Discover Berwick-upon-Tweed’s heritage of producing food and drink and enjoy the taste of the area’s specialities today.
You will find fresh crab and lobster landed from boats in picturesque harbours, oysters harvested from the waters off Holy Island, and kippers, mackerel, haddock, sea trout and shellfish smoked in traditional smokehouses on the coast nearby..
In the summer months you can watch salmon fishermen at the mouth of the Tweed working their nets and rowing boats, or cobles, as they have done since the 12th century. Tweed salmon and sea trout have recently been accepted into the Slow Food “Ark of Taste”.
The farms and fields of north Northumberland and the Scottish Borders produce grass-fed beef and lamb, free range and organic eggs, soft fruits in season and a wide variety of heritage potatoes.
At the Chain Bridge Honey Farm Visitor Centre you can discover the story of bee-keeping and sample honey gathered from hives set in the fields and hills around the Tweed valley.
Artisan produce from the district around the mouth of the Tweed include farm-made ice-creams and yogurts, cheeses made from cows’ and goats’ milk, cured meats, breads made in a wood-fired oven and handmade chocolates.
Visitors can see grain being milled at first hand in the restored water-powered Heatherslaw Corn-mill, only a short drive or bus ride from Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Barley has been grown in the fields around Berwick for centuries and gave the town its name which come from the Old English “bere wic”, meaning “barley farm”.
Simpsons Malt, based at the Tweed Valley Maltings in Tweedmouth, is the country’s largest family-owned firm of maltsters. Simpsons malt s is sold to whisky distilleries and breweries in Scotland and north n England and is used in real ales produced by the town’s micro-brewer.
St. Aidan’s Winery on Holy Island continues a tradition of making mead here that dates back to the Anglo-Saxon kings of 7th century Northumbria.
