They still do things right on the Isle of Man, apparently. Intensive farming? No. Chemically enhanced beer? No. In fact, they have some very stringent beer brewing purity laws on the Isle of Man that are even stricter than the German law, in my opinion.
Artificially enhanced cheese production? No.
Now, here we come to the nub of this review. Isle of Man mature cheddar cheese. We were lucky enough to find ourselves at the press launch day of the Isle of Man Marketing Partnership at the BBC Good Food Show. By the way, if you read this before the end of Saturday 27 November, DO try to get to the BBC Food Show. It really is a gourmet's day out!
One of the many items on the well-designed and well-laid out stand was Isle of Man Mature Cheddar.
How to describe Isle of Man Mature Cheddar? It is not as easy as it sounds. It has a good ...
Advantages: Good value if you travel overnight Disadvantages: Expensive if you don't
I live on the Isle of Man so if I want to get on and off the Island with my car the Steam Packet is my only choice.
In general their service is pretty good and fairly punctual. Considering the prevailing weather and sea conditions in the Irish Sea they keep pretty close to the timetable most of the time.
The Ben My Chree (which means "Girl of my Heart" in Manx)is a small ferry if you are used to cross Channel ferries. It runs from Douglas to Heysham near Lancaster. (There is also a service to Liverpool which runs by fast Sea Cat (catamaran) in the Summer and by another conventional ferry (The Lady of Man) in the winter. The Ben My Chree has a reasonable bar and cafe service but, apart from the 'quiet lounge' the seating is pretty uncomfortable and cafeteria style. Visitors are often surprised by the Manx 'old hands' who sleep ...
Advantages: Nearby, cheap beer, impressive history, beautiful scenery and villages. Disadvantages: Not for everyone. Entertain yourself, gets tired after a while.
Basing your opinion of the Isle of Man upon what you've seen of it from the infamous Fast Show sketches would quite probably be the worst thing you could do. Not only are the sketches utterly unfunny and devoid of humour of any kind, they are an insult to the Manx people and have a basis built on sand. Manx sand, at that.
I jest. The sketches featuring the middle-aged husband and wife from the Isle of Man, holidaying abroad (see: a very wet field in Yorkshire) and loving every moment of it, are at the very least a little wide of the mark. In general, the principle behind the sketches has some basis - the people of the island can come across as somewhat insular and self-reliant. But in many other ways, this small island is one of the hidden gems of the British Isles that many, in the sweeping popularity of package holidays to Spain ...
