Somerset

It’s something of a ritual, stopping off at Teals on the way down to the West Country. It signifies the beginning of a getaway, the chance to fill up on arti products and, if timed right, you can grab a bite in the scandi-tinged eating room out back. Handily positioned just off the unending A303 as it passes between North and South Cadbury, the slip road may seem to be leading to service-station franchise hell but – local iron-age pigs be praised – instead opens out on to a chic barn-like place, all raw wood and huge glass windows offering glimpses of treasure within.

In fact, it’s very well placed for foodie loveliness, being not far from the Frome/Bruton/Castle Cary gourmet axis and just over the county line from me good mates at The Guild of Fine Food. It’s surrounded by producers of real note, as well: Feltham’s Farm, White Lake Cheese and Westcombe Dairy are only an energetic truckle roll away and Montgomery Cheese is just down the road. No surprise then that the cheese counter is a major draw. Oh, and Somerset Charcuterie, thanks to the aforementioned pigs (with a little assistance from local-ish Bagnell Farm).

All this combines with an excellent selection of fresh produce, butchery and baked goodies. And a rather pukka bottle shop is there to fill the gaps left by that case of wine in the boot and to accompany irresistible packaged stuffs like posh Spanish crisps and even posher single-estate choc. There’s also a section called ‘Lifestyle’. No idea what that means but it seems to include cookbooks and artisanal hand cream. All in all, they are a whole lot of B-certified, sustainably sourcing, local-producer-supporting, food-waste-hating good eggs. But they aren’t too horse-hair shirt about it which allows for wanton gourmandising without too much hand wringing (nice soft hands, mind, what with all that expensive hand cream …).

The kitchen café bit has a fresh and welcoming ambiance, with a regularly changing, seasonally inflected menu. It’s open for breakfasting on really good black pudding ‘n bacon or genuinely tasty Viennoiserie. Or equally enticing veggie stuff like homemade baked beans and kimchi. Lunching offers small plates of house-cured trout, excellent soda bread, better-than-homemade humous, or maybe a chance at a wood-fired flatbread with Baron Bigod ‘n onion marmalade. More substantial grub comes in the shape of wood-roasted fish 'o the day with chorizo potatoes and aioli, or crispy pork belly (yep, them pigs again!) with dahl and crispy onions. Fresh, seasonal, sustainable nosh at the gateway to the West Country.