Run Forrest, Run.

Spread the love

28/02/2025 | 0 Comments

By Roz Hartley

I’m not good at much but keeping houseplants alive and thriving may well be my hidden
superpower. I grant you it’s not exactly glamorous. I’m not sure I’ll be offered a book deal or
a chat show off the back of it but it has been recognised amongst my friends and family.
“Look at your peace lily!” was the squawk that accompanied a drop-in visit from my
neighbour the other day. “Why is it flowering now? Mine absolutely refuses to.”

I wanted to be able to answer her but, to be honest, I have no idea why my plants continue
to thrive. I empty the jug of water on this particular specimen at the end of every meal
when we haven’t downed its contents (probably over-watering if you read the plant care
details) and it sits in a warmish kitchen out of direct sunlight. I strip it regularly of any brown
or yellowing leaves and chop chunks off the root every year as it is a bit of a monster and
there really isn’t room in my kitchen for a bigger pot. But the main thing is that I love it and I
tell it so, often.

Last winter, I treated myself to a pair of gloves which are green and fluffy and specifically
designed for stroking your plants. I drift into a meditative state, pull on my fluffy gloves,
block out the ridicule of my children and stroke the leaves of my houseplants. Obviously, the
main reason for doing this is to remove any dust from the leaves. This gives the plant
maximum photosynthesis power but, personally, I think the plant loves a little stroking
session, just like humans.
A little love goes a long way.

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Read the small print

31/01/2025 | 0 Comments

By Roz Hartley

Slightly concerned by the number of fast-food bags I was finding in the footwell of my son’s
car, I gave him a mildly passive-aggressive present in his stocking: The Sunday Times
bestseller, “Ultra-Processed People” by Chris van Tulleken.
I hoped he might dive straight in on Boxing Day, learn how the fast-food industry is
manipulating us all and start shopping at the local farm shop instead. I thought that the little
bio picture of the author, who used to present one of his favourite children’s programmes
(Operation Ouch! which explored the weirdest and most wonderful bits of medicine from
sneezes and snot to pimples and poo) might lure him in. I was rather naïve. It didn’t and the
book sat on his desk for 3 weeks, gathering dust and empty coke cans.

My son has now gone back to university and the book didn’t accompany him. He didn’t even
pretend that he was going to read it….so I am.
Well! I’m only two thirds of the way through it but I have already cleared out the “sauce”
shelf of my fridge and stopped buying cheap ice-cream. Van Tulleken believes people will
change how they eat by reading his book, that we’ll be disgusted enough to voluntarily give
up ultra-processed food for good. I have to say that it’s working on me already.
My daughter rolls her eyes now when she sees me reading it. She fears that the contents of
the snack cupboard are about to be thrown in the bin and she may well be right.
Last night, we were in a horrible bargain shop looking for a sports’ bag when we both had a
fit of the munchies so we turned to the snack aisle. I said I would buy us a snack if we could
find one that had no additives, emulsifiers, e-numbers or modified anything in it.
I put my glasses on and started analysing the labels. My daughter settled in to reading the
small print and becoming more and more deflated as her favourites were deemed inappropriate by her annoying mother. We found ONE snack that fitted the brief – a bag of
whole monkey nuts in their shells for the excellent price of 99p and that is what we bought.
Back in the car, she then had the job of shelling them and feeding them to me as we headed
to the next shop to find the elusive sports’ bag.

The car, this morning, looks like a threshing machine has exploded on the upholstery and
I’m not sure the monkey nuts will be a go-to for my daughter. I suspect snack-buying will
now become a private, secretive affair that I am no longer invited to.
My food shopping may take a little longer as I double check the labels on things that I
assumed were healthy. My trips to local farm shops will become more frequent as I trust in
the provenance of their vegetables and meat. My dinners might take a little more thought
and pre-planning but my body will thank me. And my son? He’ll be reading this book when
he comes home at Easter… otherwise the Easter bunny will only bring him carrots.

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Grab the Good Times

29/11/2024 | 0 Comments

By Roz Hartley

I sit here at my desk in the aftermath of Storm Bert and can see out of the window my patio furniture strewn across the lawn, several branches down and a small, plastic greenhouse which will be of no use to my seedlings next Spring. Such an innocuous name, Bert, but capable of major disruption. Trains cancelled, cars floating down the road near my village and no end of lanes shut due to trees down. Friendly Sesame Street character, he was not.

Apparently this habit of naming storms originated in the 1890s with a particular Australian meteorologist who entertained himself by naming storms after women or politicians that he didn’t much like. Well, whoever Bert was, I didn’t much like him either. But then neither was I a huge fan of the weather the week before Bert with plummeting temperatures and frozen windscreens. Getting up in the dark is bad enough without having to de-ice the car before you can go anywhere. One might be forgiven for thinking that November in the UK is worth leaving behind. Oh to spend Winter in the Caribbean or the Bahamas.

But actually, if we cast our minds back even further, the beginning of November was delicious. Autumnal colours and trees turning orange and red accompanied my journey down to the West Country for a long weekend with the family. As always when packing for a long weekend in the UK, there was a bit of everything in my suitcase. T shirts and sweaters, hats and scarfs, wellies and sunglasses and, of course, the wetsuit.

Even with the mild temperatures, the sea was just tipping over into unfriendly degrees centigrade – certainly unfriendly to bikini wearers. Although, as I donned the old neoprene (including feet and hands, thank you very much) I did pass much hardier folk than me, in their lobster-printed trunks and tropical-leaved swimsuits, discarding their towelling capes and running into the waves hand in hand. They weren’t in for long, but I was. I simply couldn’t drag myself out of the surf despite it being November. The sheer joy of body boarding or just hurling yourself into the foam brings a childlike exuberance that is impossible to suppress.

I defy anyone to jump around in the waves on a beautiful November evening (in a wetsuit – with hands and feet) whilst the sun sets around them, not to feel full of the joy of the world. And thank goodness for these moments. They stay with me when the ice sets so hard on the car that I can’t open the door or the wind blows so hard that the bench hits the fence and makes a panel cave in. Grab the good times by the scruff of the neck and re-live them when the storms blow! That’s what November teaches me but, if anyone does have a spare ticket for St Lucia, then I am free next November.

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Hibernate or Hyperventilate?

21/10/2024 | 0 Comments

By Roz Hartley

As the leaves turn yellow and red around me and the daylight hours grow shorter and shorter, the huge temptation is to light the fire, make a Yorkshire pudding, shut the curtains and curl up on the sofa with the remote control close at hand. Yes, it’s hibernation season and not just for hedgehogs and tortoises. Fifty-year-old women like to curl up in a ball and wait for the Spring to come too!

But not this one. Not this year. I’ve dug deep and, from somewhere, found some resolve. As the years trot by and the Yorkshire puddings wreak their havoc on my waistline, I have started to do something I have never been tempted to do before…RUN!

I’m not talking Forrest Gump running. I’m not waving goodbye to my family and all my creature comforts and setting off across the wilderness with nothing but blister plasters and electrolyte for company. No. My style of running is far more suited to the middle-aged. I get home from work, plug in my earphones that I’ve snaffled from my daughter, choose a nicely paced tune or two and hit GO on the Couch to 5k app that I’ve heard so much about but never EVER been tempted to try before.

What changed? Could be my waistline or the puffing that has started to accompany me climbing the stairs. I just felt I needed to take the proverbial bull by the horns and, as good old Cher would say, turn back time.

The first week was pretty heinous. Jo Whiley (whom I chose to be my “coach” on the app) encouraged me to walk for two minutes and then run gently for one. ONE MINUTE. That’s a measly sixty seconds. Well, that first week it might as well have been sixty minutes. Huffing and puffing, sweating and slouching, I hauled myself through the first 30-minute session watching as my daughter (who’d agreed to do it with me) disappeared off into the distance without any apparent change in breathing or facial colouring.

BUT I have stuck with it (she has not!) and through some minor miracle, my body is acclimatising and my brain is actually telling me that I’m enjoying it. I’m enjoying the routine of every other day, coming home from a day at a desk, quick change into trainers and trackies and getting out in the fresh air. The main trick is to NOT sit down beforehand as the resolve quickly evaporates once the bum hits the cushion. Get straight out, whilst there’s still a little bit of daylight left and off I go.

Running through the autumn leaves, passing the conkers on the ground and the muck-spreading farmers, watching the sky change colour, is a far better way to spend half an hour than curled up on the sofa or doom-scrolling on the phone. And it makes me far more inclined to choose a fresh dinner, stuffed with fruit and vegetables rather than hibernation-inducing comfort foods that I would usually be craving at this time of year!

Four weeks in and I’m doing well. My scales thank me. My lungs thank me. Jo Whiley keeps thanking me – but I’ve not become evangelical about it. I’m not trying to persuade anyone else to join me as I know it will be met with eye rolling and sighs (as it did when people mentioned it to me in the past) but if you are even slightly tempted, give it a go!

And if anyone is wondering what I’d like for Christmas – blister plasters and electrolyte wouldn’t go amiss!

Run Forrest, Run.

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Oh! To Be Young Again!

30/09/2024 | 0 Comments

By Roz Hartley

It’s that time of year when, up and down the country, mothers and fathers are pushing groaning trollies down the aisles laden with kettles, toasters and irons (they won’t use it – put it back) wondering if they have taught their eighteen-year-olds enough life skills to successfully navigate their first term at university.

The corner of my own lounge has been commandeered for an ever-growing pile of duvet, pillows, towels, bedside light, toilet brush, cuddly toy, cuddly toy.. didn’t they do well?!

I know, as I drive my own six-foot-tall, eighteen-year-old off this Friday, that I have done all I can. He knows what he knows. He knows how to use the washing machine (but shows no interest in doing so). He knows how to cook a pasta bolognese (but still would rather order a takeaway). He knows that eating five a day keeps you healthy (and that cherry-flavoured cola doesn’t count). He knows that living at home has been easy and warm and free and that he is stepping out to manage his own money (or lack of), his own time and his own responsibilities… and he can’t wait!

And set against the backdrop of all this newness for him was an invitation for me to attend my own university reunion. Would I like to meet up, thirty years on, with a motley crew of fellow alumni, a bit balder, a bit rounder, a bit wrinkly-er than the versions of ourselves who graduated three decades ago? Always trepidatious about these things (just what do you talk about when the inevitable “what are you doing now?” has been covered) I made sure there were enough going that I still spoke to regularly and ticked “yes”.

Pre-reunion was a funny old time. What should I wear? How much effort should I make? Should I crash diet? Should I have a new haircut/pedicure/wardrobe? All self-induced madness, of course. After thirty years of not seeing these people, did I really care what they thought about the effects the ravages of time had had on me? Maybe!

Within an hour of the get-together, none of it mattered. We were dancing on tables, knocking back tequila and singing along loudly and out of tune to “so Sally can wait”. Yes, we are older and greyer but the eighteen-year-olds are still inside us. Yes, we have proper jobs and mortgages and school runs and arthritis but we are all still here and we know how to belt out a bit of Oasis. What a wonderful, life-affirming night it was!

So, as I wave goodbye to my own undergraduate later this week, I will try not to overdo the list of things he should and shouldn’t do and let him find his own way. After all, we all managed to work it out…
(Although, I can’t promise his “good luck” card and present won’t have a slight angle!)

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Up Among The Trees

29/08/2024 | 0 Comments

By Roz Hartley

I was lucky enough to wake up in a treehouse this morning.
Not a kid’s treehouse with mud pies and pirate flags, secret passwords and dirty knees. I’m talking a proper bona fide adult tree house with copper rolled-top bath, fluffy white towels, china plates and even a little wood-burning stove.

My behaviour was pretty childish, however, as I climbed up the wooden steps into the canopy of the large oak tree which surrounds the little house and squealed with delight at the sight of the leaves through every glorious window. I opened the fridge and was even more excited to see a welcoming bottle of prosecco rather than the Blyton-esque ginger beer one expects in such an abode!

We unpacked, went for a little walk, popped the bottle and settled on the expansive sofa. Oh! No TV. No Sky. No Netflix. No Amazon Prime. Well, this was going to be interesting. Conversation and board games, here we come!

Just as the world around us is realising the damage that smart phones are having on the younger generation, it is also rather wonderful to take a break from it all as an adult, to turn off the phone, to close the laptop and stare into the flames of a wood burner rather than a 55-inch telly.

It was lovely just to chat and play a dog-eared, well-loved quiz game of “MR and MRS” and reveal just how well we knew each other, to discuss the past and plan the future. Fizz in hand (!), we worked out our finance dreams and mapped out our healthy eating resolutions and exercise plans before filling the copper bath and having a good soak.

I woke rested and refreshed. I didn’t reach for my phone first thing but watched a squirrel dashing around in the oak tree, looking for early acorns. I felt like I had pressed “reboot”.

A healthy breakfast of fruit and yoghurt on the balcony amongst the branches and it was time to get back to reality. Time to go to work. Time to write a newsletter. I packed up my bits and bobs, lovingly stroked the edge of the copper bath and drove home, by-passing the coffee shop (that wasn’t part of our finance plan) and giving the golden arches the cold shoulder (healthy eating, healthy eating!).

If my resolve weakens over the coming weeks, you may find me lying on the grass looking up at the sky through imaginary branches or on the laptop googling “tree house accommodation near you” … at least until this little specimen gets a little bigger!

tree house can be found here www.cheritontreehouse.co.uk

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enquiries@clawsonfarms.co.uk

PRODUCT REVIEW – CLAWSON FARMS TRUCKLES

22/08/2024 | 0 Comments

We love a tasting session at Fabulous Farm Shops HQ but nothing gets us quite as excited as an offering of cheese. I genuinely believe that most other food stuffs I could live without, but it would be a much lesser life if I had to live it without cheese. So, when a neat little box arrived with not one, not two, but six lovely waxy round truckles in it, it was definitely a good day at the office!

Clawson Farms have come up with a corker of an idea to make each cheese stick in your memory well after the last crumb has been hoovered off the cheese board. Each truckle is a different, beautiful bright colour and each cheese has its own name, character and back story, from Captain Bulldog, adorning the black truckle of vintage cheddar, sporting a top hat, bow tie and imperious air to the Dumbledore-esque wizard gracing the front of the bright red Wizard’s Fire red Leicester.

It’s a clever way to distinguish between the flavours and helps you to remember your favourite. The truckles look very attractive lined up your cheeseboard or on the shelves of your fridge cabinet and the waxy coating keeps the cheese fresh and flavourful inside. Furthermore, it makes them excellent choices for a picnic or a hike as the truckle pops into your backpack or your hamper with no fear of being squished against your water bottle and creating an unholy mess. Excellent work, Clawson Farms!

But it’s all very well having attractive, eye-catching packaging but what do they taste like, I hear you clamour. Well, here goes!

First on the cheese board and up for discussion is the yellow truckle. Sporting a firing cannon and called Gunpowder, the blurb on the accompanying literature tells us that this oak smoked mature cheddar has a “gentle smokiness from seasoned oak fires” which “adds a delicious fullness and tang”.

Various tasters stepped forward to dig their knives into the truckle. The wax gives way with a bit of pressure and a sharp knife to reveal an attractive creamy textured cheese dotted with little bits of smoky brown. The smell is deeply smoky, rich and pungent but pleasant and mouths began to water.

“Oh, this is right up my street” whispered one reviewer, in hushed, reverential tones.

“Soft and salty with a fabulous smokiness” commented another as a second chunk disappeared into his mouth.

“Perfect with bread and red wine” scribbled another as he cut another piece to take home to try just that.

It has a deep flavour with a bit of a kick and a good texture though slightly surprising for a mature cheddar as it is quite soft. Those that loved it, really loved it and kept reaching for more. It wasn’t to everyone’s taste but that’s the thing about cheese. It’s deeply personal and the great thing about these truckles is that you can just move on to the next one. So, we did!!

Next up was the red truckle with a fabulous picture of Randolph, the wizard, standing guard over his favourite Wizard’s Fire or red Leicester with Scotch bonnet and harissa.

Some tasters looked a little bit wary and edged towards the back of the room but there were enough pioneers amongst us that it wasn’t long before the wax was cut and the cheese was in mouths.

Those nibblers who like a fiery mouthful were in heaven.

“Absolutely delicious” was all we got from one reviewer before her eyes rolled back in her head and she reached for more.

This cheese is, again, softer than expected but very pleasant on the palate. It is tangy with a slight sweetness but it packs a real punch. If you like a cheese with attitude, then this truckle should be on your list.

One taster was so taken with it that she took some home with her to cook with. She grated it on her cauliflower cheese that night and said it was the best meal she had had in a long time. The next day she had cheese on toast and said it was, quite frankly, superb.

That’s a winner then!

Time for the burgundy truckle with a picture of a cute little dormouse curled up asleep among the elderflowers and cranberries. According to the marketing pamphlet this is “crumbly, creamy Wensleydale subtly infused with delicious tangy cranberries, gentle elderflower and a hint of spiced marmalade made with Seville oranges” and is labelled Dormouse’s Delight.

Peeling back the burgundy wax reveals a rich and creamy cheese absolutely bursting with fruity bits.

“More cranberries than a Thanksgiving turkey” exclaimed one reviewer.

“Sweet and fruity” followed up another

“Soft and moreish” said a third, diving in for more.

It didn’t please everyone but those not in favour were the first to admit that they don’t usually like a fruity cheese. They were still hovering around the Wizard’s Fire hoping they could snaffle a bit more kerpow!

On to the orange truckle picturing Jane, marooned on a desert island with just a chunk of cheese to keep her sustained. This is Wensleydale “fused with sweet mango and ginger” and simply named Castaway.

Cutting into the waxy truckle, the knife was greeted with a creamy but crumbly Wensleydale. It was much softer than expected but it looked and smelt inviting. Tropical vibes were invoked…salsa dancing on a Cuban beach or hammock swaying under coconut trees.

The hunk of cheese in hand was generously peppered with apricot-coloured chunks and the scent was very appetising. In the mouth it is creamy and delicious with a hit of fruity tangy tropics.

“I didn’t think I’d like that but it’s delicious” came the feedback from one reviewer. Not a fan of ginger, she was expecting to move on quickly but instead she came back for more.

Yes – there is ginger, but it is not overpowering. It is mixed delightfully with the fruity mango flavour and works really well.

We tried it alone, then with a biscuit, then with a bit of tomato, then with a bit of cucumber.

“fabulous with a bit of salady crunch” said one taster.

“a perfect companion to a glass of white wine,” said another. She wasn’t wrong!

After two fruity numbers it was time to get serious and we settled ourselves for Captain Bulldog wrapped in sombre black. This is a vintage cheddar with a “well rounded, subtle crunch.”

One taster had been looking forward to this one all day and was not disappointed. He took his time and savoured the flavour before declaring it an outright winner.

“This is a crunchy/punchy cheddar” he wrote. “It crumbles like a proper English cheddar. A full flavour without being overpowering”

Others saw it differently, “unexpectedly creamy but delicious, nonetheless. Soft with a bit of a punch”

“Oh, my goodness” moaned another with pleasure. “This needs new bread, a whisker of butter and some really good pickle”

There was a lot of love for this cheese!

Last, but not least, was the green truckle. A rather distinguished looking gentleman pig stares out through his monocle on the front of this, the Truffle Seeker. This is an extra mature cheddar “subtly laced with the earthy nuttiness of truffles and imbued with the gentle sweetness of floral honey”. Wow! What an introduction.

Cutting it open, one is met with a pleasing aroma and a good colour. A few little hints of truffle can be seen dotted throughout the creamy cheese and it crumbles slightly as it escapes the waxy wrap.

“My favourite” came the first response.

“Oh yes! I can really taste the truffle” said someone else.

“This is a proper mature cheddar. Light but tasty. My kind of cheese.”

I pressed him for another comment. “All I need now is a cold glass of white wine, this cheese and no more questions”

So, there you have it! Six truckles in six glorious colours with very different personalities. There will be something amongst them for the fruit lovers, the fire lovers, the smoke lovers and the truffle seekers. Clawson Farms have produced a fine set of cheese and the Fabulous Farm Shops panel of reviewers, replete and smiling, salute them!

If you would like to stock them in your farm shop,

then please get in touch with Clawson Farms directly:

Phone: 01664 822332

www.clawsonfarms.co.uk

If you have a product you would like us to review, please contact

Just One Thing…

31/07/2024 | 0 Comments

By Roz Hartley

The recent sad and untimely death of Dr Michael Mosley has led to rather a lot of posthumous publicity for what he advocated. His writings, podcasts and programmes had rather passed me by when he was alive, but after the somewhat macabre media fascination (and mine, to be honest) with where he had got to on that Greek Island, I began to read a little more about his work.

If you, like me, didn’t know much about him, he was on a mission to unearth the small, simple things that anyone and everyone could introduce into their routine to make them happier and healthier.

More houseplants can boost your productivity (I’m surrounded by them already – not sure there’s any room for more) and singing can give you a natural high (though the people I live with might disagree!). Standing on one leg can improve your balance, reduce your risk of injury and improve your posture. He would do it every morning whilst he was brushing his teeth. Cooking tomatoes increases their lycopene levels which can aid in the prevention of cancer.

I love this idea. I’m captivated by the notion that these really simple changes can be incorporated into your daily routine. I don’t need to join a new gym, wear a leotard (thank God!) or buy an ice bath. A 30 second cold shower every morning for 60 days reduces the risk of sick days by 30% according to Dr Mosley’s research. I can’t comment on that one as I’m still working up to it but standing on one leg is coming along brilliantly.

My children take it in turns to knock me over and have started referring to me as “the flamingo” but the mockery falls on deaf ears. The arrogance of youth may fade when they realise I’m going to live forever and their inheritance will be spent on houseplants and tomatoes!

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Product Review – Mr Filbert’s Snack Caddy

24/07/2024 | 0 Comments

When I was a child, I was slightly obsessed with containers. A tissue box, when emptied, would be squirrelled away and turned into a caravan for my toy mouse, a chocolate box housed my china whimsy collection (each animal having its own little bed) and a match box was a perfect little bunk bed for a miniature troll.

In front of the review panel this month, were three separate, brightly coloured tins, christened the “snack caddy” and extremely pleasing to the eye. About the size of a cafetiere, beautifully cylindrical and shiny with nifty little metal clasp to keep the inside airtight, like a kilner jar.

A generous splash of colour adorns the bottom three quarters of the canister, complete with embossed pictures of herbs nuts, olives and chilli crackers, hinting at the goodies inside. And, of course, there is Mr Filbert in his smart green apron and chef’s hat with his trusty saucepan and wooden spoon. He presides over the tin with his usual air of benevolence!

Each tin comes with its own little menu card, detailing all the nutritional information of its contents and they come in two different sizes, small and large, to keep it simple. Some tins have three packets inside, some four and others have five.

Let’s pop the top and see what treats await!

Each fabulous little snack caddy is stuffed with a choice of pouchy goodness, ranging from fragrant and spicy salami chorizo through to succulent, garliccy olives via a smorgasbord of chilli rice crackers, BBQ crunchy corn or herb sprinkled nuts. There really is something for everyone and our reviewers all found something that hit the sweet spot.

Here’s a smattering of our panel’s comments on the snacks themselves:

Large Yellow Snack Caddy holds:

Mr Filbert’s Traditional Beef Biltong
“excellent with red wine“
“beautifully moist with a crisp edge”
“Mouthfuls of aromatic wonder”

Mr Filbert’s Sweet Chilli Rice Crackers
“small and intense, a glorious orangey colour with a fabulous crunch. Pop a couple in your mouth and the sweet chilli gets the juices flowing then a powerful kick of flavour demands your attention”
“Fabulous explosion on the tongue!!!!”

Mr Filbert’s Spicy Barbecue Crunchy Corn
“Chuck a little handful in your mouth and you let your teeth get to work. Fab snacking”

Mr Filbert’s Simply Sea Salt Crunchy Corn
“I’d take this to the cinema instead of popcorn”

Olive Snack Freshly Marinated Olives with Basil, Garlic and Coriander
“A subtle hint of summer nights”
“the light hint of herbiness across these olives is perfectly balanced”

Large Orange Snack Caddy holds:
(described on their website as the INDULGENCE caddy)

Mr Filbert’s Café Espresso Coffee Chocolate & Nut Mix
“Fresh AND salty, with a lovely hit of coffee chocolate. I’m smitten”
“This is my perfect drinks companion”

Mr Filbert’s Cherry Berry Chocolate & Nut Mix
“The perfect combo of flavours”

Mr Filbert’s Salted Caramel Chocolate & Nut Mix
“So moreish”
“Perfect combination of sweet and salty.”
“I love the surprise of flavour in each bite, not knowing exactly what you are going to get. I try them with my eyes closed and sneak up on my taste buds.”

Mr Filbert’s Chocolate Orange Nut Mix
“if this was brought to me with every cup of coffee, I’d be in heaven!”

Large Green Snack Caddy (the TAPAS caddy) holds:

Snack Salami Chorizo
“Fab flavour! Brilliant with a pint”
“Reckon I could bull fight after a couple of these”

Olive Snack Freshly Marinated Olives with Basil, Garlic and Coriander
“perfect for a little one-person accompaniment to a cool beverage”

Mr Filbert’s Spicy Barbecue Crunchy Corn
“When you bite down on the kernel, you get a fabulous crunch”

Mr Filbert’s Sea Salt & Herb Mixed Nuts
“a glorious mixture”
“enough flavour to keep even my husband happy!”

The real triumph of these snack caddies is the bringing together of excellent choices. Just as an orchestra combines deeply different instruments resulting in a symphony of sound, so does a snack caddy form a delicious medley of yumminess which has the lucky snacker applauding from the front row!

We, at Fabulous Farm Shops HQ, would suggest that anyone would love to receive one of these little time capsules of taste.

Next time I’m invited anywhere for a party or dinner or a round of golf, I will be ditching the gold, tinfoil-wrapped, ambassador-favoured, chocolate spheres and reaching instead for a canister of snacks from Mr Filbert. It would take a hard-hearted hostess not to be impressed by this gift.

Or just treat yourself! A tin would fit into your hiking backpack, your bicycle basket or your picnic hamper and each little pouch will spur you on with your endeavours. And when the last snack is finished, and your tummy is full of glorious treats, just think of all the brilliant uses to which you can put that delightful canister….

If you would like to stock these fabulous little snacks in your shop
then get in touch with Filbert’s Fine Foods:
by phone 01458 833744
by email sales@filbertsfinefoods.co.uk
or online mrfilberts.com/pages/trade

If you have a product you would like us to review, please contact

Singing in the Rain

31/05/2024 | 0 Comments

By Roz Hartley

What is it with this weather?

As I write, the crack of blue sky I was excited about earlier has been obliterated by a thick, angry, black cloud in the shape of an upside-down Donald Trump and fat raindrops are falling on my patio and my evening plans. My washing has been in and out and in and out and, quite frankly, I have not found the hokey cokey as amusing as I used to. The cricket season has not got off to a good start with 6 out of 7 fixtures cancelled due to wet, soggy pitches and don’t start me on what this climate is doing to my hairstyle.

The only saving grace that I can cling to is that my veggie plot is looking lush and I haven’t had to lug a watering can around every evening although, even that yin, comes with the unhelpful yang of a prolific slug population.

For anyone organising a village fete or a wedding, frantic weather app checking must have become obsessive and the poor old weather men/women have even been seen to shrug their shoulders in front of the camera and admit to not really knowing if you are going to get sun in Hull and showers in Hove or the other way around.

Chelsea vegetables

I was glued to the weather app last week when I headed up to Chelsea having been offered a ticket to the flower show. My first visit and I was crazily excited. I packed a bag of sun cream, raincoat, sunhat and umbrella just to cover all the options…and yes, I needed them all. Unfortunately, by the afternoon, the rainclouds dominated, the paths had become a muddy mess and the show gardens were hard to glimpse between the myriad of umbrellas and moaning visitors. I retired to the Pimms’ tent where a single plastic cup of ice, lemonade and a sniff of alcohol set me back a whopping £16.

The train ride home got me musing as I stared out at the passing countryside through steamed up windows. It’s good to venture out and about to see the sights every now and then even if it’s just to reaffirm that local is best. A lovely cup of coffee and a beautifully baked slice of something sweet in my local farm shop seems a total bargain after Chelsea and I can stay out of the rain in their snug little café. What more could you need?

Must dash – the sun is out and my washing needs to shake it all about.

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The Humble Egg….or your New Best Friend?

28/03/2024 | 0 Comments

I remember the excitement of Easter morning, not the going to Church bit or the long interminable lunch (although mint sauce helped!) but the joy of hunting for eggs. My sister and I were let loose in the garden with a little basket each and there they were, little flashes of bright tinfoil, nestled beside the primroses or perilously balanced on the birdbath.

The sheer joy of spotting another treat and seeing the little basket filling up as we raced about in the fresh air was intoxicating. I wonder now whether it needed to be chocolate eggs. Would we have felt as much excitement had we been searching for chicken eggs? I almost think we would have done.

Fast forward forty years and popping out in the morning to see if Mrs Chicken has laid me any eggs in the garden feels equally joyful. I have a basket in my hand, the sun is shining and nestled in the straw is a glorious brown, speckled egg, still slightly warm, smooth and beautiful…and so much better for me than the egg wrapped in tinfoil!

The humble egg is one of nature’s most nutrient-dense foods. It’s packed full of protein, choline, omega-3s and antioxidants. Plus, 11 different vitamins and minerals, including iron, selenium, iodine, vitamins A, D, E, folate and B12 and the things you can do with it! Poached, boiled, fried, scrambled or mixed with butter and sugar or milk and flour, they are delicious. In bygone days, they were believed to neutralise a swallowed poison, to be soothing to diseased eyes, and to help dislodge fishbones in the throat!

And eggs are so easy to come by. Every farm shop in the land has beautiful farm fresh eggs stacked on its shelves. Perhaps this Easter, these fresh eggs could be centre stage in the farm shop with the chocolate eggs as backing singers. Let’s draw attention to the humble egg..

Suggestions………

Egg personality of the week nestled amongst the hen eggs… just add googly eyes?
An egg hunt with a difference…. hen eggs hidden around the other veg in the shop?
A “how do you eat yours” campaign? If it works for Cadbury, why not the farm shop?
A display suggesting egg-based recipes with other ingredients easily accessible?

As a busy mum, I know that if you put a box of eggs in my face with a little recipe card of ways to cook it, it’s going in my basket! Here’s 50 ways to have eggs for breakfast to get you started.

Happy Easter!

Kidneys and Powdered Egg, Anyone?

29/02/2024 | 0 Comments

By Roz Hartley

Up in my mum’s attic last weekend (don’t ask!) I came across an old trunk full of photos, postcards and papers which we hadn’t seen before. Hoping for some good old “Cash in the Attic” discoveries, we brought it into the light and started sifting through the mottled, yellowed papers to see if we were millionaires.

A right old trip down memory lane later, but no Turin Shroud, I left clutching a delicate old handwritten book of my grandmother’s recipes which my sister was ready to throw in the bin. I, being rather more sentimental and a sucker for nice handwriting, snaffled it out of the dump pile and brought it home.

I can remember my Granny well despite being only about five when she died. She was stocky and sturdy with tight, greying curls and always a pearl necklace. She had a twinkle in her eye, a kitchen full of melamine and a strange insistence on toilet paper that looked like tracing paper.

I made myself a big, frothy coffee and settled in a sunny spot to commune with the past… two hundred and twenty-five pages of beautiful, black-ink-penned handwriting. I flicked through, looking for something I fancied cooking;
Kidneys? Not really…. Casserole of fish?.. Could do with a better name!…
Tapioca and apples, boiled fruit cake, veal cake..…erm…. Kiss me quick pudding? Maybe.

Every now and then, as I turned a page, not only would I get a strong whiff of aging paper but a little scribbled note would fall out. It was these little blasts from the past which excited me the most. One was a shopping list on the back of a newspaper article from 1949, advertising Pond’s double cleansing cream for “complexions as pretty as almond blossom” and one was a succinct recipe on the front of an envelope, postmarked 1945, to a long-forgotten Mrs Briggs requiring:

1 level tablespoon of dried egg
2 ozs of butter
4 ozs margarine
Half a teacupful of warm milk

I’m not sure what this little nugget would have created but dried, powdered egg featured quite regularly in my Granny’s recipes and, not having heard of it before, I fell down a Google-shaped rabbit hole of wartime recipes.

Rationing during and after World War 2 meant everyone with a ration book was allowed one real egg a week but you could have a tin of dried eggs every two months (one tin was equal to 12 fresh eggs). (I also learned that if you decided to keep your own chickens, you were no longer allowed your fresh egg ration but you could exchange it for chicken food!)

Imagine that!? One egg a week! And that was only if they were available. Shoppers, like my Granny, would have signed up with a specific baker, greengrocer and butcher in their local town and would queue up once a week to pick up their rations. Often, they would get to the front of the queue to find that the last egg or loaf or pack of butter had just been given out and there was nothing they could do about it.

Fresh eggs at The Flower Farm

I made chocolate brownies last week and the recipe required six eggs. I thought nothing of popping to my local farm shop and buying half a dozen eggs and using them all in one cake. I didn’t have to queue, no one asked me for my ration book, I wasn’t offered a substitute of powdered egg in a tin and neither did I hear the air raid siren go off on my way home.

Fully stocked shelves at Cobbs Farm Shop

We may be up against high inflation, global warming and doctors’ strikes but our farm shops are full of fabulous fresh food, eggs are plentiful and Spring is just round the corner. Let’s count our chickens and celebrate the good life. Omelette, anyone?

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Featured Producer – The Wheat Bag Company

1/02/2024 | 0 Comments

The Wheat Bag Company has been established for ten years and prides itself on being a well-known quality brand, designing and manufacturing well-being and home style products made in the UK from quality fabrics by a team of talented, trained people who are passionate about quality. We use independent artists to design our fabrics which are exclusive to us and our products which make us stand out.

Microwavable wheat bags are our hero products that we first started manufacturing ten years ago. They are filled with English organic wheat and lavender buds and when heated in a microwave, for two minutes, they provide soothing, relaxing comfort to snuggle up with and keep warm and help to soothe aches and pains.

Over the years, we have increased our product range to include hot water bottles, eye pillows, door stops, draught excluders and pet bed toppers to name but a few.

Our core customer base is made up of garden centre chains and independents, farm shops, gift shops and department stores and the business is growing year on year.

If you would like to stock any of The Wheat Bag Company products in your farm shop then please get in touch:
Web: thewheatbagcompany.co.uk
Email: sales@thewheatbagcompany.co.uk
Tel: 01747 840500

Text & images supplied by The Wheat Bag Company

If you have a product you would like featured, please contact

New Year, New Me!

22/01/2024 | 2 Comments

By Roz Hartley

I’ve got a dirty secret.

I live a simple life in a small cottage in Dorset. I love my garden. I love my cricket. I love my children (not necessarily in that order but, yes, in that order today!) but there is a room in my house which makes most of my friends twitch. The most compulsive of them can’t resist taking a peek into it when they come round. Some of them visibly shudder as they shut the door again and quickly change the subject. Others have offered to come round and help me with it. I pretend it doesn’t bother me but somewhere, deep down, I feel ashamed.

We’re not talking Fifty Shades of Grey secret room. It’s just my utility room/ crafting room/ general dumping ground. People are coming over for dinner – I open the door and throw the debris in. Online delivery arrives – shove the packaging in there. Stuff waiting for the charity shop – pop a bag in the utility room. The detritus of life has a terrible knack of building up until you can hardly open the door. I dread the question,

”Mum, have you seen my football boots?”

as I know they are in there somewhere, muddy and manky, under layers of other lost, forgotten paraphernalia. I joke with my daughter that;

“I’m going in…. if I’m not out in ten minutes, hire a winch”

Well, not anymore. It’s finally time. New year, new me and all that.

Some are getting down the gym, some are training for marathons. Some poor fools have given up alcohol and others are learning to dance. I am sorting out my utility room and erasing my dirty secret. It’s the only thing that I can do, for free, that will enhance my life and make me feel like a shiny new me.

Did you try something new? Did it last longer than the second week of January?

I looked back at my resolutions for last year and the declaration I publicly made in 2023’s January newsletter was to eat more seasonally and buy more locally. I like to think that the promise I made to myself has now become part of my everyday, a shift in habits which I hope is being echoed around the country as shoppers realise that they have the power to choose where they spend their pounds. Meals created from fresh, seasonal, local produce benefit our bodies, our planet and our communities. That’s a big outcome for a little new year’s resolution!

And how’s my clear up going? Well, I can now open the door so check in next year and I might be able to see the floor.

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Featured Farm Shop – Somerset
Newton Farm Shop and Café

11/01/2024 | 0 Comments

Newton Farm Shop and Café is a family-owned business nestled away on the Duchy of
Cornwall Estate in the picturesque village of Newton St Loe, just a 10 minute drive from the
centre of Bath.

This little jewel in the crown incorporates a working farm, award-winning farm shop,
traditional butchery, and spacious licenced café with an outside courtyard and children’s
play area.

The Gay family produce their own home-reared meats and homegrown fruit and vegetables for use in the café and farm shop, alongside locally sourced produce, handpicked from local suppliers. They take pride in stocking a wide range of local products thus reducing their carbon footprint, supporting local business and investing in the community.

Newton Farm’s own lamb, beef and pork is sold in the on-site butchery, and fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables in the farm shop. Their own meats and vegetables are also used in the café menu which includes a delightful selection of freshly prepared dishes, all cooked on site, from breakfast through to lunch and afternoon tea.

4th generation farmer, Josh, is passionate about regenerative farming and works with the
land to improve the ecosystem, soil health and crops, thus preserving the land for future
generations.

Mon-Sat 9am – 5pm
Sun 9am – 4pm

Local delivery & contactless collections available

Newton Farm Shop
Newton St Loe
Bath
BA2 9BT
01225 873707
Email
Website

If you would like to have your farm shop featured at the top of your county page, please contact

Featured Farm Shop – Dorset
Jurassic Coast Farm Shop

2/01/2024 | 0 Comments

Jurassic Coast Farm Shop deliver the finest and freshest produce at affordable prices from the countryside straight to your kitchen, with local high-quality meat and meat products. This includes our own award-winning Aberdeen Angus Beef & Outdoor Bred Duroc Cross Pork, reared on our family farm at Fossil Farm in Winfrith Newburgh, South Dorset. We also stock a range of food and drink products from local Dorset producers including free-range meats, sustainably sourced fish, local cheeses, fruit and vegetables. All available to buy from the farm shop or on our website.

With an increasing demand for local and sustainably sourced produce, we opened Jurassic Coast Farm Shop with the aim to deliver the finest and freshest produce from the countryside straight to your kitchen table. Supporting other local farmers and growers is something we are proud of. As farmers ourselves, we understand what goes into producing high quality free-range meat and we care about the welfare of our animals.

“We are passionate about traditional British farming and using agricultural methods that sustain the environment for the future.”

Participating in a Higher-Level Stewardship agricultural-environmental management scheme, we are proud to say that we are working hard to conserve the local wildlife, protect our natural resources, protect the historical landscape and promote public access and understanding of the countryside.

One of our primary focuses is protecting and feeding the wild birds such as lapwing, corn bunting and grey partridge. We also plant pollen and nectar-rich flowers to create a habitable environment for the local bees, butterflies and hoverflies. To date, we have planted 1.2 hectares of trees across the farm with the belief that we are cutting down our carbon footprint and giving back to the countryside.

We’re excited to announce that we’ve also recently expanded our beloved farm shop. We’ve incorporated a new counter and fridge to better display our meat and local products. Our mission to support local producers remains as strong as ever, and we’ve expanded our offerings to include even more Dorset produced products. You can also grab a cup of freshly brewed coffee from our new bean to cup machine as you peruse our selection.

We are extremely proud to support other local Dorset farmers and growers and are passionate about sustaining the environment. Whether it be your weekly shop, an indulgent treat or for a dinner party, we provide a one stop shop for everything you need!

Best South West Online Retailer at The Taste Of The West Awards 2023.

OPENING HOURS:
Wednesday – Sunday 9am-3pm
Online shopping 24/7
Deliveries available

Jurassic Coast Farm Shop

Fossil Farm
Dorchester
DT2 8DB
01305 853937
info@jurassiccoastfarmshop.co.uk
www.jurassiccoastfarmshop.co.uk

If you would like to have your farm shop featured at the top of your county page, please contact

Product Review – Mr Filbert’s Fine Foods (Pt4)

11/12/2023 | 0 Comments

The Fabulous Farm Shops review panel have a bit of history with those excellent people at Filbert’s Fine Foods and every now and then they ship us a little trio of new snacks for us to crack open and review. It’s always a good day when we open a box to find Mr Filbert peeking out and this time was no exception.

Like a lucky dip (but without the annoying sawdust), I plunged my hand into the box to see what goodies we were going to try this time.

Salt and Pepper Cashews (pocket size)

First out the box was a cute little packet of Mr Filbert’s Salt and Pepper cashews, “oven roasted to perfection then tumbled with sea salt and black pepper for a perfect savoury snack”.

Gosh, I love a cashew! I think of it as the perfect nut. To start with, the shape is ergonomically pleasing, as if the creator was really beginning to loosen up and let his imagination run a little riot. And the flavour – never quite what you’re expecting when you pop it in your mouth. The texture? Slightly oily but solid and reassuring.

Anyway, I love them just the way they are. So, when I realised that the good folk at Mr Filbert’s have dared to play with perfection, I was slightly concerned. I needn’t have worried. Of course, Mr Filbert, in his dashing black apron with his shock of carroty hair and winning smile, can be trusted to enhance any snack he turns his wooden spoon to.

This time, he has rifled though his condiments and chosen two beautifully complementary flavours, as old as the hills: salt and pepper. What could go wrong? Nothing! Quite simply a brilliant enhancement. And it wasn’t just me that thought so. Listen to the joy from the panel of Fabulous Farm Shops reviewers:

“Delicious! Salty and extremely tasty. Ideal with drinkies!”

“Oh yes! That little peppery addition. A bit of heat…a bit of vavavoom”

“Salt and pepper…the winning combo, the perfect pairing. Just enough flavour to make you sit up and notice.”

The cashews retain their creamy, satisfying bite. They still sit in your hand like little magic beans, tempting you to put them one by one into your mouth but now they pack a tantalising punch, urging you to have another as soon as the first one is chewed up and swallowed. I didn’t think a cashew needed anything to take it closer to heaven, but Mr Filbert has done just that.

And the snack-pack size must also be mentioned – 40g of nut-tastic joy in an attractive little pouch. Pop one of these in your pocket if you’re hiking up a mountain, kayaking down a river or just taking the dog for a walk. There is enough in there to give you a fabulous, savoury boost of energy, whatever activity you’re undertaking – and you don’t need to share it with anyone.

Salted Caramel Chocolate & Nut Mix

Next up, this little packet of joy announces that it “combines salted honeyed nuts with chocolate and Cornish caramel fudge to produce a scrumptious sweet and salty snack”. Now on paper that really doesn’t sound like it should work. Where in the world would you put chocolate covered raisins, salted nuts and nuggets of fudge together?

I want to know how they came up with this one! I like to imagine that two busy executives at Mr Filbert’s were both snacking en route to the boardroom, hurrying down the corridor when they crashed into each other. Executive A spilt his bag of nuts on the floor whilst executive B dropped her fudge and chocolate. In a scramble to pick up all the bits, and get to their meeting in time, the snacks got muddled and EUREKA! the mix to end all mixes was born.

However it happened, it’s genius. Everyone who tasted it on our panel of snackers, loved it.

“So moreish!
A perfect combination of sweet and salty.”

“I love the surprise of flavour in each bite, not knowing exactly what you are going to get. I try them with my eyes closed and sneak up on my taste buds.”

Mr Filbert describes them as “deliciously indulgent” and he’s not wrong. There is also a really generous serving in each pouch. Pop a packet of these in your picnic basket or backpack and your snack time will reach new heights or put a bowl of these out for nibbles at your next drinks party to get the conversation going. Better than charades!

Mr Filbert’s Artisanal Salami

Last, but not least, our tasting session ended with a snack-sized packet containing two little sticks of chorizo/salami or “premium tender pork with paprika and spices”. The packet also informs us that “the traditional salami is carefully handcrafted and naturally cured to produce an authentic Iberian snack that is high in protein, low in sugar and totally gluten free.”

There is also a rather welcome suggestion that they are best enjoyed with a glass of IPA beer or Rioja wine. Well, it would be rude not to follow such a piece of advice, so we cracked open a bottle of red and got down to the nitty gritty.

The packet contains two sticks of salami each about the size of a Sharpie and considered just the right size for a hit of flavour and substance. My son is a salami snack oficionado, having craved serious, strong flavours from a young age, and when he saw these on my table he fluttered around like a moth to a flame.

His eyes lit up when I suggested he gave them a go and one disappeared into his mouth before anyone could shout “what’s for tea?”. He tore into it like Zorro and declared:

“great texture – dense and satisfying”

He chewed for a while and murmured:

“Nice little hit of spice. Who’s the other one for”?

Well, that went down well! Other reviewers were similarly pleased with these little sticks of Spanish sausage. One wrote:

“Fab flavour! Brilliant with a pint”

“Reckon I could bull fight after a couple of these”

wrote another, who had obviously picked up on the tapas theme (and perhaps enjoyed more than a snifter of Rioja!)

“I would put these in my lunch box or my pocket when going fishing”

suggested another -rather specifically, but equally helpful!

I have to add that it was the smell that pleased me the most. I have a nose like a bloodhound and sometimes a really meaty salami can put me off, but this snack has the heavenly scent of paprika, warm and enticing.

So, it was a resounding “Olé” from the Fabulous Farm Shops panel for these savoury delights.

All in all, another fabulously successful trio of snacks from Filberts Fine Foods. We have yet to try a bad one from these makers and can recommend, hand on heart, stocking a selection of these well-packaged snacks in your farm shop.

To read previous reviews click here

If you have a product you would like us to review, please contact

This is not just VEG…
This is FARM SHOP VEG

1/12/2023 | 0 Comments

By Roz Hartley

You know it and I know it… eating fresh vegetables, straight from the soil, grown in your own back garden or from the farm down the road, makes your taste buds explode with an extraordinary depth of flavour that can very rarely (I’d like to say never) be matched by a plastic-wrapped, supermarket offering that has been flown or trucked across the globe.

I’ve just pulled a home-grown leek from my own teeny, little veggie patch and the fabulous, oniony perfume is still on my fingers as I type this article.

Yes, there’s a significant amount of mud trapped in its glistening crevices which I’ll need to spend a few minutes washing out, but the payoff is well worth it for the intense flavour that it will give to my soup.

Leeks are in season right now and are such hard-working little vegetables.

Apart from the complex taste that they bring to a stew, a soup, a pasta sauce, a casserole – they also come with a huge list of health benefits.

Who knew that they contain flavonoids which protect our blood vessels and polyphenols which protect against cancer?

Thank the Romans, who introduced them to the UK, and believed that eating them could soothe the throat and improve the voice… I feel a song coming on!

The glory of the leek is celebrated nowhere more than in the farm shops spread throughout England. Walk into any one of them today and I guarantee that the display of leeks will have your mouth watering. Lush dark green leaves fading to the beautiful pale green and white bulbs are waiting for customers, freshly picked from the farm.

Picture from Field of Dreams Farm Shop in Suffolk

Eating local, seasonal food should be our battle cry.

Yes, it reduces food miles, reduces packaging, helps the planet but, more than anything, it tastes AMAZING and does your body good. Reaching out to the general public with this heartfelt message must drive more people into the farm shop.

Everywhere we are seeing our members promoting the glorious, fresh, seasonal vegetables in their shops, photographing humble, wonky, earthy potatoes and honest, papery-skinned onions.

Picture from Hayhead Farm Shop Picture from Flint & Oak Farm Shop

One farm shop, Sandy Lane Farm in Oxfordshire, even posted an informative reel on “how to wash your veg”. Consumers used to buying a ready washed, ready-trimmed, insipid, packaged leek from the supermarket may well feel overwhelmed when faced with the fully-clothed variety from the farm so what excellent marketing!

We’ve also seen farm shops offering seasonal recipes to their customers, “how to get the best from your veg” suggestions, what’s freshest this month, number of food miles per vegetable.. lots of innovative ways to share the love.

Although it might be nice, one does not need a Marks and Spencer’s marketing team or budget to get the message across …

this is not just a leek, this is a farm shop leek!

Keep spreading the word, keep growing those veg and keep stocking the shelves! The seasonal eaters out there thank you and we at Fabulous Farm Shops salute you (with a leek, of course!).

Have an interesting story you would like us to share? Contact our editor…

Are you FEELING it yet?

30/11/2023 | 0 Comments

a note from THE editor, Roz Hartley

Christmassy, I mean? I think it gets harder and harder each year to get into the spirit. The tinkle of bells introduces Mariah Carey’s festive belter and all I seem to think about is how much money she must make from that blasted tune, her private cash cow! Cynical, I know.

The magic that is Christmas as a child seems to be an elusive ideal the older you get. Last year, I pulled my own name out of the sack for our work “Secret Santa” and rather than admitting to it and putting it back in to choose another one, I kept it, bought myself something I actually wanted, wrapped it and looked forward to opening it with a genuine smile. Very sensible, I thought, but not really capturing the Spirit of Christmas!

Even John Lewis seems to have lost their way this year. Nothing says Christmas quite like a Venus Fly Trap!

I thought my daughter was losing the festive joy yesterday when she announced that she no longer wants a stocking on Christmas Day. (She is fifteen, after all, but I just assumed this tradition would survive for as long as she is my daughter). She followed it up with “I don’t really need anything LITTLE” which made me chuckle and remind myself not to jump to conclusions. She still wants presents, just not silly little stocking fillers!

Well, she’s going to get one, perhaps more for me than for her.

I will fill it with useful things – the ubiquitous socks, new pens, a phone charger and mascara – everything a teenage girl consumes on a daily basis – and some yummy little sweet treats from my local farm shop – hot chocolate, yoghurt coated raisins and her favourite little biscuits which we save for special occasions. And she will get in to bed with me on Christmas morning and I will “ooh” and “aaah” in mock surprise at all the things she opens in front of me…because that is our tradition and that will make me feel it! Christmassy, I mean.

Even if it’s only for the actual day itself, the Spirit of Christmas will come, and you’ll find me tapping my foot and raising a glass to Mariah and the great song she created all those years ago.

Have an interesting story you would like us to share? Contact our editor…

Product Review – Gunner Cocktails

30/11/2023 | 0 Comments

Our Fabulous Farm Shops Review Panel never shy away from the tough jobs so when an intriguing box arrived at HQ, filled with nifty little cans of Gunner cocktails, we breathed in, dug deep and selected a blue one and a red one each, then watched the clock until it was home time.

Back in our respective homes, as soon as the sun went down (somewhere!), favourite glasses were filled with ice, Gunner cans were extracted from the fridge, selected garnishes were chopped and arranged and a collective PFFFSSSS could be heard as cans were opened and poured.

These eye-catching little cans come in two varieties. Choose your weapon depending on your mood or your taste or your dietary requirement. For the drivers, the dry-Januaryers, the over-indulgers and the non-drinkers…make a beeline for the red-stripe or the SAINT or the “classic effervescent mix of ginger, bitters and lime”

For the polite tipplers, the hardened boozers or pretty much everyone I know, get your mitts on a blue-stripe or the SINNER or the “classic effervescent mix of ginger, bitters and lime with a SHOT OF DARK RUM”.

So are you a Saint or a Sinner?

Let’s start with the Saints among us…

There’s a pleasing fizz when you pour the contents out of the can and the beautiful amber colour is worth noting. It looks very tempting in a glass…whatever shape you choose to wrap your hand around!

I loaded my fave (and appropriately emblazoned) glass with a tonne of ice, garnished with a wedge of lemon and poured. It looks good and the ice is a recommended addition – not just so you can feel like you’re on a cruise ship as the ice cubes tinkle together– but this drink is best uber-cold.

The first sip is good -a little buzzing around the lips as the ginger hits my skin and a little tickle up the nostrils. I want more but I am not tempted to glug it back. I can imagine taking my time over this, standing at a party making conversations and gradually sipping away, enjoying the tingle of the flavours between each anecdote.

Others felt the same:

“Wow! – what a lovely blend of flavours – slightly spicy. Delicious.”

“Ooh! This ginger brings the heat!”

“I would definitely choose this if I was out and was the designated driver. Makes a great change from the usual soft drinks and much more exciting than water. Make mine a Gunners!”

“Tasty..mmmmmmmm! My lips are buzzing!”.”

It was a resounding thumbs up from the review panel at Fabulous Farm Shops. Stock this in your farm shop and we think you will have a happy band of dedicated followers. You might even see a few of us in there too, stocking up, as one reviewer concluded:

“The Saint is my favourite go-to drink now. I really need to order another box”

So could the Sinner have the same effect on us all?

The website description tells us that the Gunner Original Sinner is mixed with a shot and a half of aged dark rum “for a little more punch”. They call it “the Dark & Stormy of the 21st Century, the perfect “sundowner” for an evening on the terrace, or in your favourite place”

Well, that sounds pretty tempting….

None of us were able to sip our drinks on the terrace as the outdoor temperatures had recently dropped to shrivelling so we made do with a tipple by the fire.

There is 4.5% alcohol in the can (no added preservatives) just dark rum, which adds a lovely scent to the liquid and the colour is as glorious as the non-alcoholic version. The first sip is warming and wholesome.

“The perfect drink for an autumnal day”

wrote one reviewer, and I know exactly what she meant.

“Lovely warming feeling. It builds in my throat and floods through my ears…”

I was less in tune with this one but I’m glad he was enjoying it!

The rum adds a subtle flavour, not too overpowering, but complements the gingeryness of the mixer and, poured over ice, creates a really tasty, thigh-slapping drink.

I think you could happily sip on a few of these over an evening in your own home, at a bring-your-own party or pop a few in your cooler box if you’re out for a bbq or beach picnic. I have to say I’m tempted to keep one in my handbag for the next kids’ rugby match I have to watch. It might take the edge off my frozen toes.

So, it was a double success for Gunners on the night. The recipe may be from the 1800s but the very modern Fabulous Farm Shops’ team thoroughly enjoyed both the Saint and the Sinner and even a few who were not usually keen on rum were converted. Our red seal of approval was swiftly applied to the bottom of our review, and we all metaphorically clinked our near-empty glasses.

Cheers!

To order your Gunners Cocktail, just get in touch
Call or email Edward on 07516 741817
edward@originalgunner.com
www.originalgunner.com

If you have a product you would like us to review, please contact

Comfort Food, Anyone?

30/10/2023 | 0 Comments

a note from THE editor, Roz Hartley

Oh my gosh, it was chilly this morning. When the alarm went off at a stupid number that started with a six and I opened one eye to total darkness, the thought of throwing off the covers and actually getting up was more unappealing than usual. Sure enough, peeking through the curtains, I saw there was a frost on the barn roof in the field opposite me and fat, fluffed up birds sitting on the wires strung between the telegraph poles, keeping their feet warm.

When the season irrefutably changes from summer to autumn and the woolly socks come out, not only do I start to consider lighting the wood burner and adding another layer to my duvet but my need for heavy-weight comfort food becomes a slight obsession. I find myself leafing through cookery books salivating over unctuous stews and boiling broths, gooey chocolate cakes and creamy mashed potato. Let’s face it, food is the most primitive form of comfort.

I caught the tail-end of a Nigella Lawson cooking show this week which I sucked up like a thirsty man in the desert! She wafted about in her incredibly beautiful kitchen whilst making a brie, fig and prosciutto sandwich. The photography was as close to inappropriate as you can get on a cooking programme with slurpy, dripping fingers poking little bits of melted cheese into the corners of her lipsticked-mouth but the sheer quality of the ingredients was what got me.

The ripened fig was nestled in a fruit bowl of similarly delicious looking fruit, no plastic wrap and no supermarket stickers. The prosciutto that Nigella lifted from her immaculate fridge was wrapped in brown, waxy paper from the delicatessen down the road and looked ostensibly incredible and the brie was perfect, oozing and creamy, just like it would be from the cheese counter at my farm shop, not solid and cold from the chiller cabinet in the supermarket.

She popped them all in between slices of floury sourdough and proceeded to fry the whole lot in a chunk of yellow butter the size of a small country and my mouth dribbled with unfettered desire. I checked no-one heard the small moan that escaped from my lips.

As George Bernard Shaw famously wrote; “There is no sincerer love than the love of food” and in that moment I loved that sandwich more than my children and wished, not for the first time, that Nigella was my neighbour who kept knocking on my door to taste test her food.

The look of food is just as important as the taste, perhaps even more so, as it hints at the joy to come, the pleasure we associate with eating and elevates the experience from a simple need to fuel our bodies into the intense joy of devouring a good dish. As Gianfranco Perri (founder of Just Gourmet Foods) wrote in Speciality Food Magazine this month;

“it is .. important for independents to build a multi-sensory experience for the customer. Food shopping shouldn’t be a sterile process, and we can be positively inspired through all our senses. Good food retailing is an art and one to be indulged with visual impact, smell, taste and through the positive emotions that a customer will hopefully leave your shop with.”

That’s it…right there. I want to walk into my local farm shop, grab a basket and fill it with food that wouldn’t look out of place in Nigella’s kitchen. Comfort food is going to keep us warm this week (and hopefully delay the central heating going on for a little bit longer!). After all, I’d much rather spend my money on figs and cheese than gas.

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Featured Farm Shop – Warwickshire
The Farm Shop Bidford

20/10/2023 | 0 Comments

At Bidford Farm Shop, we take immense pride in being a true farm-to-table destination. Our produce is sourced directly from our own family-owned farm and a network of trusted local farmers and artisans. This ensures that every item you find in our shop is not only fresh but also sustainably grown, ethically sourced, and bursting with flavour, with super low food miles on the clock too!

Our shelves are stocked with a wide variety of fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, carefully selected to ensure the highest quality and taste. From juicy Evesham strawberries in the summer to hearty Bidford pumpkins in the Autumn, our offerings change with the seasons, allowing you to experience the very best of what each season has to offer.

We offer experiential shopping, where you can pick your own pumpkins and sunflowers in the summer too – something that all of the family (Dogs too, on leads!) can get involved with, making memories that last.

We are new kids on the block, only opening the Farm Shop in 2022, but we’ve been farming the land here for generations – and now we’ve created a hub for the community to purchase their fresh fruit, veg, meat, dairy – even cake and ice creams!

Our knowledgeable and friendly staff are always on hand to assist you in finding exactly what you need and provide recommendations based on your preferences. We prioritize a personalized shopping experience, ensuring that you leave our shop not only satisfied but also inspired to create amazing meals with our fresh, high-quality products.

Nestled in the heart of picturesque countryside, Bidford Farm Shop is your go-to destination for all things fresh, local, and delicious. We have plenty of free parking on site too – so no worrying about finding a space!

Bidford Farm Shop is not just about fresh produce—it’s a hub for supporting local artisans and their crafts. Browse through our small selection of handcrafted goods, which change regularly, in line with the seasons and as new businesses come on board. By purchasing from our shop, you contribute to the livelihoods of these talented individuals and help sustain a vibrant local community.

We can create hampers for you – for your own use, or to give as gifts, let us know what sort of thing you’d like in it and we’ll create the magic.

As well as the farm shop, we have an annual Maize Maze – which brings families together to challenge their map-reading or their intuition- making a fun day out with the maze at the centre of it all, We also have a horsebox trailer, delivering fabulous refreshments and (very!) free range ducks and chickens that always delight visitors.

OPENING HOURS:
Wednesday – Saturday 10am-5pm
Sunday 10am-2pm

The Farm Shop
Bidford on Avon
Wessons Farm, Grafton Lane
Bidford on Avon
B50 4DU
07793 843935
kate@wessonsfarm.co.uk
www.thefarmshopbidford.co.uk

If you would like to have your farm shop featured at the top of your county page, please contact

shop@stoughtongrangefarm.co.uk
stoughtongrangefarm.co.uk

Featured Farm Shop – Leicestershire
Stoughton Grange Farm Shop

9/10/2023 | 0 Comments

Stoughton Grange Farm Shop is a charming farm shop located in Leicester. The shop offers a wide range of fresh and locally sourced produce, including fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy products. The farm shop prides itself on its commitment to sustainability and ethical farming practices, ensuring that all of its products are of the highest quality.

In addition to its fresh produce, Stoughton Grange Farm Shop also has a delightful café that serves delicious homemade cakes, sandwiches, and hot meals. The café is a popular spot for locals and visitors alike, offering a cozy and welcoming atmosphere to enjoy a meal or a cup of tea.

One of the standout features of Stoughton Grange Farm is its friendly and knowledgeable staff. The team is always on hand to help customers with any questions or recommendations, and they take pride in providing excellent customer service.

Overall, Stoughton Grange Farm is a must-visit destination for anyone in the Leicestershire area. Whether you’re looking for fresh produce, a tasty meal, or just a friendly chat, the farm shop is sure to exceed your expectations.

Opening times:
Mon – Sat 9am til 6pm
Sun 10am til 4pm

Stoughton Grange Farm Shop
Gartree Road
Oadby
Leicester
LE2 2FB

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BOGOFs can BOG OFF!

29/09/2023 | 0 Comments

a note from the editor, Roz Hartley

For the past few years, I have driven past this sign on my way to work and watched as the price of horse manure has steadily dropped. It used to read £1 a bag and the pile of large plastic bags, full to bursting with horse poop, would entice passers-by to fill up their car boots with steaming manure to sprinkle on their roses or veggie beds. Obviously, the pile wasn’t going down as quickly as the seller required, so soon afterwards, the price dropped to 50p a bag.

Driving by last week, I noticed that the sign had once again been updated. The price of horse dung has hit an all-time low in this neck of the woods as it is now FREE to anyone who can be bothered to lift a bag and pop it in their car. Free!! It seems whilst prices rise in pretty much every other market, from grain to petrol, from rents to cheese, there exists one place where you can grab a bargain – pony poo!

I’m sure a few people were excited by the freebies at the side of the road. The word “FREE” can make a person do all sorts of out of character things. I feel my fingers twitch when I see a “BUY ONE GET ONE FREE” (or the delightfully named BOGOF offers) in my local supermarket. Who else comes home clutching two bags of doughnuts when really all they went in for was a box of matches? It’s false economy really. No one needs two bags of doughnuts …. It could be argued that no one really needs ONE. The word FREE makes us lose our rationale and gather up stuff that we ordinarily wouldn’t look twice at.

I am trying to be a better shopper. I am trying to not get sidetracked. Just because horse poop is free, doesn’t mean I automatically put some in my car boot and so neither should I pick up bags of doughnuts.

Freebies in supermarkets are just the tip of the destructive pricing model iceberg that lures consumers into expecting to pay less and less for the food. The reality behind the BOGOF is that producers are not being paid fairly for their hard work, their own profits are being squeezed into non-existence and food production in the UK is shrinking as a result.

“Farmers cannot keep feeding us if they are denied commitment and security and are not making a fair, reasonable profit”

says the eloquent Guy Singh-Watson of Riverford.

Everything should be pointing the conscientious shopper to the farm shop where the supply chain is short and the pricing fair. We’ll keep shouting about you and fuelling the revolution! Shoppers… turn your back on those BOGOFs and get down to your local farm shop. A bag of free horse manure to the first ten customers through the door.

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