Usk Town Banks

Monmouthshire has three main agricultural areas. The central and eastern part of the county is made up of the large valleys of the rivers Severn, Wye, and Usk and the land in this part of the county is fertile and of good quality with gently undulating land suitable for market gardens and vineyards. The southern part of the county is bounded by the Bristol Channel and includes areas of moorland and marsh, such as Wentlooge and Caldicot. This area was once owned by the monks of Goldcliff Priory who drained the land and built seawalls to prevent the sea flooding the land. The northern and western part of the county is made up of uplands with shallow soils of low nutrient value which are suitable for hill farming. This area includes the valleys of the rivers Ebbw and Sirhowy to the west and the Black Mountains to the north. Gilli Davies, the cook and author, notes that Monmouthshire has been successful in expanding the breadth of its food production into areas such as viticulture, horticulture and organic farming. In addition, food marketing initiatives have been created for specialist producers which have thrived, according to Davies, due to good transport links and the close proximity of the county to the markets of England. This helps in food distribution and in the development of a high-quality restaurant trade, with the latter having developed due to the efforts of some key individuals. Davies comments that there is "a rare and appealing quality to the food in Monmouthshire".