The Great Ledbury Celebration – food, drink, music, poetry and heritage

Old Granary Pierogis - Ledbury Celebration 2016 — Old Granary Pierogis – Ledbury Celebration 2016

Sunday 9th July 2017 – a date for your diary

Our own annual Ledbury food and drink festival on the last day of the Ledbury Poetry Festival becomes part of the “Great Ledbury Celebration” this year and moves to Ledbury’s historic High Street market place to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the iconic Market House in a birthday treat of food, drink, music, poetry and heritage.

Arrangements for the event are bringing together organisations across Ledbury to put together a very special day, including Ledbury Town Council, Ledbury Poetry Festival, Ledbury Food Group, the Friends of the Master’s House, the Youth Council, the Ledbury Fringe, local businesses, traders and performers. Continue reading “The Great Ledbury Celebration – food, drink, music, poetry and heritage”

April 4, 2017December 17, 2024

Ledbury’s Country Market is on the move

From Friday 7th April, Ledbury Country Market will be at its new home – the Burgage Hall, Church Lane, Ledbury, open between the same times as now 8.30pm to 1pm. The last market at St Katherine’s Hall was on 31st March.

The same friendly faces will be there to greet you with their very locally produced, locally grown and hand crafted produce including free range eggs, home grown fruit, vegetables and plants in their season, as well as a large choice of baked goods – cakes, biscuits, puddings, and savouries. Continue reading “Ledbury’s Country Market is on the move”

March 29, 2017December 17, 2024

Who is going to harvest our fruit this year?

Fruit picker at Castle Fruit Farm by Pat Strauss

Buds are breaking on the Valor plum trees and hurrah, the blackthorn is in full blossom so the pollinators can get to work. These are our free workers so we try to make sure pollen is available early on by planting goat willow and keeping some of the hedges uncut for their early blossom. More on the importance of biodiversity later as what is more pressing is organising our 2017 harvest workers. Like all farmers we rely on seasonal labour to harvest our crops. In our case this means a group of Bulgarians who come every year for 3-5 months. Continue reading “Who is going to harvest our fruit this year?”

March 24, 2017December 17, 2024

March Recipe: Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie with Goat’s Cheese Mash

The pulses for this recipe you will be able to obtain from Handley Organics. Root vegetables are, of course, very much in season at this time of year, but such small quantities are required that you might want to leave out celeriac and double the quantity of carrots. You could mix the potatoes and use some sweet ones if desired. Continue reading “March Recipe: Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie with Goat’s Cheese Mash”

March 2, 2017December 17, 2024

Winter Work at Castle Fruit Farm

“Winter work? Surely there is nothing to do now it’s winter” How that makes our farm manager Clive laugh !

Pruning at Castle Fruit Farm by Pat Strauss

One of the foremost things on our minds is tree planting. Orchards are being continually renewed, driven by age, unprofitability and the never ending desire of consumers for the new. It is a necessary and huge commitment in every way not just financial. Other tasks at this time of the year include pruning, machinery maintenance, coppicing, logging, ditching, hedge cutting and planning labour for next season. On wet days catching up on research findings and never ending paperwork deserves a blog on its own ! Continue reading “Winter Work at Castle Fruit Farm”

February 16, 2017December 17, 2024

February Recipe: Cod, Fennel and Smoked Bacon Pie

The Bechamel sauce mentioned in the recipe is made in the usual way for making white sauce. However, you may not know that you can now buy something called ‘sauce flour’ to which you do not need to add any butter. You just mix the flour with the milk and keep whisking until it comes to the boil, then allow it to simmer for a couple of minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. You can also make a white sauce, using butter, the all in one way, by just mixing the butter, flour and milk and again whisking until it comes to the boil and then simmering for a couple of minutes. Continue reading “February Recipe: Cod, Fennel and Smoked Bacon Pie”

February 10, 2017December 17, 2024

Bird Life at Castle Fruit Farm

We are very keen to increase the biodiversity here at Castle Fruit Farm for all sorts of reasons.

Firstly, orchards are a wonderful habitat and have a unique part to play in maintaining the richness of our natural world which is being challenged in so many ways – by farming practices, by the insatiable demand for houses and over enthusiastic tidiness ! Continue reading “Bird Life at Castle Fruit Farm”