We are the 2008 Countryside Alliance Local Food Award winners for North West England Yippee! And we are going to the House of Lords for the presentation ceremony which will be a great treat I am sure. Regional Director and Head Regional Judge Richard Dodd commented: “Harrop Fold is a business run with passion. A B&B set on a 20-acre farm, at Harrop Fold Farm you can take a tailored foodie break weekend and watch your supper being cooked, which is an approach I had never heard of before. Leah Stevenson is passionate about cooking and local produce and encourages guests to take part in her demonstrations. I don’t think I have ever heard of this approach and think it will do wonders for food education as well as enjoyment of local, seasonal produce in a beautiful rural setting. A real one-off, and I hope the national judging panel is as enthused as I am!”
We are really proud as we have always championed local produce, David being the son of a farmer and me being the daughter of a butcher it has been second nature and something we have always shared with our guests and now to receive this credit is fantastic!
Leah is having a fabulous time; this month saw a wonderful article in the BBC Good Food Magazine, along with a lovely photo of Leah in action teaching Caroline her tricks of the trade! Today Leah has been nominated for the Cheshire Woman of the Year Award 2009, which means another lunch, this time at Eaton Park, Chester. Oh...how enjoyable food is!
Snow has been the topic of conversation here at Harrop Fold...lots of it. Fortunately the good folk at the Highwayman offered their car park to our guests and we ferried from pub to farm in the Landrover. We were so glad when the thaw came and found poking up through the garden were the first pretty little snowdrops, I love that little promise of spring.
My friend Brenda, from Red Oaks Farm, delivered to us half a lamb which was delicious and again made me think about spring and the tasty, tasty spring lamb which will be around quite soon, can you imagine anything tastier than Cheshire lamb and Cheshire Asparagus? We are coming to the end of our Cheshire fruit jams, but we do have one kilner jar of Tayberry left and then I will be making a fresh supply of English Rhubarb and another pan of gorgeous Amalfi Lemon Curd, yummy! David’s Mum makes the best marmalade, but unfortunately David is very possessive over this!
Fortunately, the hens have started to lay again and this evening we are having a practice run of pancake making...and the first are on the table...so must go and feast again!
Speak again soon,
Sue x
Sue's News (Tag: park)
Harrop Fold wins Countryside Alliance Local Food Award
- 23 February 2009, 19:00
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Leah's First Awards...From September to our first snowfall!
- 5 December 2008, 13:00
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All my good intentions to keep this blog up to date...and it is now December! Another good couple of months have been enjoyed here with Leah winning the Cheshire Rural Woman of the Year Award for her contribution to food and drink; I was a very proud Mum and clapped very hard indeed to see Leah walk up to collect a lovely clock, some beautiful flowers and of course, the all important certificate! November saw the Cheshire Awards for Tourism Skills, another fantastic party night organised by Visit Chester and Cheshire, at Tatton Park, and once again Leah was successful in being presented with another award, this time for Best New Entrant to the Industry. There is going to be abit of competition here between Mother and Daughter I feel!!
Talking about Awards, we had a fabulous evening at St George's Hall at the end of October for the NWRDA North West England Tourism Awards. Sadly we did not win, however, being a part of this prestigious event for the 3rd year running is indeed an achievement. 2006 saw us there with the B&B and we did receive Highly Commended, 2007 with Painting at Harrop Fold Farm and then this year we were representing Cheshire with Self-catering Holiday Experience with Mellow Brook Cottage here at Harrop Fold Farm. The cottage looks beautiful following its complete redecoration and refurb, and guest's feedback is brilliant.
We have had our first substantial snowfall this week; on Tuesday morning David had to bring out the tractor to pull out two of our guest’s cars! It adds to the adventure...so I am told! What is so funny is that just 2 miles down the road there was no snow at all! Anyway, it arrived quickly and left quickly...much to Edward’s disgust as he quite fancied a couple of days off school.
Leah began her Christmas Cookery Demonstrations and Dine yesterday, it was really well received, and the dining room looked beautiful with the Christmas tree in situ. Perhaps this weekend will see us decorate the other tree in the cottage. The family are enjoying all this seasonal food especially the turkey as Leah keeps trying many different recipes out on us...I really must try to exercise or I will not be fitting into my Christmas party dresses!
Mincemeat has been on Leah’s mind as she has been making the most delicious mincemeat over the last couple of weeks, and so today’s job is making a few more mince pies for this weekend’s visitors. Oh the temptations I am faced with...will anyone notice how many I actually made?!
The animals are all well, the peacocks have settled and now entertain the guests over breakfast, I am not quite sure whether they are admiring themselves by viewing their reflections in the windows or are hoping for treats from guests! Emmie is delightful and so good, she has loved seeing her first snow this week, she made everyone laugh when she jumped onto the wall not realising of course that she would then skid along it and land on the ground! Arthur has taken to his job of patrolling the buildings looking for anything interesting (and tasty!) and spends a great deal of the day in this way.
The cows came in for the winter after the bonfire party, I love hearing their low mooing sounds when I wake up in the morning. They are so happy when they first come in, but by spring start trying to break out again...the grass is always greener...!
Must set to now to prepare the rooms for today’s guests and then start to organise our Christmas orders to ensure we have plenty of delicious food to offer our guests.
Catch up again very soon,
Sue x
Wild Times at Harrop!
- 7 May 2008, 18:00
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A number of wild happenings here at Harrop Fold…firstly our wild visitors. This weekend our golden pheasant has been spotted criss crossing the field, he lives in the woods near the brook and is certainly a spectacle to be seen. Other golden visitors returning have been the Goldfinches, last year they nested in the ivy on the barn wall, they obviously were so happy they have returned with friends. This year they are continuing to nest in their old spot and their chums are nesting in the ivy on the house outside our bathroom window! Let’s hope this year they will entertain our visitors again at breakfast time – better than a cabaret was one comment on Sunday morning!
The house martins have also returned and this morning their antics were delightful as they were diving around me as I pegged out the sheets on the line to dry. David also spotted the buzzards in the bottom meadow and on Monday morning we saw the bottom meadow resembling a scene from Monarch of the Glen as around 10 deer from neighbouring Lyme Park joined the natives for bed & breakfast. They are such grand beasts and we were able to photograph them looking up at us from the old Oak tree – hopefully we will work out soon how to add photos to our blog!
Continuing with a wild outdoors theme David, Edward and I were guests at the Preview of the inaugural Tatton Park Biennial on Friday evening. We enjoyed a glass of champagne and canapés in the beautiful Tenants’ Hall prior to roaming the gardens in search of the specially commissioned artworks, some hidden and some easily found. We set off exploring ourselves, led very ably by Edward who fancied rather more of an orienteering experience rather than the footpaths! The shingles sculpture is so wonderful – one could imagine spending a lovely evening overlooking the lake in this beautiful structure – I wonder if Tatton are thinking of b&b! Seriously, it is fantastic and we are looking forward to returning to see the structure erected overlooking the Japanese garden that is a particular favourite of ours. This trip will certainly be recommended to our guests.
Our wildly exciting end to the week was being visited and reviewed by Judith from Good Housekeeping – yes THE Good Housekeeping magazine! Judith stayed Thursday and Friday night and enjoyed a day of watercolour painting on Friday with Mike. Leah enjoyed cooking and serving some delicious treats – ah! Judith was a dream to share the dinner table with! Do please remember to buy the September edition to read about Judith’s visit…her comment in the visitor’s book reads…
‘The perfect family and delicious stay. Thank you!’
Along with a little picture and the words… ‘What Mike taught me’
Good Housekeeping.
Our wildly thrilling surprise has been to be announced as finalists again in the Cheshire Tourism Awards for the 3rd year running, so fingers crossed please, and let’s hope we win another award to make a hat trick!
On a final wild note, Sunday evening was so beautiful we decided that after such a busy few days we deserved a stroll up to the local inn for a beer and a viewing of the most beautiful sunset of the year. Yes, this could have been enjoyed from our gardens but I needed some rhubarb to make more jam for this week’s visitors, so stopping in the field on the way home we whiled away a few minutes pulling the beautiful spring rhubarb, having just prepared it now I must nip off as it is ready for bottling. Next on the agenda is to make a fresh batch of our lovely Amalfi lemon curd – combined with this glorious weather the smell and touch of these divine Amalfi lemons have put me in the mood for a holiday….and hopefully you too may wish for a holiday...here at Harrop Fold!
Speak again soon.
Love, Sue x
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