THE DAY THE DUKE MET "THE MAD PIEMAN" FROM COUNTY DURHAM

It is not every day you get Royalty popping in to see you, but well-known County Durham pie-maker Ian Grainger, popularly known as "The Mad Pieman" is £6.50 better off as a result of a recent, unexpected encounter with the Duke of Edinburgh.

Ian, who runs the North Country Lass bakery at Meadowfield, was one of four North East food producers taking part in the first food and drink festival to be held as part of the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

He was busily minding his stall in a large marquee when an elderly gentleman wearing "an Andy Capp-style cap and jumper" hove into view. He was accompanied by a few other people, including one or two well-built men, and it was a few seconds before Ian realised it was the Duke of Edinburgh.

He asked Ian if he had any pies that were indigenous to Durham. "What does indigenous mean?" asked Ian, mischievously. He added, quickly; "Yes, I've got Prince Bishop's game pie."
"What's in that?" asked the Duke. Ian told him: "Venison, redcurrant jelly, red wine and brandy."
"Good" said HRH, "I'll have one of those." With some embarrassment, Ian had to admit that he did not have one on his stand at that moment. The Durham Pies were locked away in his refrigerated trailer some distance away, but he added; "I could let you have a Grunt Gobble and Zoom Coo pie, like the one I supplied for you at the Lowther Horse Driving Trials 20 years ago. Lord Lonsdale ordered a big pie so that you could have a share of it."
"Well, I never saw it!" responded the Duke. "What's in it?" he asked. "Wild boar, turkey, hare, pigeon, red wine and brandy."
"Right, I'll have that." said the Duke, leaving his personal protection officer to hand over £6.50 for the pie.

During his conversation with the Royal visitor, Ian told him that he had served in the Royal Navy and had spent some time on board HMS Alert, a sister ship to HMS Magpie, which was the Duke of Edinburgh's first command. "I told him I was cook to Vice Admiral Sir Guy Russell, C-in-C of the British Pacific Fleet"
"I knew him," replied the Duke.
"We then had quite a long conversation about life in the Navy", said Ian at the bakery, this week.

The three other food producers from the North East, like Ian attending the food festival under the banner of Northumbria Larder, the only regional food group in the country represented at Windsor, did not have a chat with Prince Philip, but the previous day they had glimpsed the Queen when she visited the event as part of her 80th Birthday celebrations.

The other North East food producers present were Alnwick Rum of Alnwick, Northumberland; Tanfield Food Company, Hownsgill Park, Consett, with their "Look What We Found" almost-ready meals; and Frere Quenelle Liqueurs of Stoney Rigg, Haltwhistle, Northumberland.