VIEWPOINT I

love a mini break and yet, for one reason or another, I never get around to organising them, especially now my travelling party also includes two smallish child-shaped packages named Max and Georgie, aged six and three. But this Coronation-fuelled May, I embarked on a trio of trips with the Mead tribe in tow across England and Wales – Scotland was last year – and tried my best to stay true to the kind of places we cover within these pages, but which describe themselves as ‘family friendly’. And the results have been mixed. On the one hand, we’ve had places – Lancashire’s Northcote, I’m talking to you – that have gone above and beyond when it comes to welcoming and actively encouraging my kids to take an interest in food, provenance and how it goes from turf to table (with the useful teaching aid of a kitchen garden). And such is their desire not to write-off an entire chunk of their target audience once they produce offspring, they actually made it an enjoyable experience to have a multi-course menu with small people at the table – occupied by their own ‘tasting course’ that included a lot of fruit, hot cheese rolls and chicken worthy of a space on the taster. The clientele also played a role; not once did we notice a disapproving gaze for having kids at our table. And yet, on several occasions, Mead mini breaks have also led us down a path where the attitude seemed to be that your days of good food are over until your children are entirely selfsufficient. I’m not saying anybody wants to sit through a ten-course, three-hour taster while trying to keep three-year-olds occupied, but in an age when every cover counts, shouldn’t the ever-growing number of ‘starred’ establishments be making it less rigid and more accessible? The kids are, after all, future customers, so it makes sense to get them in early, and parents’ ££s are worth the same as anyone’s. On an entirely different note, this month our Reader Awards are back, so turn to p36 now and get nominating!

ʻSOME PLACES GO ABOVE AND BEYOND WHEN IT COMES TO ACTIVELY ENCOURAGING KIDS TO TAKE AN INTEREST IN FOOD, PROVENANCE AND HOW IT GOES FROM TURF TO TABLE, BUT NOT ALL… SHOULDNʼT WE BE MAKING FINE DINING MORE ACCESSIBLE?ʼ