Gifts for hard-to-buy-for foodies

Stumped on what to buy food-loving friends and family this Christmas (the discerning ones who already have festive cheese and wine covered)? Look no further than our round-up of foodie gifts with a twist …

Rural retreats and fireside feasting at High Grange Devon

Few things are more primal than fire, whether it’s cosying up to one in the cold winter months or cooking a feast over it. At award-winning venue High Grange Devon in east Devon visitors can do both. Treat the fire fanatic in your life to a day’s cooking at High Grange Fire School, where they’ll learn British butchery and barbecue techniques from fire cooking pro and seasoned chef Luke Mackay.

For those who prefer feasting to cooking, and like to do so in a chilled, communal setting, gift them a Signature Feast voucher. Held at various dates throughout the year, guests will have the chance to sip cocktails in the new woodland bar and indulge in a five-course meal featuring local meat, fish and veg, in the magical High Grange garden.

High Grange Devon also offer takeaway vouchers and a nifty range of branded merch.

From £25

The Ultimate Festive Chocolate Collection from Josh’s Chocolate

As Wonka hits cinema screens this festive season, Cornwall’s answer to fiction’s famous chocolate maker, Josh Parker, is living the dream – melting and moulding rich, smooth buttons and bars from a purpose-built factory on his Cornish farm.

This festive hamper includes every single bar and button flavour in Josh’s range, including dark chocolate with fiery ginger, milk chocolate with blueberry and hazelnut, gigantic buttons with Cornish sea salt and caramel, and much more. Beautifully illustrated packaging by St Ives’ artist Joanne Barry envelopes every bar, making this gift hamper a wonderful present for a sweet-toothed friend with a magpie’s eye for eye-catching artwork.

£75

Totally Wild Foraging event vouchers

Experiential gifts make the perfect pressies for those tricky people who seem to have everything. Totally Wild offer foraging experiences at various locations throughout the UK, including foraging and cooking courses where guests venture out to pick the likes of wild mushrooms, garlic and other wild herbs and flowers before concocting delicious recipes from them. Wild mushroom risotto, wild garlic pesto pasta and elderberry pannacotta are just a few of the dishes guests can expect to create and devour on the day.

Foodies with a taste for decadence may also enjoy Totally Wild’s truffle foraging and cookery course, where they go in search of the elusive and highly prized British truffle.

From £40

Luxury Christmas Letter Box Hamper with Gin & Milk Chocolate truffles from Letter Box Hamper

Posting gifts to loved ones who live far away can be a lottery in the run-up to Christmas. Minimise stress, swerve the Post Office queues and make your recipient’s day by sending them a Christmas Letter Box Hamper. Each box is brimming with the finest British-made produce and beautifully packaged in parcel paper and twine with a personalised gift note.

The letterbox-friendly package contains Charbonnel & Walker luxury chocolate truffles, a 50ml glass bottle Plymouth Original Gin (created at England’s oldest working distillery), Scottish shortbread from the Shortbread House of Edinburgh, Willie’s Cacao Hazelnut Raisin dark chocolate square and Guppy’s of York Milk Chocolate Honeycomb Shards.

£32.95

Mackerel Fishing and Twilight Dinner on the Beach at Glebe House

As comedians Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse have shown in their hit show Gone Fishing, there’s much more to catching fish than merely casting your line. Fishing is a superb way to unwind and get back to nature, making Glebe House‘s mackerel fishing trip and supper combo the ideal present for the busy bees in your life.

Guests will take to the ocean in the afternoon with seasoned skipper Paul, before returning to the beach for a chilled aperitivo and a three-course dinner made with their freshly caught catch.

£105

Like 5 of the best gifts for hard-to-buy-for foodies? Check out 10 of the best foodie gifts under £50.

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