NosH&Jumper
Kent Farm Trip
Tuesday October 3rd 2006
Our recent gastronomic tour of the Garden of England was a great success and provided inspiration for a number of our chefs who came along for a day of education, fun and of course for the great food and beer.
We set off from London at the crack of dawn in our charabanc, munching on smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels and combating any sleepiness with large amounts of coffee. First stop was Romney Marsh where we had been invited to a farm and market garden owned by Deborah and Clive. Threading our way through geese and chickens we tramped out to the fields to admire the multi-coloured rainbow chard, calabrese broccoli and different varieties of cabbages. Clive gave us some top tips for growing vegetables and John Lawless of City Herbs, one of our greengrocers, explained that any vegetables we order from Deborah and Clive will be cut from these fields that day. It would be hard to get fresher than that in central London!
Next we were off to meet Sandy (pronounced Sand) Dawes, a fruit farmer whose family has owned and worked the farm for over 300 years. This was an idyllic setting and we felt as though we had been transported to a different era as we wandered through the cherry orchards, sampled the strawberries and looked forward to the apples and pears that were starting to ripen on the trees. Sandy talked us through the process of growing soft fruit, the perils and pitfalls as well as the rewards. We all agreed that the results were delicious.
We got to Whitstable in time for lunch and were treated to delicious oysters as part of the Whitstable Oyster Festival. This annual ceremony of thanksgiving goes back to Norman times and although it is held during the closed season for native oysters, we were able to taste farmed oysters that are imported from Portugal and grown on in the beds here.
The final treat of the day was a tour around Britain’s oldest brewery, Shepherd Neame in Faversham, which was founded in 1698. We learnt how the tradition of brewing was established in the town in the 12th Century by Benedictine monks who realised that the combination of Faversham’s spring water with locally-grown malting barley produced particularly fine ale. Much of the barley used today still comes from Kent and we have to agree with the monks that the beer is very good!
Our next trip is planned for the end of November when we will be taking some chefs to Norfolk to see the free-range turkey farm where we will be buying all our Christmas turkeys. The afternoon will be spent in a butchery masterclass with one of our suppliers. We will report back after this visit.
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