his quest for the perfect coffee began, he worked for various coffee operators, including Whittards, before joining Pret A Manger as its coffee man, where he stayed for several years developing the company’s coffee trade.

“I have done a lot of work with cafes, training baristas and educating operators about the mechanics of coffee making – choosing the right coffee, getting the best from their machines, and perfecting how coffee should be prepared.

Records are kept of every coffee roasted

“Great coffee can be a work of art – it is really very simple, but to do it well takes a lot of practice and experience. The skill lies in how it is prepared.  People often say that Italy has the best coffee. The reality is that the Italians really just know how to serve it properly.”

"Great coffee can be a work of art..."

So this is what their business offers: Roast-to-order single estate Arabica coffees, advice for users about coffee-making equipment, personal delivery services, and training about how to perfect the art of making a great cup of coffee.

While working at Pret, Giles met coffee roasters and brokers from around the world, learning first hand from them about sourcing coffee beans by working closely with brokers, to ensure quality and traceability right back to the plantation. 

Coffee is sourced from South America, the Caribbean, Africa, India and Indonesia

Now the company works not only with established coffee house Tomtom Coffee House in London, but also supplies local outlets such as Sabin’s deli in Sherborne, Bramble and Sage in Sutton Montis, Storm in Bournemouth, and other outlets in Oxfordshire and Berkshire including the Wellington Farm Shop at Stratfield Saye.

He was in luck – a contact was selling a roaster. “We found a small roaster which seemed ideal, either as a hobby or as a business venture.”

After meeting Fergus Dowding the couple were convinced to take along some of their roasts to farmers’ markets in Somerset and Dorset.

Charlotte said: “The farmers’ markets were really our start in Dorset, and then everything we went along to seemed to have a snowball effect.”

Giles added: “We would like to grow the business in a manageable way; we are not trying to get large overnight. We try to work with people who are passionate about coffee – they grind beans freshly on the premises and are more interested in quality than cheap beans.”

As he used the cafetiere to froth warm milk, Giles explained about his latest invention which ensures that he can assess the standards he sets for his coffee never fall, from far or near.

Working with a Frome-based engineer, he has developed a Telemetry system, which monitors the coffee machines installed in cafes to make sure they are working properly.

If they are running incorrectly, have a fault or even haven’t been cleaned properly, the system can alert the owners via text or email.

His passion for machines does not end there – he owns several old cars, three motorbikes and four lawnmowers. “I Have an automotive background, and if I wasn’t coffee roasting, that is where I would be.”

The elephant is an Indian motif

To ensure that nothing is left to waste Charlotte has also come up with a crafty idea to reuse the hessian sacks – she has worked with a friend to turn them into cushions and other useful items, which now adorn their home.

It seems that the possibilities are endless for this unique business. When I asked them about the possibility of an in-situ café in one of the farm’s outbuildings, or a coffee training school, both were regarded as very possible development. Click here to link to the Reads Coffee website.

Palmers Brewery has offered the village’s SOS campaign group five years rent-free tenancy to help make the venture more viable to begin with.

SOS members have asked a consultant to prepare a business case, and Toller Porcorum Parish Council has applied to West Dorset District Council for a grant of £3,000 towards the costs of the consultant’s labours.

There is a precedent for what might happen at Toller. The New Inn at Shipton Gorge was shut for several months, then leased to villagers by Palmers. It reopened in August 2006 and – as you can see from its website – it is an important part of local life.

Thoughts about stripping-out and strippers

The New Inn was extensively stripped-out inside, remodelled and redecorated. A lot of work was done for nothing (and the fun of it!) by villagers.

One of the problems with re-opening The Old Swan might be that it has been shut for so much longer and so might require much more work.

It is difficult to remember what it was like inside. It worked best as a pub (in my experience) in the days when it was run by an oldish chap called Ben Pick, whose preferred way of life simply seemed to be running a basic country pub. It didn’t seem to bother him greatly if he didn’t have lots of customers; he would just do what had to be done to keep the place ticking over.

I used to walk over there in the morning, spend the lunchtime session drinking beer and eating crisps, then get the bus home again and stare with dreamy contentment out of the window as it bobbed up to Mount Pleasant then down past Wytherstone…

After Mr Pick retired, there were some unsuccessful/unsuitable landlords. I can’t remember how many.

There was one man who may been from the West Midlands (Wolverhampton or Dudley way? or was it actually Yorkshire?) who put strippers on at least once.

I’m pretty sure he did, because I remember speculating about who on earth would go along. I don’t think many people did. It was a bad idea. Toller Porcorum has never appreciated that kind of thing.

I remember John Slater, when he was news editor of the Bridport News about 15 years ago, telling me a story about a fete he’d covered in Toller in the 1970s or early 1980s. One of the fete organisers thought it might be a good idea to solicit some goods for auction from Fiona Richmond, the glamour model and actress who was the daughter of a Toller Porcorum vicar. Ms Richmond sent a pair of knickers. But no one bid for them, as no one dared to be seen doing so… John Slater said the whole affair was farcically, scandalously, funny.

THE late Gerard Morgan-Grenville lived at Milton Mill in West Milton near Bridport.

He was a charming and fascinating man who had an enviably vivid career in many different areas; the military, kitchenware, French barge holidays, luxury train journeys, Saharan treks, and – for a while – book publishing. In the days when I too used to publish books, I helped to edit his memoirs called Breaking Free.

That title gives a clue to another side of Gerard’s character. He was a very successful businessman, but also a radical and pioneering environmentalist. He founded the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, and was active in the Protest and Survive anti-nuclear movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Locally, after he moved to West Milton in the mid-1990s, he was – among many other things – a founder member of the West Milton Cider Club, one of the most generous supporters of the Centre for Local Food in Bridport, and a campaigner against second homes. I remember him writing about the latter to Country Life, which certainly counts as taking the fight to the enemy’s heartland (if enemy you judge second home owners to be).  

Anyway, on BBC Wales tonight at 10.45pm, Gerard’s life and work is covered in a half-hour programme called How Green Was My Quarry. If you’ve got Sky, you can get BBC Wales on 972.

I have not seen the programme, but according to his widow Margaret it features archive film footage from nearly all parts of Gerard’s life, and Margaret also discloses rather shyly that it may even include excerpts from a recently filmed interview with her.

To quote, finally, the BBC’s own blurb: “David Williams goes on the trail of the late Gerard Morgan-Grenville, founder of the Centre for Alternative Technology near Machynlleth, in How Green Was My Quarry on Wednesday 16 December on BBC One Wales.

“The English aristocrat was a highly successful businessman who turned his back on high society to start a green revolution in an old slate quarry in North Wales.”

David Williams and Gerard first met many years ago in the aftermath of the mysterious death of the CND campaigner Hilda Murrell.

Note: You can read Gerard’s obituary in The Guardian – and it has a picture of him – by clicking on this link.

The Wild Garlic scored near-perfect marks in the Pro vs Punter section of the influential monthly food magazine Olive, published by the BBC.

Mr Follas’s overall mark of 56 out of a possible 60 beat well-known names such as Richard Corrigan, whose Mayfair restaurant in London scored 48 points, and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Canteen near Axminster, which scored 44.

Olive’s professional critic was Gregg Wallace, a judge on the BBC’s MasterChef competition. He was (unsurprisingly) recognised by Mr Follas and his staff, but the former greengrocer turned cookery writer did not let on as to why he was really there.

In the December issue of Olive, he gets off to a bad start by calling Beaminster a “village” but he clearly knows what he’s talking about when it comes to eating out: “Service is very friendly, as befits a busy neighbourhood restaurant. It has the feeling of a friend’s extended dining room. Staff know their menu, and seem to be enjoying themselves every bit as much as the customers.

“There is something really quite refreshing about being served by people with constant grins on their faces – you can’t fake this sort of enthusiasm.”

His overall verdict: “The Wild Garlic is buzzy and busy, a fun place serving good, honest food.

“The wine list is full of real bargains, too. The food, although well prepared, could be a little smarter. If this was MasterChef I’d say Mat needs to work on his presentation.”

MasterChef winner Mat Follas (left) with judge Gregg Wallace

The second critic, the punter, was Dorset food-lover Jane Colston, who normally eats out once a week, and whose guilty pleasure is Honeybuns’ cakes (made in Holwell near Sherborne). She gives the Beaminster restaurant top marks for food, atmosphere and service.

She wrote: “We left feeling like old friends and valued customers. The Wild Garlic is a comfortable, welcoming and informal place to meet friends and enjoy well cooked, beautifully presented food at very fair prices.”

Mr Follas, who only took up professional cooking when he opened the restaurant six months ago, said he was overwhelmed by the praise.

He went on: “I really had no idea that Gregg was down to do a review, I thought he was visiting just to see how one of the former MasterChef guys was getting along.

“He really never let on. But what can you say? It’s very flattering to get such high scores that you beat some incredible restaurants.

“The great thing is we took a gamble and went for the food I believed in, which is good honest local rustic food. It sounds like a bit of a cliché but it just happens to be the truth.

“And we really didn’t want to go down the full silver service route. We wanted good service but we wanted it in a relaxed atmosphere and I think people enjoy that more.”

The Wild Garlic is based in the old building in the north-west corner of Beaminster Square that used to house Pickwick’s and The Black Cat. It was standing empty before Mr Follas took it over and transformed its fortunes. Beaminster is now gaining more national publicity.

The Olive review comes just weeks after The Guardian’s restaurant critic Matthew Norman awarded the eatery 9.5 out of 10.

He wrote in his Saturday magazine column: “All in all, this was one of the most pleasing meals I’ve eaten in years, served with warmth and expertise by a dramatically moustachioed waiter… Follas is an exceedingly rare talent.

“Nothing the programme could ever accomplish could compensate for unleashing Loyd Grossman on this island but MasterChef should be very proud of itself indeed.”

Notes: 

Gregg Wallace’s meal

Starter: Brill and mackerel ceviche with accompanying salad of wild herbs. “The fish was fresh with a nice lemon-citrus tang, although I would have preferred it sliced a little thinner…[the salad] was great – a different taste sensation in every mouthful.”
Main: Sika venison with a rowan and blackberry sauce and smoked mash potato. “[The venison was] well cooked…[rowan and blackberry sauce] delicious…[smoked mashed potato] splendidly original… chunky pieces of carrot and courgette… could easily have been made to look more refined.”
Pudding: Four sticky sweet puddings. “Rich with quality chocolate…a gooey, messy delight…a seriously indulgent mess of cream and berries was also irresistible.”
The bill for four people, including a bottle of Champagne (£40), three bottles of wine (£122), four brandies, and service, came to £295.
Overall mark: 26/30

Jane Colston’s meal

Starter: Goat’s cheese salad. “Prettiest, most flavour packed salad I have ever tasted.”
Main: Fennel, thyme and vine tomato gratin. “Delicious.”
Pudding: Orange and almond cake. “Squidgy and packed with flavour.”
The bill for two people, including two coffees and a bottle of wine, came to £63.
Overall mark: 30/30.

Matthew Norman’s meal

Starter: Pan-fried garlic scallops. “Three plump beauties… the pricing of both food and wine is without chutzpah… came alluringly browned, and with absurdly delicious miso-infused seaweed.”
Main: Sika venison with a rowan and blackberry sauce and smoked mash potato. “[The venison was] sensationally tender and flavoursome…[the mash] fluffy, creamy potato suffused with a hickory, mesquitish twang.”
Pudding: Fresh berry mess. “Magnificent.”
Overall mark: 9.5/10

I still haven’t tried biting into one of the onions raw. Maybe I will later. I think it’s the kind of sport that needs an audience, to see what kind of face gets pulled – yummed or yukked…   

I REMEMBER the first time I ever saw an onion Johnnie.

I had no idea what he could possibly be doing. He was stood against an old bike in Beaminster Square, wearing French workman’s blue and a beret, and smoking a cigarette. From the handlebars of his machine hung strings of onions and bulbs of garlic. He looked bored.

Naturally, I went over to talk to him. I can’t recall now exactly what he said – it was about 16 years ago – but the gist of it was that he’d come over from Roscoff in France and was going around towns in the south of England selling his vegetables. What a way to make a living, I thought, and I bought some garlic and some onions.

I didn’t expect much of them, but they were the best garlic and the best onions I’d ever had. I saw him again the year after, and again about three years after that, but then – “Rien…” I assumed it was one of those old traditions that simply died out.

About 80 years ago, more than 1500 Johnnies de Roscoff (little Johns) used to trudge around the streets of England, Wales and Scotland. It was foolish to expect that kind of trade to continue into the 21st century…

But now they’re back! Alas, alas, I missed seeing them, and I think they came in a van, but two of them definitely just stopped by at Washingpool Farm Shop near Bridport, and their onions, shallots, and garlic are now on sale there (pictured).

An accompanying leaflet – translated from the French – reads:

“The traditional presentation, in plaited strings, of the pink onion from Roscoff is another of its enhancing particularities. Tying up the neck of the onion stops the entry of air and thus allows it to stay fresh for six months. The string weighing around 1 or 2 kilogrammes is plaited by hand, onion after onion, around a central rush stem.”

Alan Holland, of Washingpool Farm, says the Johnnies get a better price in England than in France for their produce. And, Mr Holland adds, he can’t buy onions grown in England as good as theirs. Shallots neither. Nor garlic.

“I like French garlic,” he says. “English garlic is very unreliable, although it’s getting better. I don’t get involved with Chinese garlic, there’s not the quality, and there’s the environmental side of it, it comes a long way.”

French sailors used to eat raw pink Roscoff onions for weeks if not months on end.

Mr Holland chooses not to bite into them like apples.

“But you can try it though,” he says with a smile.

I haven’t yet…