Juice on the loose

Juice on the loose

Simply Nectar juices are some of the fruitiest, most refreshing drinks to turn up this summer. In apple, apricot, peach, pear, pink grapefruit and mango flavours, all except mango are made from fruit grown in Provence. Drink straight or add to cocktails to give sun-kissed French charme. From £1.79 for 33cl and around £4 for 75cl from independent delis, including the Fresh & Wild chain (call 020-7720 4410 for stockists), or order at a London bar like The Metropolitan.

Meat in motion

Down on the farm they have to do as much marketing as mucking out. Devon-based mail-order meat company Eversfield Manor ( www.eversfieldmanor.co.uk, 01837 871400), located on an 850-acre organic farm owned by a former computer entrepreneur, offers online ordering and next-day delivery. A box of lamb and beef cuts for barbecueing - enough meat for four people to get their chops around - is £24 plus £7 delivery.

Going to seed

Hemp heads would have you believe that the more respectable and much less narcotic relative of cannabis is a wonder plant - a productive crop that can be turned into paper, rope and clothing. And it's very healthy too. High time, then, that we all started cooking with and eating hemp, especially now that Braham & Murray has improved its image. We couldn't stop munching their toasty, salty Good Seed. The runes also auger well for Good Oil, again produced by Glynis Murray and Henry Braham, who combine film production with farming in Devon where they're the UK's largest producer of hempseed. Use it like olive oil, and get the benefits of Omegas 3,6 and 9. Good Seed is £2.49, Good Oil £6.99, from selected Waitrose, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and London delis.

Birmingham's big cheese

Behind its trad façade, cheesemonger Paxton & Whitfield, with branches in Jermyn Street, London, Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath, has always been more modish than at first appears. And its new shop and café at 27-29 Wharfside Street, The Mailbox, Birmingham (0121 632 1440), is the cheesy bee's knees. Check out the feature every smart cheese shop must now have - a temperature-controlled cheese-maturing room - so the cheeses are sold in perfect condition, plus wines and other food. At Café Paxton among other dishes there's cheese fondue, goat's cheese tarts, plates of cheese and sandwiches and even cheese-free salads for lunch.