Success for local project growing oysters off the Somerset coast

The South West has built a reputation as a prime foodie destination, and visitors looking for last minute caravan holidays are drawn to the area by the wealth of fresh produce, particularly the varied seafood.

With that in mind it's great to hear news that a local project has successfully grown oysters off the Somerset coast for the first time in 120 years!

The seafood has again been grown at Porlock Bay, on the Exmoor Coast in West Somerset, where it was once produced for the fine dining restaurants of London.

The traditional West Country site's crop was wiped out by large trawlers, but a community-led project has harvested its first bed of oysters in more than 100 years, and they're that good they can be eaten straight from the sea – you can't get fresher than that!

Porlock's oysters are only the second in England and Wales to be given grade A status, owing to the quality of the seawater they're grown in.

Locals are now campaigning to raise £90,000, which will go to setting up the business properly over the next five years.

Local grower, Roger Hall, said: "This is a work in progress, but we hope Porlock Bay oysters will be on the market on a very small scale by mid-summer."

Here's to hoping we'll soon be enjoying some of the freshest oysters around, during our last minute UK breaks in Somerset.