The Royal Oak is a pub with personality, dating back over 300 years to the 17th century.  The pub is at the heart of the conservation, ironstone village of Eydon in Northamptonshire. Legend has it that cock fights used to regularly take place inside the pub and that a plot to murder the then Lord of the Manor was overheard! With stone interior, secret alcoves and four separate dining areas, it makes a cosy place to have a delicious meal or, a pint or two of local ale. The Oak keeps a rotating local guest beer and has a cracking wine list.

The Royal Oak at Eydon is setting its sights on raising the culinary bar as new Head Chef, Christian Ringsby-Burges joins. Christian is a local Northamptonshire lad living close by to Eydon in Byfield. He trained at Northampton College and has a wealth of culinary experience gained as the 2^nd Chef at the renowned Fawsley Hall. Christian also previously worked at Michelin starred Whatley Manor & The New French Partridge.

The emphasis is on showcasing quality, seasonal, local produce. Christian intends to work with as many local producers as possible who can fulfil his quality requirements. Such as Moreton Mushrooms (Moreton Pinkney), Wykham Park asparagus (Banbury), Windmill Orchards fruits & juices (Sulgrave) to name but a few. The Oak also run a locally grown fruit and vegetable exchange for beer tokens. Christian commented, “Today, I’ve received a bunch of locally grown flat leaf parsley & rhubarb from Sue – all fantastic quality and plucked straight from the garden.” Sue’s rhubarb went straight on the menu as: “Chicken Liver Parfait with Sue’s Poached Rhubarb, Brioche & Pistachio”

I was lucky enough to have been invited to Christian’s “new menu” launch night, where we enjoyed:

Aperitif: Fleur Fields Champs D’amour Sparkling Wine 2010

*****

Wykham Park asparagus with poached free range egg, hollandaise & crispy ham

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Seafood Risotto of shellfish, tiger prawns & crayfish with cucumber & fennel salad

*****

Braised pork belly & roast tenderloin with sage & onion bon bon, savoy cabbage, & Garden of Eydon cider jus

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White chocolate pannacotta with local berries (exchanged for beer tokens!)

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Coffee or Tea

The meal was excellent, combining great local produce with adept cooking skills to provide great complimentary flavours and textures. The highlight for me was the braised pork belly & roast tenderloin which was a swineherd’s delight, all washed down with an excellent locally made “Garden of Eydon” cider. Keeping to the local drinks theme, we enjoyed Northamptonshire Fleur Fields Champs D’amour sparkling wine as an aperitif and sampled Warwickshire Welcombe Hills Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009 with the braised pork belly.

The Royal Oak @ Eydon is definitely worth a visit and Christian is sure to make his mark on the culinary landscape. Let us know what you thought on our Facebook page.

Having had the pleasure of eating Rutting Reds‘ venison loin on two occasions, prepared by the talented Adam Gray, I thought it was time I paid them a visit. Giles and Polly Wilson currently have a herd of 85 Red Deer which they plan, in time, to increase to around 150. They adopt an approach of minimal intervention, with no handling and allowing nature to take its course which makes the herd virtually wild. The deer enjoy feeding on pasture grass most of the year and are given haylage (cut grass, partially dried which is wrapped in plastic & left to ferment) and rolled nuts in the Winter.

Rutting Reds currently supply all the venison they can produce to a handful of quality restaurants like, the Meredith Group’s small chain of London gastro pubs, along with supplying venison for locals, friends & family. This is a serious endeavour, as Giles and Polly do absolutely everything from looking after the deer to slaughtering and butchering the animals. Giles does the main butchery, skills which he picked up from a butcher friend and through a brief course with The British Deer Society. Polly then takes over to finally mince the remaining venison and  turn it into delicious sausages & burgers. All of this is done on site so as the animals endure the absolute minimum stress. Giles is currently experimenting with curing the deer skins too!

Controlling consistent quality and flavour is the key benefit gained through farming deer in contrast to wild herds. This is achieved by knowing the age of your stock and  being able to kill the deer in a more controlled way. Typically, any deer which is due to be dispatched will be shot by a single bullet using a silenced rifle. The deer are normally shot when they are busy grazing and away from the main herd to avoid distressing the other deer. Giles chooses stags which are between 15 to 24 months in age ensuring that the meat will be tender and of a milder flavour. The carcasses are then hung from between 5-10 days again, to enhance flavour but to keep it milder in flavour. Hinds are productive for around 10-12 years and when their time is up their meat is used to make sausages.

Giles and Polly also make salami, chorizo and parma ham with the pigs they keep too!

Venison is a very healthy meat which is low in cholesterol, high in iron and doesn’t shrink to the extent of other meats when cooked.  Isn’t it time we started eating more venison as a Nation?

The herd is onto it’s third dominant stag who currently rules the roost and will be the father of most of this summer’s new off spring. There are another three stags climbing the ranks who will have to fight it out come the this year’s rutting season from September-October. During the rut there’s nothing the stag likes better than to role in his own wee, thus rendering him with an irresistible cologne which the hinds can’t resist!

When I visited during March, the deer weren’t looking quite their best as their coats were molting in time for Spring and the stags were beginning to shed their antlers (see picture above where there are just buds left where the antlers were previously attached). The deer had also all been wallowing in the fresh, muddy water pools which they’ve dug up. None the less, their presence was still majestic!

Both Giles & Polly are an inspiration in confronting each task in their stride, ensuring their herd of Red Deer are happy and stress free. I can definitely recommend the mild flavour and tenderness of their venison which does melt in the mouth!

Now the sun’s popped out what culinary adventures are you planning? Come & tell us on our Facebook Page.

I was asked by the nice people at Master of Malt whether I’d like to try some whisky samples. Not one to shirk my responsibilities, I dutifully agreed. They have an innovative sampling system called “Drinks by the Dram” where you can buy 30ml sample bottles of most of their array of single malts & other spirits. The prices range from £2.95, to the rather loftier price of over £40, for rarities like Ardberg 21 year old Committee Release.

My “Drinks by the Dram” pack included three malts:

1. Arran Madeira Wine Cask Limited Edition
2. Master of the Malt 12 yr Old Islay
3. Laphroaig 18 yr Old Islay

Having enjoyed previous holidays as a child and latterly as a family in Arran, I was keen to start with the Madeira Wine Cask Limited Edition. I personally always add a splash of water to my malt to bring out the flavour. This malt was the darkest in colour due to being aged in Madeira casks. It had sweet, oaky aromas and was rounded and mellow with a good length. This whisky is very accessible and one which I would happily drink.

Next up was the Master of Malt 12 year old Islay. This whisky was pretty immense in terms of the peaty, salty, Iodine reek it gave off. Jim Murray, whisky guru, described it as: ”Huge peat reek, the likes of which I’ve never come across.” Once your through the peat, it is mellow and slightly viscous in the mouth with a deep long and lingering peaty finish. This whisky is definitely for grown-ups who like a real peaty, salty kick!

Finally, I tried the second offering from Islay and tasted the Laphroaig 18 year old. This was the lightest in colour and had a more restrained, subtle Iodine, peaty aroma. Again, it was rounded and viscous with huge length. This is similarly for grown ups who like their malt with plenty of peaty flavour. I have to say, I didn’t detect the “salty butter & kippers” aromas promisedin the website tasting note. Perhaps I just wasn’t looking hard enough! The whiskies from Islay are truly unique and clearly evoke their rugged origin.

This was a fun exercise and one which any whisky aficionado or, someone who is learning about whisky would surely enjoy!

What have you been drinking recently? Come and tell us on our Facebook page.

Well, it’s officially our 1st birthday, we’re out of nappies and now fully on solids! It’s been a truly amazing year in the World of Food and I have met many interesting and engaging characters; all of which share one thing: the passion for good honest food which respects mother nature and comes from the soul. Some of my favourite Food & Drink Heroes have been:

Christopher Saul, butcher extraordinaire, who makes a range of sumptuous delicacies: from Aunt Nelly’s Award Winning potted beef to fabulous pork pie wedding cakes. The day I visited, Christopher was wresting with a lamb’s pluck (liver, lungs & heart) in readiness to turn into haggis for Burns’ Night. Saul’s is an old-established, quality, family butchers which has stood the test of time. Today, the business is ably run by Christopher and his daughter Emma.

Northamptonshire continues to have a thriving brewing Industry, thanks mainly to the growing number of micro breweries. Bruce & Mandy Littler are old respected hands, having established the Frog Island Brewery as the first micro brewery in Northamptonshire over 16 years ago. With the help of the local Camra association and, asking local real ale enthusiasts, Frog Island decided to replicate the old Northamptonshire real ale style of refreshing and bitter beers. The team set about equipping the brewery with mash tun, stainless steel tanks, open fermenters and barrels, all duly self assembled and commissioned by them. They have never looked back and enjoy continued success today!

The next stop was to meet Simon Gaskell from The Real Boar Company who makes the most delicious charcuterie. The day I arrived there was a tiny piglet lying in a plastic box in the kitchen! Was this normal to be rearing wild animals in the house? It transpired the rare breed Oxford Sandy & Black piglet was the runt of the litter and rejected by its mother.  

Simon’s 25 stone stud boar, rather unassumingly named Julian, has landed the prize job of keeping the boar numbers up. Julian is a bit of free spirit and relentlessly hostile, much to Simon’s cost as seen by the various scars on his legs and arms inflicted by flailing tusks! The boar’s main diet is foraged roots, wild cherries, apples and acorns, but they are carnivorous enjoying the odd worm and slow crow!

The Real Boar Company make a range of wonderful salamis, a few of my favourites:

• Wild Boar Salami with red wine – made from home-reared wild boar
• Wild Boar & Venison Salami with red wine - made from home-reared wild boar & deer from the Badmington Estate
• Cotswold Game Salami – home-reared wild boar, Badmington Estate venison & Cotswold pheasant
• Pork Salami with red wine - made from rare breed home-reared Oxford Sandy & Black pigs & Gloucester Old Spot

Simon is a true maverick who, with little prior knowledge of tending boar or, charcuterie production, has quickly built a truly inspiring business of some renown.

A visit to Farrington’s Oil was inspired by the spectacular golden washes of flowering fields of rapeseed which enliven the countryside around my home in the Summer months. In 2005, Duncan Farrington took the plunge by launching “Mellow Yellow“ the first “Seed to Bottle” cold pressed rapeseed oil in the UK. All the rapeseed is grown on their farm (Bottom Farm) and then lovingly pressed and bottled on site by a local team, including Duncan’s mum, Angela. All Farrington Oils are made from the highest grade rapeseed which is GM free.

As Autumn took its grip, I thought it was high time I paid a visit to my local organic fruit farm, Windmill Orchards. I met with Neil Johnston who gave me the grand tour around the 14 acre site, which is run as a not-for-profit organisation. The pasture land was purchased in 1992 and soon planted with a multitude of heritage varieties of apples, pears, plums, quince and latterly walnuts. The bows were literally groaning under the weight of fruit when I visited.

We wandered through the apple orchard which houses such noble, ancient heritage varieties as the Ashmead’s Kernel (1700), Ribston Pippin (1707), Egremont Russet (1872) and Lord Lambourne (1907) to name but a few.

Not content with growing a multitude of varieties of quince, apple, plum and pears they decided to plant a walnut grove of over 250 trees which is one of the largest in England. The walnut trees are a variety of English, Israeli and French varieties such as the Roude Montigue and Franquette.

Finally, I rounded off our 1st year by visiting the inspired “Mr Dutchy.”  The ethos of Mr Dutchy is to provide authentic, fresh and flavoursome Caribbean cuisine. As written on the shop wall “We only freeze our fries.” The menu includes favourites like jerk chicken, curry goat, oxtail, escovich fish to name but a few. To accompany the mains, there are an array of goodies from freshly made crispy dumplings with jerk sauce, cheesy macaroni pie to sticky jerk wings. All the food is prepared from fresh ingredients at the beginning of each day and slow cooked in the traditional Dutch pots from anything between 3 to 4.5 hours. This is not fast food, but food which has been lovingly made and when sold out, it’s “sold out”.

It’s been a fun-packed, enthralling 1st year and I’m very grateful to all of the fabulous producers who have allowed me to come and interview them. Most of all, I’d like to thank YOU for supporting “GrazeandGuzzle” and I very much look forward to providing you with some interesting posts in the year ahead. Please do comment on the articles I post - Do you like them? What’s your opinion? Also, let me know what culinary adventures you are having via our Facebook Page.

Hold tight, it’s likely to be another eclectic mix of culinary excursions in the year ahead!

Northamptonshire isn’t exactly at the forefront of food and drink innovation but, little-by-little, things are changing for the better! A good example of this is ”Mr Dutchy” who have recently been voted the best takeaway in “The BBC Food & Farming Awards 2010,” in recognition of their wonderful Caribbean cuisine. The owner, Paul Marcus Boyce, grew up with the flavours of the Caribbean whilst living in Barbados. His family left Barbados when he was nine and settled in Northamptonshire. Whilst in England, Paul missed the Caribbean flavours as his English Mum cooked British food and his Barbadian Dad didn’t cook. This motivated Paul to start cooking when he was 15 after visiting his Nan and Aunties in Barbados and learning the family’s secret recipes.

When in the UK, Paul struggled to find Caribbean food in general and had to travel to London to satisfy his cravings. From this point, the idea was seeded and Paul set about planning to open his Caribbean restaurant.

Paul’s Caribbean vision was launched around 15 months ago under the “Mr Dutchy” brand name and consists of a small takeaway shop where customers can order directly or by phone for delivery. There are also a few tables for those who want to eat in. The name “Mr Dutchy” comes from the cast iron Jamaican Dutch pots which are commonly used for cooking in the Caribbean. The “Mr Dutchy” branding is clean, bold and stylish being designed by Paul and his son. The shop has been completely gutted and the small kitchen has been refitted with the most modern appliances. It’s definitely a family affair with Paul’s partner, Jenny, and cousin Anton preparing the food too.

The ethos of Mr Dutchy is to provide authentic, fresh and flavoursome Caribbean cuisine. As written on the shop wall “We only freeze our fries.” The menu includes favourites like  jerk chicken, curry goat, oxtail, escovich fish to name but a few. To accompany the mains, there are an array of goodies from freshly made crispy dumplings with jerk sauce, cheesy macaroni pie to sticky jerk wings. All the food is prepared from fresh ingredients at the begining of each day and slow cooked in the traditional Dutch pots from anything between 3 to 4.5 hours. This is not fast food, but food which has been lovingly made and when sold out, it’s “sold out”. Any surplus food, which is becoming a rarity these days, is donated to the local homeless charity, The Hope Centre.

When I visited, I tried the sticky jerk wings which were succulent and well, sticky, accompanied by a few crispy dumplings which I dunked in the sweet, spicy, jerk sauce. To follow, I managed to polish off a little taster of oxtail which was rich and falling off the bone followed by a substantial helping of curry goat with rice & peas. Paul also insisted I try a little cheesy macaroni pie which was great too! As you might imagine, I was feeling a tad full and sleepy after skipping through a large portion of Mr Dutchy’s tasty menu! 

Mr Dutchy is hitting Northampton by storm and, judging by the 2,500 fans on their Facebook Page, the customers are lovin’ a little Caribbean action! Keep your eyes peeled, as I’m sure this is only the start of things to come. Mr Dutchy may be coming to a place near you in the future!

Come and tell us what culinary adventures you’ve been up to on our Facebook Page.

Feeling a trifle parched, I thought it was high time I visited Tony Davis at The Grainstore Brewery, Oakham, in the beautiful Rutland countryside. Tony is one of only a few British Master Brewers and what he doesn’t know about brewing probably isn’t worth knowing. After going to Brewing School at Heriot Watt University, Tony first worked for Charles Wells as junior brewer and then subsequently for Ruddles in Langham where he became Head Brewer. Ruddles was then sold to Greene King and production moved to Suffolk. Not wishing to move, Tony and Mike Davies, his business partner, began plotting the incarnation of The Grainstore Brewery. 

For several years Tony had driven past a derelict Victorian railway building on his way to work and the seed was planted in his mind that it would make an ideal site for a small brewery and Tap room. The old building had originally been used for the storage of grain from the surrounding farms which was then dispatched by rail (hence the name Grainstore!) .

Having received the keys in January 1995, renovation began. The asbestos roof was removed by specialists and the building re-roofed. New doors and windows, in keeping with the original building, were fitted and hundreds of years’ worth of whitewash and dirt were blasted off the internal walls to reveal the original stone and brickwork.

The old three storey building offered the potential of becoming the ideal traditional tower brew house, with raw materials being taken to the top and finished beer emerging from the bottom, all through the natural gift of gravity. This principle was employed in the design and layout of the brewing equipment.

Following renovation of the building, sourcing, modification and positioning of the brewing plant within the top two floors, the brewery tap on the ground floor was furnished and opened its doors for business in September 1995. The 15 barrel brew house (150 x 11 gallon casks), turned out its first brew of “Cooking” two months later.

The methods and raw materials used to brew traditional British beers have remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years. For this reason, The Grainstore Brewery uses only the finest quality materials to brew its beers, with the majority being sourced from within the UK. A closely guarded combination of malted barley, brewing sugars, hops, yeast and water, all go to create a truly unique, well-balanced selection of traditional ales which build in strength and flavour through the range, with a moreishness that is a characteristic of Grainstore beers.

Tony makes a range of beers based upon his own beer preferences. I’ve picked out some of my favourites:

• Cooking 3.6% – Smooth, full flavoured golden bitter
• Triple B 4.2% – Well rounded mid-strength beer
• Ten Fifty 5.0% – Full strength mahogany coloured beer
• Rutland Panther 3.4% – A refreshing well balanced dark mild

Tony’s latest brew falls in line with the EU Protected Food Names (PFN) scheme. The PFN protects a number of UK geographic-specific food & drinks, from Cornish Clotted Cream, Jersey Royal Potatoes, Orkney Lamb to Whitstable Oysters. Within the list of 37 UK Protected Food Names are two ales, Kentish Ale & Rutland Bitter. Since the relocation of Ruddles to Suffolk, there hasn’t been a Rutland Ale in production; that is, until now!. Taking full advantage of this opportunity, The Grainstore Brewery has recently launched their own “Rutland Bitter” which is a full bodied beer with a modest abv of 3.4%.

Whatever your opinon of the beaurocrats in Brussles, it appears that when it comes to preserving some of our greatest British food & drink assets, they’ve done really quite well!

If you would like to find out more about the brewing process of a British micro-brewer, then look at Frog Island Brewery.

Let us know what you’re currently drinking and come by and say hello on our Facebook Page.

As Autumn takes its grip I thought it was high time I paid a visit to my local organic fruit farm, Windmill Orchards. I met with Neil Johnston who gave me the grand tour around the 14 acre site, which is run as a not-for-profit organisation. The pasture land was purchased in 1992 and soon planted with a multitude of heritage varieties of apples, pears, plums, quince and latterly walnuts. The bows were literally groaning under the weight of fruit when I visited. It appears that the 2010 harvest is bountiful which is truly challenging the pickers’ prowess!

We firstly swung by the quince which were plentiful and bobbing in the gentle breeze.  These were not the little quince I remember seeing in my Grandmother’s garden as a child, but muckle brutes the size of small grapefruits. I’m quite partial to the Spanish quince cheese, Membrillo, but have to admit that I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten quince under any other guise! If you have any recommendations or recipes, then please share them? I’ve just found a “Membrillo” recipe which is essentially just quince and sugar – not sure what else I was expecting! I’ll have a little dabble and let you know how I get on.

Next we wandered through the apple orchard which houses such noble, ancient heritage varieties as the Ashmead’s Kernel (1700), Ribston Pippin (1707), Egremont Russet (1872) and Lord Lambourne (1907) to name but a few. These apples were abundant, fresh, crisp and wonderfully flavoured. We have such a rich fruit-growing heritage; why on earth are we buying most of our apples from the likes of Chile & New Zealand? Do we really all want bland, uniform, waxed apples with no blemishes or, would we rather take a bite into a luscious, crisp apple with an evocative name like Egremont Russet? 

They also began pressing their own apples about six years ago and produce a blended organic juice that is rounded and deliciously appley.

We then alighted upon the plums which are a mixture of varieties like Marjorie, Victoria and Opal. Some of the plum branches were touching the ground under the sheer weight of fruit! Interspersed were rows of pears with their dappled greeny, brown skins.

Not content with growing a multitude of varieties of quince, apple, plum and pears they decided to plant a walnut grove of over 250 trees which is one of the largest in England. The walnut trees are a variety of English, Israeli and French varieties such as the Roude Montigue and Franquette. The trees are quite small and compact, displaying their rather beautiful vibrant green speckled fruit. Apparently, the common walnut was introduced to Britain by the Romans and originally hails from Central Asia. Neil sells most of the walnuts in their green state to restaurants and specialist markets in London. The Italians and French view green walnuts as something of a delicacy pickling them, preserving them whole in syrup or using them to make sweet preserves & marmalades. The Italians from Emilia-Romagna also make a sticky brown liqueur called “Nocino” The Italians seem adept at turning a cornucopia of foodstuffs into local “fire water!”

Anyone for a Ribston Pippin and a cup of Nocino?

Come as say hello on our Facebook page!

The plight of our friendly neighbourhood bees has been well documented recently. With our bee population falling and the potentially devastating knock-on effect of the non-pollination of our trees & plants! I thought it time to visit my local bee-keeper to find out how our bees were faring.

I met with Dave Lantsbery from New Creation Farm who has been bee-keeping for over 30 years. He currently has forty hives over five sites which can produce up to one tonne of honey (2,240 jars). The bees forage nectar and pollen from a variety of flowering plants and trees, enjoying snowdrops and daffodils in the Spring through to dandelions, rapeseed and apple blossom during the rest of the year. As a result, the honey flavour will be slightly different depending upon the time of year and what sources of nectar the bees have been feeding on. The honey made at New Creation Farm is predominantly made from rapeseed nectar which is high in sugar. Bees can only produce honey when plants are flowering and their nectar can be extracted. The main honey producing season runs from mid-April until the end of July.

Throughout the ages, honey has been cherished for its restorative powers. Today, it is widely believed that the consumption of locally-produced honey can combat the symptoms of asthma and hay fever. By eating local honey you ingest and acclimatise to the pollen from your local area. The pollen present in local honey helps the body build up an immunity to airborne pollen which causes hay fever. 

The vast majority of bees in the UK are cross breeds, being a mixture of both indigenous and imported bees. The colour and temperament can be variable. Some of the bees at New Creation Farm were bad tempered and prone to stinging. To combat this, Dave has started a queen bee breeding programme using the queen from a friendly colony of bees to produce other queens which can then be implanted into the hives of less friendly colonies. The queen will lay up 2,000 eggs per day at peak production during May (mid Spring) then producion begins tailing off. Each hive will have between 50-60,000 bees made up of several hundred drones; male bees whose major function is to mate with the young queens. The remaining colony is made up of female worker bees. The workers’ role changes throughout their adult life . They begin by feeding the larvae and then move onto cleaning and constructing the wax comb cells. Next, they have a spell serving as guards at the hive entrance before being allowed to go off to  forage for nectar and pollen. Honeybees then turn the nectar into honey and either store or feed the pollen to their larvae. Worker bees get rather a raw deal as, after all their hard work, they then die at around 6 weeks after birth!

One of the main risks to any hive is the varroa mite which is present in most hives and needs constant attention. The varroa mite feeds on developing pupae and needs to be eradicated using chemicals and cutting out effected areas.

The honey is ready to be harvested when the bees have capped over the honey with wax. There are various extraction methods, from cutting the comb into pieces and selling them unprocessed, to spinning the honey out of the comb to produce a runny combless honey. New Creation Farm use a heat method, the combs are cut out of their frames and then placed on-top of a flat metal tray which has a water bath underneath heated to 70°-80°. Both the honey and wax then melt and are run off into separate collection chambers. The honey is then strained through muslin and bottled. The wax is collected in discs and is generally used as currency to buy new bee-keeping equipment.

The bee population at New Creation Farm is thriving and getting less bad tempered by the day! After a good Spring with lots of nectar-rich blossom, it looks like there will be a good crop of luscious honey for us all to enjoy!

Having met Simon Gaskell, the driving force behind The Real Boar Co. at the Kingham Plough farmers’ market, I knew I had to visit and find out more. So, off I popped one hot and sunny afternoon to track down Simon and his wild animals in the beautiful surrounds of the Cotswold countryside. I finally arrived after driving up a very long and narrow farm track and through an electric gate. There before me stood a cedar clapper board house which one might normally picture in Australia or America. The house, slightly raised off the ground, has a veranda on the back from which you can see into the woods and the wild animals beyond! Simon greeted me wearing shirt, shorts & a floppy Australian bush hat and ushered me inside for a refreshment. After having met Simon’s charming family I noticed there was a tiny piglet lying in a plastic box in the kitchen! Was this normal to be rearing wild animals in the house? It transpires the rare breed Oxford Sandy & Black piglet was the runt of the litter and rejected by its mother. Simon had taken on the task of hand-rearing the piglet, feeding it bottled milk morning noon and night until it is old enough to fend for itself.

We repaired to the veranda to sample the delights of Simon’s newest charcuterie creation, wild boar salami with sloe gin. The salami was moist, with a great meaty bite and a little spice on the finish. Whilst nibbling on numerous pieces, the story of the The Real Bar Co. unfolded. Simon and his wife Louisa, had been living in Perth, Australia where he worked as an event manager. After a number of years enjoying the pleasures of Western Australia they decided it was time to head back. Simon had an inkling of what was to come and rather practically decided to fill the remaining space in the shipping container with reels of 6ft deer fencing amongst their worldly belongings!

On returning home to the farm, situated in 20 acres of mixed woodland and grass, the hard-work began.  The 10 boar enclosures had to completed first, by hand digging in hundreds of fence posts and laying the 6ft deer fencing which was then weighted at the bottom with telegraph poles. In order to keep boar you must also apply for a Dangerous Wild Animals licence. As all the indigenous British boar have long since disappeared, the stock of 200 are a mix of both German and Polish breeds which are managed into three different sounders consisting of a boar, females and young of different ages. Boar are born with a striped coat which then disappears at around four months. The sounder is controlled by a dominant sow with a clear hierarchy existing in the group. The 25 stone stud boar, rather unassumingly named Julian, has landed the prize job of keeping the boar numbers up. Julian is a bit of free spirit and relentlessly hostile, much to Simon’s cost as seen by the various scars on his legs and arms inflicted by flailing tusks! The boar’s main diet is foraged roots, wild cherries, apples and acorns, but they are carnivorous enjoying the odd worm and slow crow! Initially, the curiosity of a number of Simon’s chicken’s got the better of them by a rather alarming encounter with a hairy, wild boar! To get to know the boar Simon used to spend hours sitting in the pens with the boar, observing them and bonding. 

After 18months the boar are rounded up and taken to an approved slaughter house which has a Dangerous Wild Animal licence. This is a very difficult and dangerous operation trying to herd wild animals into the awaiting trailer! The meat is then hung for 10 days. Meat destined for salami is treated in a high humidity environment to start the culture process before being air-dried for four-five weeks at a temperature of 14°c. Simon sells boar loin and haunches to a number of restaurants, but most of the meat is made into delicious salamis by his butcher. They make a range of salamis:

• Wild Boar Salami with red wine – made from home-reared wild boar
• Wild Boar Chorizo with red wine – made from home-reared wild boar with paprika to add colour & spice 
• Wild Bar & Venison Salami with red wine - made from home-reared wild boar & deer from the Badmington Estate
• Cotswold Game Salami – home-reared wild boar, Badmington Estate venison & Cotswold pheasant
• Pork Salami with red wine - made from rare breed home-reared Oxford Sandy & Black pigs & Gloucester Old Spot
• Pork Chorizo with red wine – made from traditional breeds with paprika to add colour & spice

The British attitude to fat is quite different to that of our Continental cousins with some of our brethren actually going to the lengths of picking the specks of fat out of their salami! Now we all know that “fat is flavour,” adding both moisture and taste. Simon’s charcuterie has a growing reputation and has graced the plates in many of the nation’s gastronomic hot spots, from the Fat Duck to the Waterside Inn. Jamie Oliver currently stocks The Real Boar Co. salamis in his Jamie’s Italian restaurants.

Simon has also dabbled in air dried hams, producing a Cotswold version of Parma ham and air dried beef to produce their version of bresaola.

Not content with just keeping 200 wild boar, rare-breed Oxford sandy & black pigs they also have a number of North Devon cattle. The Oxford sandy & black pig was nearly extinct as recently as 1985 before the introduction of the Breed Society.  The day I visited was very hot and the sandy & blacks were enjoying a wallow in their mud pool!

Simon is a passionate, driven individual who almost single handedly tends to the animals, chases up sales leads, hand-delivers meat, presents his products at countless shows and fits in the marketing, PR and book keeping in his spare time! This is what is truly inspiring about great British producers, those who have a real passion, drive and focus on producing a truly unique, quality-driven product. No self respecting platter of charcuterie should be without the addition of one of the Real Boar Co’s wonderful salamis!

English wine has had a somewhat chequered history fuelled by ’70s & ’80s brands such as Hirondell, Country Manor, Black Tower & Blue Nun to name but a few. Many of these wines weren’t even made from English grapes! The intervening years have been much kinder with a metamorphosis of the English wine industry to the point where we’re now, in some cases, actually producing better wines than those of our Beret wearing neighbours! This has mainly been achieved through the production of wonderful sparkling wines from producers such as Nyetimber, Camel Valley and others. These wines regularly beat renowned French Champagnes in blind tastings. Nyetimber Blanc de Bancs 2001 & Camel Valley Noir Rosé Brut 2008 both won Gold Medals at the recent International Wine Challenge. The inaugural vintage of Ancre Hill Estates in Monmouthshire won a Silver Medal in the recent Decanter Wine Awards for their 2008 White Welsh Regional Wine.

We now have some 381 operational vineyards making around 1.5 million bottles of wine per year.  With growing demand and the effects of global warming the industry looks set for continued development. We’ve had some excellent recent vintages from the hot 2003  which has yielded some outstanding wines, to the 2009 vintage which is being touted as one to watch out for!

With this in mind, I set off to visit the Welland Valley Vineyard situated near the pretty village of Marston Trussell near Market Harborough in Leicestershire. David Bates had been tinkering with growing vines in his allotment since the ’70s. With retirement in mind, David sourced a sheltered two acre South-facing site near his house in 1991. The site is gently sloping and has a row of impressive eucalyptus trees running down one side and a range of apple trees at the top. Not content with just making wine they also make a range of cider too. Whilst the site is further North than most other English vineyards, it rarely experiences frost and has a low average rainfall. David planted a range of both German and French varieties which he continually adds to. The main varieties planted are Seyval Blanc and Reichensteiner,  used principally for sparkling wine production. The vineyard is too small to be run as a commercial entity, producing around 1,000 bottles per year of which 50% is sparkling wine. Most of the wine is sold locally and the sparkling wine is particularly popular as a wedding tipple.

The romanic ideal of sitting in one’s vineyard basking in the sun, whilst gently sipping the fruits of your labour, is somewhat far from the reality. Far from being retired, David works tirelessly at the vineyard seven days per week. All the vines are hand-pruned and the grapes hand-picked in early October by friends and family. With foresight in mind, David is training the next generation of the family, in the guise of his grandchildren, to all things vinous in the hope that they may lend a hand when they graduate out of nappies. All the wines are made by David on the site using traditional methods but utilising modern technology. The base wines for the sparkling wines are sent to Three Choirs Vineyard in Gloucestershire and transformed from still to sparkling wines. 

I was invited into the tasting room, a converted old railway carriage which was purchased from an old client of David’s. We kicked off with:

• Tickled Pink 2006 – a pink sparkling wine made from Seyval Blanc, Reichensteiner with the addition of a little red grape juice. The wine is salmon pink, soft and fruity with a dry finish. This wine sells for around £15
• Bacchus 2009 – a medium dry white wine made from Bacchus grapes. Pale white in colour with a zesty, limey character. Sells at around £7 per bottle.
• Hunting Pink 2009 – a Rosé wine made from Acolon grapes. Vibrant cherry colour with nice ripe fruit and a dry finish.

Whilst English wines aren’t necessarily the cheapest, if you are selective there is some very good drinking to be had. Now, with English Wine Week about to start (29/5-6/6), what are you waiting for! Go out and support our local vineyards and let me know what you’re drinking and what it tasted like?