Better to be late on the boat than to miss it altogether ... is my excuse for only recently discovering the delight's of Channel 4's Come Dine With Me.

I realise I am rather behind the times on this one but how true that once seen never forgotten.

I don't tune in during the week but sit down with a glass of wine for Saturday's mega dose of how not to conduct a dinner party. And yes, it is the commentary which makes this abfab series thanks to Dave Lamb's oh-so-dry delivery - that and the motley crew of contestants whose faux pax make such compulsive viewing.

A colleague suggested I put my name forward - never in a million years! And my excuse wouldn't just be that our kitchen is far to small to accommodate a film crew.

Despite a library of culinary tomes, dinner parties fill me with dread.

How different it was in Constant Spry's day, when women were expected to be the perfect hostess as a matter of course.

The founder of Winkfield Place - a residential school in Berkshire to which girls would go for a year to learn to cook, sew, and run a home - even wrote a book on the subject ' Hostess', published in 1961. Mrs Spry had just finished a rough draft and was about to work on the next stage of it when she died.

Some of the 'Come Dine With Me' contestants would do well to heed her words in response to the student who asked how to give a party and make everyone feel at home.

" ... she was asking for the very touchstone of the successful hostess. It is not difficult to suggest food and decorations and the trimmings, but how is one to put into words all the qualities that go to the creating of such a hostess?"

Mrs Spry's recipe for success was the hostess's ability to welcome all guests with generosity and warmth before all personal consideration.

"If you can succeed in making the shy, the diffident, the unsuccessful, the plain and the badly dressed (and let's face it, there have been a few of those on CDWM), all of them happy and at ease, then you have been kind, clever and imaginative and you are likely to acquire warm and happy friendships."

For all those of you playing host for friends and family this Christmas - in the privacy of your own homes rather than the public glare - here are some dinner party delights from our Checkout contributors ...

Find all your festive ingredients just a click away at www.beelocal.co.uk including Colston Bassett Blue Stilton (£4.70 / 200g) and Cumbrian oatcakes (£2.25) from Churchmouse Cheeses at Kirkby Lonsdale; Champagne sorbet (£5.49 / 1 litre tub) and Christmas Pudding ice cream (£6.99 / 1 litre tub) from Kendal-made English Lakes Ice Cream; Spiced Apple Winter Warmer (£2.50 / 330mls) from Kendal Cordials; and Christmas Chutney (£3.50 per 190g jar) from the Hawkshead Relish Company.

Why not serve a dollop of that very same chutney with a Pearsons of Ingleton Fellsman cutting pie (pork, turkey, cranberry and stuffing, 72p / 100g) from Country Harvest; or a Huntsman Pie (wild boar, cranberry sauce, chicken or turkey, £5, serve hot or cold) from Sillfield Farm Shop at Endmoor.

Enjoy a great ready-made starter thanks to The Honeypot at Hawkshead which has Burbush's of Penrith pates including chicken liver with wild mushroom, duck liver with orange and port, or smoked salmon (from £4.99 for 225g). Or what about some beautiful St James' Scottish smoked salmon from Furness Fish & Game at Flookburgh (£5.50 / 200g pack).

For all your festive meat trimmings check out Aireys at Ayside; not to mention Mark Duckworth of Dales Traditional Butchers at Kirkby Lonsdale who has various own-make stuffings including sage and onion, chestnut, and cranberry and apple (from £3 / 500g); and his own sausagemeat (also £3 / 500g) which also goes into the tasty sausage rolls on sale at The Little Bakery at Endmoor.

To complete your festive spread Lucy's of Ambleside has various alcoholic beverages including damson gin, mulled wine, raspberry liqueur and the new British-made Chase Distillery vodka; the perfect accompaniment for an extra special sweet treat from Oak Street Bakery at Windermere - baker Phil Eastwood's 'famous' mince pies, only 50p each.

Remember - your Christmas will taste so much more delicious if you 'think local', buy local' and 'eat local'.

Have a good one!