Duck Deli

Long Melford, Suffolk

When the Macmillan family dreamed up Duck Deli, their aim was simple: to create a venue in which to showcase and sell the excellent produce that appears on the menu of the popular village pub they own next door.

Step inside to discover an intimate room filled with the nest artisanal produce from across East Anglia: freshly baked loaves, countless varieties of cheeses, including Suffolk’s own Baron Bigod, the only traditional raw brie-style cheese made in the UK, and a whole host of charcuterie, including paprika chilli olives and Three Little Pigs rare-breed chorizo. We particularly liked the Golden Cross soft ash-coated goat’s cheese, made using unpasteurised milk. It’s lightly charcoaled by hand to create a wonderful visual contrast against the white of the cheese. Enjoy it grilled on a piece of brioche and drizzled in Hillfarm rapeseed oil – simple yet delicious. Fill the rest of your hessian sack with mojito marmalade, red chilli harissa sauces, IPA fruit chutneys, Liberty Fields apple balsamic vinegar, Bohns Rump Rub spice mix for beef and Abbot Ale mustard.

Hungry yet? Pull up a chair in the deli’s café or pop next door to the Long Melford Swan and order a spot of lunch. Everything on the menu chimes with what’s available in the store, from the hand-raised pork pie to boards heaving with English cold cuts. We thoroughly enjoyed our roasted stone bass in a saffron, samphire and mussel broth.

To really make a weekend of it in this historic village – one of the great Wool Towns of medieval Suffolk – stay in one of the three boutique bedrooms above the shop, complete with luxurious midnight-blue fabrics, king-sized beds and roll-top baths. Oh, and be sure to take home some of the incredibly moreish aragostines, whose crunchy, pastry shells are encased with pistachio cream for sweet perfection.

duckdeli.co.uk/