A Trip to Batsford Arboretum

It was such an amazingly warm day yesterday, that we decided to go for a leisurely walk in the Cotswolds. It had been a few years since we last visited Batsford Arboretum near Moreton in Marsh, so this was the ideal opportunity to make a return trip...

 

Lichen on the trees in front of Batsford House

The majority of the layout of Batsford Arboretum was little more than a dream when its creator inherited the Batsford Estates from John Freeman-Mitford in 1886.During the 1860s Algernon Bertram (Bertie) Freeman-Mitford (later 1st Lord Redesdale) travelled widely in oriental Asia and was deeply influenced by the landscapes in China and Japan. He became fascinated by many of the plants he found there, especially the bamboos. However, it was not until 1890 that Bertie was able to turn his attention to the gardens.

One of the many Maple trees in Batsford

He adopted a radical approach, almost erasing all traces of the original layout. He created a 'wild' garden of near natural plantings inspired by his observations of plant groupings in the Japanese landscape. He was able to create a garden which combined conventional parkland with a garden landscape. Most of the major trees, many of which are most unusual, were his original plantings.

The Late afternoon sun shines on the Bamboos

He also created one of the foremost bamboo collections of the time and some of these still live on today. As well as introducing a multitude of unusual plants, Bertie Mitford created an artificial watercourse some 600 metres long down the west side of the gardens. He enlisted the help of the well known landscapers, the Pulham Brothers, to build other major features which can still be seen today including the rockeries, streams and waterfalls, lake and the hermits cave.

Liquidambar Styraciflua, "Sweetgum"

 

In 1916 Bertie, now the 1st Lord Redesdale, died and was succeeded by his second son David who was father of the famous Mitford girls. The five older girls and their brother Tom all lived at Batsford during the first world war. The oldest, Nancy, based the early part of her novel 'Love in a Cold Climate' on their time at Batsford. 

The estate was sold to cover death duties in 1919 to Gilbert Hamilton Wills, later the 1st Lord Dulverton. His wife, Victoria took a great interest in the gardens making many additions. During the war years and for some time after 1945, the wild gardens were neglected and became somewhat overgrown. Frederick Hamilton Wills succeeded his father as the 2nd Lord Dulverton in 1956. Fortunately he had a great passion for trees and together with Mr. Ken Hope, his head forester, he proceeded throughout the 1960s to halt the decline. With great vigour and enthusiasm he consolidated the existing collections as well as adding a multitude of other trees to Batsford. He was single-handedly responsible for raising the status of Batsford to an arboretum of international standing.

The Autumn colours in front of the house

In 1984 Batsford Park was donated to a charitable trust founded by the 2nd Lord Dulverton to ensure the future of the arboretum. The 2nd Lord Dulverton died in 1992 and the Batsford Arboretum continues to be administered by the Batsford Foundation who proceed to develop the arboretum as a place of great beauty to enjoy as an educational resource.

The last two years have seen a major rebuilding plan in the garden centre and cafe/restaurant area. There is now plenty on offer for a family visit, with excellent food and drinks. Plenty of visitors were tucking into their Sunday roast when we visited: Roast Beef and Yorkshire puddings. Fortunately, the arboretum is large enough to walk off even the heartiest lunch!

The new build and border

If you would like to visit, please check the Batsford website for opening times and charges as well as details on the important Conservation work carried out there. We will certainly not be leaving it so long before returning again...
More pictures on my Flickr page

Understanding Blackberries, with Recipe

Last week, I got to visit New Covent Garden Market for the first time. It is MASSIVE! But, hiding in the maze of vans, pallets and fruit and veg is a smart little meeting venue called The Orangery...
Following a flurry of activity on Twitter about the developments in Blackberries (the fruit, not the smartphone) Hargreaves Plants (Berry Buddies) and Carol Ford of Growing Direct decided to arrange a get together titled "Understanding Blackberries." Now, you might think that a whole load of people getting together to talk about blackberries would be stretching attention spans a little, but with careful planning and a great list of speakers, it was fascinating!

José Souto

The evening included an entertaining cookery demonstration from guest of honour, Chef José Souto, Master C.G.C. and Chef Lecturer in Culinary Arts at Westminster Kingsway College, London. José cooked several treats for us, including this delicious Roast Loin of Muntjac with our Blackberry Vinegar.The vinegar brought a beautiful Autumnal fruitiness to the meat and made it so tender. José really got the best out of both the Muntjac and the vinegar in this well crafted recipe...

Roast loin of Muntjac glazed with

Womersley Blackberry vinegar syrup 
and served with a Blackberry infused jus

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 Muntjac loin

250g Blackberries

500ml Venison stock

150g game trimmings (cut small dice venison is best to use but other game or a mix of game will do) cut into small dice

1 Carrot

½ small Onion         

½ stick Celery

½ Garlic clove

1 tea spoon Tomato puree

1 glass Red Wine

Sprig of fresh Thyme

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Oil

A good dash of Womersley Blackberry vinegar

1 teaspoon of sugar (optional) 

Method

1. Fry off Game trimmings with a little oil to give a good colour: do a bit at a time. Remove from pan and keep to one side.
2. Fry off veg that has been diced small in same pan with a little more oil again to give good colour.  
3. Once veg has fried, add Trimmings to veg and add tomato puree. Fry off for 2 to 3 min. 
4. Add wine, thyme and allow to reduce by half. 
5. Add stock, season and reduce by a third. 
6. Strain through a fine strainer and if you would like a thicker consistency reduce some more.  
7. Keep 2 or 3 blackberries back for garnish. Put the rest in a pan with a dash of water and cover.
8. Once the blackberries have stewed for a minute or 2, remove the pan from the heat and, using a hand blender, liquidise them. 
9. Strain the blackberry puree and fold into the jus. If need be, reduce the jus until it is like double cream.
10. Season and fry the Muntjac loin in oil sealing it on all sides then remove from pan.
11. To the pan add the Womersley Blackberry vinegar, allow to reduce to a thick syrup.
12. Place the loins back into pan and roll them in the syrup so they have a good covering of the glaze.
13. Place Muntjac into oven at 180°C for 5 min then remove and allow to stand for 10 min uncovered in a warm area of the kitchen.
14. Deglaze the pan with the jus just to take off the flavours of the syrup.
15. Cut the venison, serve with the Blackberry jus and whole fresh Blackberries. 

Afterwards, José was joined by Vickie from Humbers Homemade as they demonstrated how to make a flavoursome Blackberry jam.
 

We were also treated to an insight into recent and future developments in the fruit with particular attention to the varieties Ouichita (pronounced Which-it-ah), Apache (yes, the same name as the chilli we use!) Reuben, Navaho and Chester (the variety we use in our Blackberry Vinegar).

Chester Blackberries

Professor John Clark from Arkansas University was particularly entertaining as he described the breeding, selection and developments of new cultivars. There is a lot more on this in an excellent blog article on the Berry Buddies site.
We also enjoyed an informative talk from the soft fruit buyer of ASDA, Andy Jackson. He bravely predicted that these new varieties will see a healthy increase in sales of blackberries over the next 3-5 years which, at £30M, only account for about 4% of the soft fruit sales in the UK today. This could be very valuable since soft fruits is the highest value sector in supermarket groceries. R&D Manager of Hargreaves, Jane Fairlie, showed the different levels of flavour volatility and this showed that our favoured variety, Chester, has a relatively low flavour volatility. However, Jane was amazed at the intesnsity of flavour of our Blackberry vinegar which just goes to show that there is a blackberry variety out there for everyone!

 
Notes: Thanks to all who arranged "Understanding Blackberries" and congratulations particularly to Carol Ford for organising such a good turn out and in such a short time! Thanks, too, to Jonathan Brown of Hargreaves Plants and to Liz O'Keefe of FPJ for the photographs.

"Duck and Lime" by Ben Spalding

GRESSINGHAM DUCK BREAST, ATOMIC RED, GLAZED GIZZARDS

With Womersley Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender Vinegar Dressing

By Ben Spalding of Roganic

Ingredients

2 Gressingham Duck Breasts (plucked)

250g atomic red carrots or (young carrots with green tops attached)

10 large donkey carrots

200g salted butter

50g mizuna or rocket leaves

200g concentrated brown chicken stock to sauce consistency or 4 chicken stock cubes mixed with boiling water

100ml Womersley Lime, black pepper and Lavender vinegar dressing

10 Redcurrants

Rapeseed oil to finish

Maldon sea salt to finish

Fine table salt to cook with

Ground black pepper to cook with

Method

Carrot Puree

·         Peel and juice half the carrots, then reserve,  meanwhile slice the other half thinly and boil until tender in salted water

·         Strain the tender carrots off through a colander and then return to the pot and cover with the reserved carrot juice, boil until reduced to almost dry and then blend for 3 minutes in a blender until silky smooth, check the seasoning and add 50g salted butter while blending, then transfer the puree to a small pan with cling film over until required later on.

Duck

·         Pre heat the oven to 180°c

·         Heat a large non stick pan , lay the 2 duck breasts out and rub with rapeseed oil and season both sides heavily with fine salt and black pepper, place the duck breasts in the pan skin side down and heat on a low heat to render the fat for up to 20 minutes, pouring the fat away every few minutes.

Bring it all together

·         Meanwhile, heat a wide pot with a glug of rapeseed oil. When hot add the carrots with skins on and everything, season well with fine salt and black pepper and place a lid on the pot, shaking the pan every few minutes to pot roast the carrots. After 10 minutes, add 100g salted butter and continue to cook with the lid on until just cooked, then pull off the heat and keep warm.

·         Now the duck breast is rendered, transfer it to a tray and into the oven for 5 minutes, remove and rest

·         Warm the brown chicken stock and add 100ml Womersley Lime, Black Pepper & Lavender Vinegar Dressing and the redcurrants and keep warm.

·         Assemble on 2 large plates, add a good spoonful of the carrot puree, lay the carrots out all over and then slice the two duck breasts each into 6 slices, drain on a cloth and finish with Maldon sea salt. Pour the sauce all over the meat and finish with rocket leaves scattered naturally over the top.

·         Serve.

  

Notes: Many thanks to Ben Spalding for taking time out from his very busy kitchen to write down this recipe for us. If you would like to see some of the other great dishes at Roganic, do check out these photos and you can make a reservation at Roganic:

19, Blandford St,London,W1U 3DH     Tel:0207 4860380    Email:info@roganic.co.uk  

Cinder Toffee Recipe by Sarah Finn

"Cinder toffee is made with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda in the mix. They react together so it froths before it sets into millions of little bubbles. Usually any taste of vinegar is neutralised, leaving you with a buttery toffee flavour. So when I tasted Womersley's Golden Raspberry & Apache Chilli Vinegar this is the recipe, I have experimented with to introduce a little heat and sweetness. I use this for Bonfire night, when you are waiting for the fireworks, and to eat a little home made sweet to pass the time away."

Cinder Toffee

Ingredients: 

50g salted butter
300ml water
4 teaspoons Womersley Golden Raspberry & Apache Chilli vinegar dressing
3 tablespoons golden syrup
450g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Method:

Grease the baking tin with butter.
Heat the butter, water and Womersley vinegar in an extra large saucepan as the mixture does rise, and using a sugar thermometer. 

Heat until butter is melted.
Stir in the sugar and golden syrup, heat until dissolved.

Stop stirring, bring back to boil.
Boil until thermometer reads hard crack stage 154°C or else it may sink after rising.
Remove toffee from the heat and gently stir in bicarbonate of soda until bubbles are calm.
Pour mixture into greased pan, cool for 10-20 minutes.
Break toffee into pieces.

Notes: Thank you to Sarah Finn for this recipe and do have a look at her excellent website with lots of tips for "Growing, Cooking, Eating on a Budget." There are lots more recipes for you there. Sarah has worked all over the country, cooking and waiting in 5 star hotels, racecourses and havscontinued to train in various aspects of food and wine up to a Diploma in Wine and Hotel & Catering Management. Follow Sarah on Twitter.

Squash Recipe

A little while ago, I got a very enthusiastic Tweet from Jacqui Smith of Homesmiths Interior Design Services. Homesmiths are based in Sussex and are a dynamic husband and wife team who bring to their clients a blend of sound technical ability and creative flair. Jacqui and her husband David are based in Haywards Heath, very close to our old family home of Nymans, where our story began...
In her Tweet, Jacqui took time off from her busy day with fabrics and furniture to share one of her kitchen tips; she mentioned what a great addition our Strawberry & Mint is to one of her favourite recipes. Fortunately, she has decided to share her discovery with us all, so here is her recipe for you, too.

Butternut Squash Salad with

Womersley Strawberry & Mint Vinegar Dressing

Serves 2


Ingredients

Half a Butternut Squash
Olive Oil
2 large peeled Garlic Cloves
1 Pack feta cheese, cubed
Handful of almonds, blanched and toasted
Fresh Garden Mint & salad leaves

Method

1. Roast the squash with the Olive Oil and garlic
2. Assemble the salad leaves, roasted squash, cubed feta and almonds in your bowl
3. Mix pureed garlic from the roasted cloves with olive oil and seasoning. Drizzle over the salad
4. Dress with Womersley Strawberry & Mint vinegar dressing
5. Garnish with a sprig of fresh Garden Mint

Jacqui says of using our vinegar in this dish:

"The mint from the vinegar adds depth to the fresh mint and the fruitiness of the strawberry just seems to complement the tang of the feta. More generally, I find that the vinegars are complex enough to use on their own as a dressing, which I do regularly!"

If you would like to buy some of our Strawberry & Mint vinegar Dressing, please see our Where to Buy page.

Brasserie Blanc, Leeds

Game on at Brasserie Blanc

Diners at Brasserie Blanc in Leeds can't get enough Yorkshire game. So much so that manager, Jayne Castle, has invited Nigel Sampson from Holme Farmed Venison in Sherburn in Elmet to host a special Game Evening at the Brasserie on Monday 24^th October.

City girl Jayne donned her wellies and met up with the team on the farm to put the finishing touches to the sumptuous seasonal menu. The 3-course dinner will start with platter of guinea fowl and prune terrine as well as smoked venison haunch, Maman Blanc salads, bread and chutney. The main course is packed with autumnal flavours and includes venison saddle with a chocolate sauce and Blackberry Vinegar made by us at Womersley!

Fresh game is at it's best at this time of year and a combination of wider availability, celebrity chef endorsement and strong healthy eating benefits has seen the public's appetite for all types of game increase in recent years. This is always evident at Brasserie Blanc with venison outstripping other meat dishes when it is on the seasonal specials board.

Jayne Castle, said: “We want to support our local suppliers and showcase their products in the Brasserie. Our chefs love nothing more than being able to work with fresh, local produce and they've excelled themselves with this game themed menu. Diners on the night will be able to hear Nigel and Kate's story and find out more about glorious game  and life on the farm.”

The Game Dinner is £39 per person for a 3-course dinner and mulled wine reception. Book places online at www.brasserieblanc.com or call 0113 2206060.

Brasserie Blanc, Leeds

Botanical Chocolate

LOOK!! We're not the only ones to be Botanically Enthused: Fiona Sciolti has developed a great reputation as an inventive Artisan chocolatier who uses herbs in her garden and many other local flavours including teas and honey.

Fiona is half Italian and she certainly combines that famous Italian passion with a good palate to produce beautiful and delicious chocolates, many of them seasonal.

Fiona Sciolti

The last time I saw the beautiful Sciolti chocolates was at Bath Love Food Fest, where Giles Sciolti was joined by their daughter to show off the chocolates Fiona had stayed up till 4am making!

The Sciolti Display

Earlier this year, Fiona approached us with the idea of using our flavours for her chocolates and we are delighted that she has now made three different varieties which Fiona describes:

Rosemary & Blackcurrant

Womersley are to vinegars and jellies, what I am to chocolates.  They grow and use natural English flavours to infuse into their amazing range.  This is the second of three chocolates that I have created especially for Womersley, combining their Apple & Rosemary Jelly and enhanced with their Blackcurrant & Rosemary Vinegar to create a chocolate cleverly matched and packed full of surprising flavour.

Dandelion & Apache Chilli Vinegar

A chocolate with humour! Never mind all these lovely herbs and blossoms and fruits found in the garden; I figured we had way too many dandelions. Dandelions have been used for cooking for thousands of years and in Italy the new leaves are harvested for salads. However, in my chocolate, I've incorporated the beautiful yellow petals, and you'll see them running through the ganache, like strands of saffron. Team this with Womersley's stunning Golden Raspberry & Apache Chilli Vinegar Dressing, to sharpen it up a little, and suddenly you have honey from a weed.

Geranium

The third in the trilogy of Womersley/ Sciolti Botanical Chocolates. Actually I have been hunting pelagoniums all Summer long... they're surprisingly difficult to find.  Anyway Womersley conveniently helped me out with their stunning Geranium Jelly, with it's sensual and fragrant Turkish Delight tones. I love this one, and as a thank you, have decored the chocolate with a lustred Womersley W.


You can see all these and more on the Sciolti Chocolate website, where you can buy your own. Just type in "Womersley" in the search box. Also, do have a read of Andy Hunting's blog piece on Fiona's use of our vinegars in her chocolates.
Like us, Fiona does Food shows (we will both be at The Festival of Pride this weekend, near Newark, Notts.)

Go on, give yourself a double dose of Botanical Enthusiasm... 

Note: Many thanks to Fiona and Giles Sciolti for their help in providing photos and words for this post.

Nymans, Home of the Messel Family

Amidst lots of publicity around Raspberry Vinegar, I was looking forward to a weekend at our old family home in Sussex and witnessing our visitors getting the "wow factor" when they tasted ours. A good variety of exhibitors at the Nymans annual Green Gardening Festival enjoyed a warm sunny weekend and my neighbours, Yummy Lollies sold out of their delicious fruit ice lollies on both days.

The Summer Borders in October!

Strangely, it always seemed to rain when I visited my grandparents at Nymans and this persisted into my visit to the Green Garden Fair last year. So I was really delighted to feel the warmth of the sun in October this time and to have the opportunity to get a few photos of Nymans looking its best.

Fuschia Detail

 

In the late 19th century, the Messel family bought the Nymans estate, in the picturesque High Weald landscape of Sussex, to make a home in the country. It became a happy family home and refuge from their town house at 18 Stafford Terrace in Kensington. Inspired by the setting and the soil, the Messels created one of the great gardens, with experimental designs and new plants from around the world. Here they entertained family and friends, enjoying relaxing times, strolling in the garden, playing, picnicking and walking in the woods. 

The Entrance Wild Flowers

My father, Martin Parsons, was the only member of the family to be born at Nymans and it was this start in his life which made him the "Botanically Enthused" person he became. As a child, he suffered terribly from croup and it was inhaling the fragrance of the hyssop grown under his bedroom window which gave him some relief from the incessant coughing. Years later, having moved to Womersley, my father used the kitchen garden to grow the masses of fruit and herbs which were eventually used in his concoctions which we make to this day.

The Summer Borders

Nymans is now a very popular National Trust property and rejoices in being an excellent location for family visits. The team has done a superb job over the past few years of maintaining the colourful and abundant gardens whilst making the whole property feel like it is still a family home. I believe it is precisely this connection with the family which persists in ensuring that Nymans attracts many new AND repeat visitors. 

The Ruins of the House

I was delighted to greet Urvashi Roe and her family on our stand. Urvashi was fresh from her appearance on the popular BBC programme "The Great British Bake Off" and we both enjoyed sharing our views on being "Botanically Enthused."

Urvashi Roe getting all Botanical

Coming up: Bristol and Bath Shows

After much anticipation, I am delighted to say that we will be at two Love Food Festivals this month. BATH on Sunday 9th and BRISTOL on Sunday 30th:

Bath, Green Park Station

Bristol, Paintworks, Bath Road

And, we will have lots of these great gift ideas for you, in good time for your Christmas shopping

Festival Organiser, Lorna Knapman, grew up in the area and says of the festivals:

"The aim is to get children (and adults) from the Bristol area out into the countryside learning about how and where our food should come from, how to grow and cook their own food and generally try to spark an interest in the topic through various mediums including hands on experience, tasting, art, movement and storytelling."

Thame Food Festival

We had the most beautiful day in Thame on September 24th. The large crowds enjoyed a fabulously sunny day and many exhibitors sold out! 

The Ubiquitous Tasty Food Festival Hog Roast

One of the down sides of being a food producer at a food festival, is that we usually don't get the opportunity to get around and see the other exhibitors. At Thame, however, I was very lucky to have help from Annie's Kitchen, Just Biscuits and Sainsbury's chef who all spent a while on my stand while I stocked up on tasters, took a few snaps, spoke to a few visitors and went to see some other excellent displays from Charlie Beldam of Cotswold Gold, Robert from GranaryDeli, and No2 Pound Street (basking in the glory of their new Award for Best New Cheese Retailer, 2011). 

Some Button cheeses at No2 Pound Street

Lotte Duncan

Lotte Duncan's fairy cakes

The Patron of Thame food festival is Lotte Duncan, pictured right, who also has a fabulous food shop and loves using our vinegars and dressings in her salads. Lotte took time out from being on her stand to give the audience a demonstration using some local ingredients and included our Strawberry and Mint Dressing on her dish which ensured lots of visitors to our stand wanting to repeat the dish themselves with one of our bottles! 

Opposite me, there was a fine Paella cooking for much of the day, so at least I got a great lunch!

 I was amazed at how many people had seen the first episode of Nigel Slater's new TV series, Simple Cooking, in which Nigel made a Beetroot and Goat's Cheese Salad with some Raspberry Vinegar. Needless to say, I made sure we had plenty of Raspberry Vinegar on our stand, which proved to be just as well! You can find his recipe on the BBC website and even see it again on iplayer.

A bustling Thame, full of food lovers