GREAT break Beauty and the FEAST
delicious designer cottage that sleeps five on the site of a former apple barn.
Apple House costs from £438 for two nights. See mulberrycottages.com.
Pie parade Foodie capital Melton Mowbray
Slap bang in the centre of England, Melton Mowbray has a regular street market, farmers’ market, cattle and livestock markets and Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe in the town centre.
The Leicestershire town, and adjacent Vale of Belvoir, are famous for pies and stilton cheese, both of which are celebrated in the Melton Mowbray Food Festival from October 6-7. Four of the officially recognised stilton dairies are in the Vale of Belvoir itself, where Colston Bassett and Cropwell Bishop have shops. For details of the festival, see goleicestershire.com/events. STAY: The family-run, 30 bedroom Sysonby Knoll hotel is just outside Melton Mowbray, in a handsome manor house. Doubles with breakfast cost from £99. See sysonby.com.
Aw shucks Cornish oyster party
The only remaining oyster fishery in the UK that still uses sailing boats, Falmouth’s end of season Oyster Festival is a serious seafood celebration.
And from October 11-14, 45,000 visitors will scoff 20,000 oysters. The event opens with the Oyster Man leading a parade of schoolchildren and includes a packed programme of seafood demonstrations from talented chefs. The party continues into the evening with live music, from soul to 1970s hits. There are craft and food markets and an oyster shucking championship, where competitors furiously crack open shells. Expect various working-boat races out in the harbour, including oyster-dredging boats. See falmouthoysterfestival.co.uk. STAY: Falmouth itself will be busy, so a good alternative is to stay on the other side of the Fal creek in pretty St Mawes, and use the regular foot ferry to get across. There are a load of cottage options, including the converted sail loft, which is now The Studio. It sleeps four and costs from £370 for seven nights. See classic.co.uk.