Cultural Deelights
FIONA WHITTY gets an appetite for a city full of foodie delights and engaging pastimes on a visit to Chester
YOU’RE never a tourist in your hometown so many locals have no idea how good this road is,” mused Chester guide Gareth Boyd.
Gareth was kicking off a family foodie walking tour on Brook Street – once a humdrum cut-through, now a blossoming hub for indie entrepreneurs like Wojciech and Katy who run Pierogi, named after the dumplings they create.
A cross between ravioli and gyoza, the handmade Polish staples consist of small rounds of dough filled with a variety of sweet or savoury fillings.
Our favourite contained spinach, garlic and curd cheese. We were soon to discover that this historic city, nestled in the river Dee, a stone’s throw from both Liverpool and the Welsh border, is teeming with plenty more inventive restaurants.
At new ‘all-natural’ eatery Native we tried roasted squash and almond labneh – a soft cheese made from yogurt – deliciously light hash browns and sourdough toast with clarified beetroot butter, a hit with my teens Rosie, 16, and Freddie, 13.
Low intervention wine, a seaweed-based soft drink and another which reused espresso granules emphasised its sustainability ethos.
Next stop was popular local store The Cheese Shop to try cloth-bound Crabtree Cheshire and the creamy Burt’s Blue, served on the Orient Express no less, accompanied by honey-packed mead.
Trips to Roly’s Fudge and the Market Hall followed, the latter providing crab rarebit, boneless sardines and mussels from the Sandbar Seafood Shack and French-style cakes from Pastry Pédaleur.
By the time we reached patisserie Sweet Elements we were loosening our belts to squeeze in Cordon Bleu-trained Faye’s pristinely presented creations, including a mousse-filled chocolate, raspberry and
caramel vegan cake and carrot cake dipped in chocolate.
Gareth’s tasty tour gave us a fabulous and fun insight into Chester’s foodie scene (tours from £60pp, toursaroundchester.co.uk).
We recovered at our self-contained two-bedroom apartment at the Townhouse Chester, an independent hotel placed within Chester’s city walls – the oldest, longest and most complete in Britain.
With a small kitchen, two bathrooms, comfy lounge, artworks inspired by ancient Rome and its own private entrance, it was a perfect family chill-out zone with the added benefit of having hotel amenities – like the Townhouse’s new Secret Garden covered terrace – onsite.
Just down the road was the brand-new Sick To Death, a gory but entertaining attraction looking at medicine through the ages. (£6 adult, £3.50 child, sicktodeath.org).
Fabulous food became a theme of our break
Created inside an old church for extra macabre, it was packed with fun hands-on activities like a poo pod – Freddie’s favourite bit – where you can sit on a loo, listening to the habits of our ancestors.
We also took a self-guided Discover The Rows tour of Chester’s famous terraced shopping arcades with their distinctive first-floor open walkways – the only ones in the world (visitcheshire.com/chester).
Over at the Storyhouse – a cultural centre with theatre, library and cinema – we feasted on hearty flatbreads packed with Lebanese chicken or shredded chilli and date glazed beef at The Kitchen restaurant (storyhouse.com).
To experience Chester at a different pace we joined paddlesports expert Jamie Greenhalgh for a kayak along the River Dee, past the city walls and waterside mansions.
Jamie provided wetsuits and kayaks – cleverly inflated on the spot – and our late-afternoon two-hour kayak under autumn sunshine transported us a world away from the busy city (from £22pp, deeriverkayaking.com).
Chester’s certainly postcardpretty, so it seemed fitting to let Rosie and Freddie loose on a special photography workshop for teens, part of the new Chester Designed By Nature arts campaign aimed at encouraging the community to embrace the natural world.
Local photographer Sam Ryley took them on a walk to show them how best to use light, reflections and camera angles. Their close-ups of intricate leaves, shadow-hewn puddles and moody poses were impressive (for events see visitcheshire.com/chester).
The city is well placed to explore a range of nearby attractions. We ventured to the huge Cheshire Oaks designer outlet village where we navigated exotic markets and abandoned shipwrecks at Paradise Island Adventure Golf (£8.50 adult, £6.50 child, paradiseislandgolf. com).
We were also handy for Jodrell
Bank, home of the 250ft diameter Lovell Telescope which was once the world’s largest and still plays a key role in understanding space (£8.50 adult, £6.50 child, jodrellbank.net).
And a fantastic afternoon was had at Carden Park, a luxury country estate hotel packed with things to do.
The hotel has recently launched an aerial adventure course called
Vertigo. Rosie and Freddie bravely battled two tiers of terrifying obstacles up to 33ft high, including bridges, barrels and nets, ending with a 689ft-dual zip wire (from £40 adult, £30 child, cardenpark.co.uk).
While there we all tried laser clay shooting, where you fire at plastic discs with a laser gun. It’s a safe form of clay pigeon shooting and eliminates the hard recoil you’d normally get, so it’s perfect for children – and just as much fun (from £35 adult, £25 child).
Back in Chester we took a guided tour of the cathedral’s bell tower, up the stairs that Benedictine monks used to climb as early as 1092, and beyond for rewarding views over the Welsh Hills, Shropshire and Liverpool.
Our guide Matt told us how the historic Curfew Bell we passed used to chime at 9pm every evening to warn city folk the gates were about to shut – and the Welsh to get out as it was lawful to shoot them with a crossbow at night (£10 adult, £7.50 child, chestercathedral.com).
Fabulous food became a theme of our break. We loved the hustle and bustle of the newly opened yet already hugely popular Artezzan, a restaurant championing modern Mediterranean food.
Starters such as skillet-cooked king prawns with chilli and Spanish meatballs set the scene perfectly while mains of seared tuna, seafood and carbonara spaghetti dishes and spiced Moroccan lamb shank really hit the spot. The open kitchen created a sense of theatre (artezzan.com).
At Stile Napoletano we tried chef Giacomo Guido’s traditional pizzas with toppings such as San Marzano tomatoes and anchovies from Amalfi as well as Cheshire Blue cheese.
I particularly liked the awardwinning Parmigiana with aubergine and parmesan, while the kids loved the Straccetti dessert – deepfried pizza balls served with Nutella (stilenapoletanopizzeria.co.uk).
At quirky hotel Oddfellows we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon tea in their conservatory, affectionately nicknamed the padded cell because of its quilted wall.
As well as the traditional finger sandwiches and sweet treats, you can opt for a savoury version too with a sausage roll, cheese, charcuterie and other snacks – all served in a trendy hodge-podge of different china (oddfellowschester.com).
Yet more foodie heaven in Chester.