Day Trip to Melton Mowbray

Friday 14^thAugust

We are having a day trip to Melton Mowbray today.  We walked down to the train station which is about a 15 to 20 minute walk from the canal and got the train. We had to change at Leicester so the journey took about an hour.  The weather is not so good today, some rain showers, but not too heavy thankfully and then it brightened up.

Church Street

The town is about a 10 to 15 minute walk from the station.  You can go by the main road, but we found a footpath through gardens alongside a park which brought us into Church Street

We had a look in the church which had really nice stained glass windows and was very big inside.

We walked on into the town.  It is quite modern with some old buildings, we were expecting it to be quite olde worlde but it was still nice.

Melton Mowbray is in the Melton borough of Leicester.  It is 19 miles to the northeast of Leicester and 20 miles southeast of Nottingham.

Melton Mowbray Sign

It is promoted as the “Rural Capital of Food” and is best known for its culinary specialities being the home of the Pork Pie and Stilton Cheese.

Stilton cheese originated near Melton Mowbray and is still made in the town today.

Melton Mowbray pies are made with a specific hand-raising process and recipe.

On 4^th April 2008 the European Union awarded the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie protected geographical Indication status meaning that only pies made within a designated zone around Melton and using uncured pork are allowed to carry the Melton Mowbray name on their packaging.

We had a wander around the town and found Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe.

Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe

Ye Old Pork Pie Shoppe has been baking pork pies in Melton Mowbray since 1851. They have the dual acclaim of being the oldest pork pie bakery and the last remaining producer of authentic Melton Mowbray pork pies based in the town centre.  In recent years, due to unprecedented demand, the baking of these pies also takes place at a larger bakery located just outside Leicester.

Obviously we had to buy some.  We bought the hand raised pies that are made in the shoppe, a plain one and also one topped with Stilton and one topped with Cranberries.

We walked on a bit more and found The Melton Cheese Board selling local cheeses.  We went in and had a few samples and needless to say we bought some.

We bought a Red Leicester Sparkenhoe, which is traditionally hand made from milk from one herd of cows and made by the Leicester Handmade Cheese Company and we also bought some stilton and a soft blue cheese which is made by the Long Clawson Dairy who are 5 miles outside of Melton Mowbray and have been making cheese since 1911.

We also bought a local cheddar cheese which was really strong and which bites you back, very tasty.

We stopped for coffee to wash the cheese samples down then got the train back to Market Harborough.

We had a good day out in Melton Mowbray and when we got back we tried all our purchases and they were delicious.  The pork pie was amazing, full of flavour and the pastry was so crisp and all the cheeses were lovely.

Tomorrow, Saturday we are staying here again to do a bit more shopping and then just chill out.  We will be on our way again on Sunday.

Melton Mowbray Town Centre