Countryfile will showcase a Brimscombe community food project today - presented by Stroud celebrity Ellie Harrison.

The Long Table will be the subject of 2 x 6 minute slots at the beginning and the end of the show tonight on BBC One.

The episode will explore the enterprise and its ethos, including its work with local foodbanks, local food sources and its freezers of love - Frozen meals in 19 places around the Stroud district which can be bought on a ‘pay what you can’ basis during the pandemic.

“It was a real privilege and a real joy - as a team we were buzzing yesterday,” said Tom Herbert, founder of the Long Table.

“It was flattering to have that interest and that spotlight and we hope that by showing what we’re doing here we’ll encourage more creative ways of improving food culture in our society.”

The episode is advertised as one that follows Ellie Harrison, who has co-hosted Countryfile since 2009, discovering how communities on her home turf of Gloucestershire are pulling together to one another during the pandemic.

"She meets the producers on a mission to get everyone eating local and healthy meals at affordable prices,” according to the BBC website.

Stroud News and Journal:

The episode, which starts at 6pm, will feature Ms Harrison picking kale and broccoli from Oakbrook Farm in Painswick, before taking the ingredients to the Long Table and prepping veg with chef Maisie Bagley.

After interviewing Mr Herbert about the business, she will take frozen meals to the Octagon Centre in Pagan Hill where there is a community food hub and one of the Freezers of Love, to meet some of its customers.

The Long Table currently has 300 subscribers who pay £5 a week for a meal, which helps the business take on local apprentices and subsidise meals for those who can’t afford to pay as much.

Mr Herbert said they aim to reach 1000 subscribers. The Countryfile episode, airing at the end of January, should help them do just that.

You can watch the episode on the BBC here.