The pulling power of celebrities is well known. And this clearly applies to the way celebrity chefs and their restaurants pull visitors into destinations.
Padstow has benefited hugely from Rick Stein and his various food places and brand extensions. And a less-promising visitor destination is Axminster which must surely have seen a leap in visitor numbers with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s River Cottage Canteen.
The attractions of Rick and Hugh certainly made us drive out of our way on a recent trip to the south-west. And well worth it too as far as the food was concerned. Icing on the cake was when Hugh joined us for lunch (well for a meeting two tables away).