One of the persistent themes of this column over the years has been food.
The fact is that, as well as being something we all care about, food (from farm to customer) is also an extremely important ingredient of West Dorset’s economy.
As I have pointed out in previous columns, we have a quite remarkable collection of local cheeses, meats, biscuits, cereals and many other products, as well as a splendid collection of chefs, restaurants, food shops and farmers’ markets.
But there is, of course, nothing more fundamental than bread. So any proper account of the local food of West Dorset has to include a mention of our local bread. I came across a most splendid and delicious example of real local baking just a few days ago. For those who do not know it already, the Town Mill Bakery at Lyme Regis is very well worth a visit.
This is the real McCoy. The breads are baked with love rather than being turned off a production line – and their tastes and textures are as good as anything anywhere. But what makes this example of local food so interesting is that it is, at one and the same time, so old-fashioned and so modern.
Real bread baked by bakers who really know their trade and really care what it looks and feels and tastes like is nearly as old as the hills. But it is also something more and more in vogue as increasing numbers of people flee from mass produced, standardised loaves.
The exciting thing is that the Town Mill is far from being a one-off item. Its proprietor has large ambitions.
There are already others in West Dorset, and there are planned to be many other true, local bakeries established in many other places – each making the real thing with real understanding and skill, and each reflecting the traditions of the place in which it is established.
What is more, these ambitions stretch to solving the biggest problem: finding enough really skilled master-bakers.
To achieve this further goal, an academy of baking is planned. I think there is every chance that this could become one of the best known features of West Dorset. It could be the source of better baking through the length and breadth of the country.
What all of this illustrates is that, as we move towards a more balanced and sustainable economy, we won’t just need (even though we certainly will need) a new generation of high-tech clusters developing new manufacturing from the cleverest ideas of our universities. If we succeed, the future will also contain a return to some of the best of the past – for example, with proper bread being baked by proper bakers in local bakeries for local people who know something good and nourishing when they see it, and want to eat it.