Wye Valley Meadery 'go local' with The Hairy Bikers

Monmouthshire was on the BBC yesterday as The Hairy Bikers rode into Caldicot Castle to talk to Matt & Kit at Wye Valley Meadery. It was the first episode of 'The Hairy Bikers Go Local', in which they seek to matchmake local producers with local restaurants (in this case, James Sommerin's 'Home' restaurant in Penarth). 

We see Wye Valley Meadery first about 40 minutes in, tending to their apiaries high atop one of the towers of Caldicot Castle. The bees here forage on the nectar of the flowers in the surrounding country park, and this influences the flavour of the honey and the mead made from it.

The Hairy Bikers are treated to a tasting of award winning mead at Wye Valley Meadery's Caldicot taproom. The Traditional Mead (14.5%) then becomes a key ingredient of a delicious mead salted caramel sauce which accompanies a green-tea flavoured panna cotta (with green tea from Peterson Tea Farm in the Vale of Glamorgan).

They weren't the only Monmouthshire producers featured though, as another dish created by The Hairy Bikers in this episode featured truffles from The Welsh Truffle Company, based near Usk.

You can watch this Hairy Bikers episode for yourself here

You can visit the Wye Valley Meadery taproom for yourself most of the year (although they are closed in January but back open in February). Try their mead (including varieties such as honey mead & ginger mead) or their honey infused ales, porters and IPAs.

Caldicot Castle reopens at Easter (and is free to visit), and the 55-acre country park is open all year round. This August Caldicot Castle plays host to Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, with tickets on sale now.