Food adventures: Cheese and ale

I’m fortunate to get lots of information coming my way about good things to eat and do in Bucks County and nearby. I often see something and think, “That would be a great little day trip.” We don’t always do it – the chores need to be done, our sailboat beckons, or sometimes we just feel like sticking close to home after a long week. But it’s stuff I would love to share. So here is my first in a series of “Food Adventures” – easy day trips, combining a few interesting stops and good, local food. 

If you love cheese – and I mean really good cheese – you must try some from the Bobolink Dairy Farm. Jonathan and Nina White recently moved their farm – cows, equipment, the whole shebang – from Vernon to Milford, New Jersey (read more about how this all happened at Artisan Cheesemakers and Land Trust collaborate to preserve historic farm). They make aged, earthy, rich, complex cheeses out of raw milk from grass-fed, pastured cows. They also make wonderful, crunchy artisanal bread, baked in an earthen oven (still under construction at the new farm).

The move to Milford happened just this summer and the Whites have been slowly ramping back up to normal, including selling at farmers’ markets from New York City to nearby Flemington, at the Hunterdon Land Trust’s Farmers’ Market at Dvoor Farm on Thursday afternoons and Sunday mornings. But now you can visit the farm too! So here’s my food adventure suggestion. I hope we can do it this weekend:

  1. Breakfast at the Lovin’ Oven in Frenchtown. See some photos I posted from my last visit. Yum.
  2. Off to Bobolink Dairy Farm in nearby Milford to see the new farm and buy some cheese. The farm tour takes you through the milking parlor, creamery, bakery, cheese cave, and a hike up the hill to see the cows and the beautiful land. A full tour takes about an hour, plus cheese tasting. And, there’s more…
  3. At the end of the tour the Whites give a coupon for a discount on a growler of ale at the local Milford brewery pub, The Ship Inn, serving authentic British ales, including a Farmhouse Ale inspired by Bobolink cheeses. The Whites say the food at the Ship Inn is “decidedly unauthentic for a British pub, insofar as it it excellent. [Their] burgers are made from 100% grassfed cows of my neighbor Harry Swift, from whom we got our little piggies. Chef Lon’s specials are also a treat, as is the fish and chips, which is served with the best mushy peas this side of the Mersey.” Sounds good to me! [Note: on the Ship Inn’s website they list other fun things to do nearby.]
  4. If we have the energy and time on the way home, we may stop by Frenchtown for their annual Riverfest. This year’s theme is Mardi Gras. The festivities begin at noon and go until 6 pm.
  5. Or…stop by to watch the polo matches on the Pennsylvania side of the river at Tinicum Park. The polo takes place every Saturday from May 15 to October 9th from 2 – 4 pm. Admission is $5 per carload. You can park at the sidelines of the polo field and have a tailgate picnic or sit in the shade of the big striped tent for members of the public. See the Tinicum Park Polo Club website for more info.

I could go on, but I know we’ll have to get home at some point to feed the dogs and start cocktail hour.

Here are directions and a map for this little trip.
[Note: this may not open in some versions of IExplorer. Sorry.]
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