A new brochure has been published which offers visitors the chance to experience a Wye Valley & Vale of Usk short break with a difference.
Each of the nine short breaks in the new brochure focuses on the area’s reputation for quality food and drink and offers visitors an opportunity to visit food producers and to eat out at some of the area’s best eating places.
Participating tourism businesses were encouraged to think ‘outside of the box’ when designing their short breaks and many have joined up with local food and drink producers to create one-off packages that are not available anywhere else. These include tours and tastings at local vineyards, tailor-made classes in cookery skills and the opportunity to fish for dinner, then cook and enjoy the results from the roof of a lighthouse; all of which come with accredited accommodation as part of the package.
Monmouthshire County Council’s Tourism section and adventa, the county’s Rural Development Programme, have worked together to produce this latest marketing campaign, which follows a series of food tourism promotions run during 2009, the year in which Monmouthshire was Wales’ official Food Tourism Destination (Wales The True Taste Awards).
Sandy Greenslade, adventa Lead Food Officer, said:
“With this new selection of foodie breaks, we want to demonstrate that although Monmouthshire won the True Taste Destination award last year, we’re not resting on our laurels.
“We continually strive to improve and enhance the connections between food producers and hospitality businesses to ensure that the area stays on the food tourism map.”
Hospitality businesses all over Monmouthshire and Newport were invited to take part in the promotion and the resulting publication will be distributed at key events during 2010, including the Hay Festival, the National Eisteddfod of Wales and the Abergavenny Food Festival.
Mark Jones, Tourism Marketing Officer at Monmouthshire County Council, said:
“The local reputation for good food is largely due to the quality and range of produce that is grown throughout the Wye Valley & Vale of Usk, and we wanted to give visitors a deeper insight into the relationship between food and drink producers and the talented chefs who serve locally-sourced dishes in their restaurants.
“The businesses taking part in this promotion have done a fantastic job in creating interesting short breaks that will give visitors a better insight into successful, small-scale food production as well as a distinctively local holiday experience.”
Copies of the new brochure can be picked up from local tourist information centres in Monmouthshire and Newport, or downloaded from visitwyevalley.com.
