Yesterday I had an appointment in the south east corner of Dorset, on the border with my county of Hampshire, and I found myself just a couple of miles away from the New Forest where I lived when I was very young.

Driving back through the New Forest I stopped at a couple of places to pick up some local provisions; bread & free range eggs from a farm shop in Sopley and New Forest Cider from Burley.

I had a few tankards of New Forest scrumpy cider last night. Their dry scrumpy is really nice and I've also got a gallon of medium and a gallon of Vintage Kingston Dry, made only from Kingston Black apples. The New Forest Cider shop in Burley is well worth a visit and the surroundings are idyllic for those of you who want to have a snapshot of traditional farm life a century ago.

Just had a round of toast from the bread I brought in Sopley and now I'm going to have a fried egg sandwhich for a late breakfast. It's so much nicer when you buy local produce even if you are popping out of town.