At the weekend I made a remarkable discovery that made tonight’s pic possible. The photo is of a Cornish rind-on goat’s cheese that was brought home in the car last night and means I can continue to eat things that I feel passionately about even when we are forced back to Sandhurst so I can earn my living. (DM of course works from home…..which could be anywhere with a computer and a phone line.)

The discovery may not seem all that remarkable in most of the world’s cultures – it seems we Brits are exceptional in that we expect to be able to buy everything we want to buy, all year round. That basically means if we want Asparagus in January then it’s imported from Peru and if we want French beans in November then they come from Zimbabwe. I wish our culture was more like that of our nearest neighbours, the French, where they eat what is in season and grown locally on the whole. Even though they have a ‘hypermarket’ culture, you can still find baker’s stores in every town and village yet here, in all but the remotest of parts, good quality bread has given way to mass-produced plastic from the supermarkets and the vegetables rarely come from the UK, let alone the vicinity of the store.

I can’t claim to be completely blameless in this because the supermarkets appeal to the demands of their customers and I do like to buy red peppers all year round but I balk, for example, at the importation of celery in winter from Israel when we used to grow wonderful winter celery here in the UK but it was deemed ‘unacceptable’ because of its colour so the supermarkets went elsewhere.

Mostly though, if I can’t grow my own, I try to buy locally made stuff wherever possible. In Cornwall that’s much easier to achieve because the supermarkets have barely penetrated this remote part of England (hurrah for that I say) and so every High Street (or should I say ‘Fore Street’) has greengrocers and bakers.

My discovery is of a farm shop, a real treasure chest, very close to our new cottage, where not only can we source our produce for while we are there, but I can bring stuff back to Sandhurst too. That’s exactly what I’ve done this weekend – bought a bag full of beautiful, organic veg, free-range organic eggs, cheese and butter, all grown in Cornwall and all much better quality than anything to be found on the shelves in Sainsbury (the least-worst of the supermarkets in my view). I've then brought what I've not used at the weekend back to Sandhurst. Yippee. Next time, I will be more organised and bring back beer, milk and everything else that is practical too.

So, this little goat’s cheese will soon be making its way into quesadillas and I will feel a sense of achievement once again that we can eat like kings and support our precious Cornish economy in the most effective way possible. My ‘bit’ may only be ‘a small step for man’ to coin a phrase but it makes me feel great nonetheless.