A Ledbury Celebration, food, drink, music, poetry – 13th July 2014

Many thanks to all who visited or took part in this special event run in partnership with the Ledbury Poetry Festival. The weather cleared, the displays on the food stalls were fabulous, and once the music and poetry started so the beer, cider, perry and Derek’s special elderflower and lemon liqueur Proseccos started to be appreciated.

Many thanks especially to our stallholders who worked a long day to make this all possible for us to enjoy. It was a true celebration of our local food and drink blended with good music and poetry.

Please let us know what you thought of the day and ways in which we could make a future event even better by email to ask@ledburyfoodgroup.org or via our Twitter feed. More photos appear at the end of this article.

Some thoughts on cherries and plums.

Chrissie Bentley asked for poetic contributions on cherries and plums. Here are some of them together with some more authentic ones:

Stalks

Two cherries on the cherry-tree hung there quite enchantingly

And anyone who looked could see that cherries would blush so easily

When tickled pink to think of pies and twinkles in each other’s eyes.

Two cherries on a cherry tree tasted very good to me.

John Edward Smallshaw

Cherry Ripe

Cherry-ripe, ripe, I cry

Full and fair ones; come and buy

If so be you ask me where they do grow, I answer, There

Where my Julia’s lips do smile;

There’s the land or cherry-isle, whose plantations fully show

All the years where cherries grow

Robert Herrick

Cherries

Handed to me in soft paper sack,

I transferred them

straight to a bowl.

Life can be a paper sack

of cherries,

but why live in Solihull

when you can live in Barbados?

They were EXQUISITE.

I ate them as quickly as I could

without taking in too much air,

squeezing the stones finger and thumb

over the vicarage wall.

I felt life

coursing through me

several hours later.

Poetforhire.net

Some thoughts on plums…

…my head looks like a mouldy plum

I think that’s why I look so glum

I am going to sit on my bum

And eat a plum

My love is like a plum

Plump
Lustrous
Unusual
Moist

Eat them slowly and enjoy their goodness

While the summer warmth lives in my heart

Cherries are red,

Plums are blue

That makes purple

Just like you!!!

Life is what you make it…

Plum pie is how you bake it.

Ode to Herman the Plum

Intense, round, plum coloured, ball of plumpness…with a stone

This is just to say…

I have eaten the plums that were in the ice-box

and which you were probably saving for breakfast

Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold

William Carlos Williams

This is just to say

I have eaten the plums that were in the ice-box

then wrote a poem that was anthologised and read by millions

You were so understanding in the divorce court so sweet and cold

Barry Lane

[Show slideshow]

June 24, 2014December 17, 2024

Grow your own at Ledbury Allotments

Unlike many allotments, there is not a long waiting list for a plot at Ledbury Allotments.

Ledbury Allotment Association owns two fields of allotment plots of various sizes. The allotments site is off Burtons Lane, Wellington Heath about two miles from Ledbury. Plots are available to rent. The rent is £100pa for a full size plot of 90 x 30 feet. Smaller plots are available at a lower rent. The allotment year runs from October to September and it is anticipated that several plots will become available this autumn so now’s the time to put your name down. Should anybody wish to rent an allotment, please contact Isobel Gibson on 01531 635139 or Ian Smethurst at itsmethurst@aol.com.

May 9, 2014December 17, 2024

Farmers Arms at Wellington Heath

If you haven’t heard already The Farmers Arms pub at Wellington Heath has re-opened its doors. With a fresh and enthusiastic approach the new landlords are determined to make this local pub popular again.

The new owner is a builder. He has updated the premises making it light, warm and welcoming. Lawrence and Carolyn Joplin are the excited incumbents. Recently managing The Bell at Yarpole, Carolyn tells me they have been in the locale for many years and are delighted to have the opportunity to run this pub as a freehouse, with all the opportunities such a project brings with it.

Lawrence is the chef. He has knowledge and experience of producing a good, varied menu from quality produce and ingredients. He was a late starter in the cookery profession and his interest led him to working free and gratis in a Michelin star kitchen to start him on his chosen career. He went on to study catering at Hereford College as a mature student. Then on to working in high end kitchens with the likes of Claude Bosi in Ludlow and finally with Darren Field at Englands Gate at Bodenham. He was now equipped to face the gastronomic world head on, starting his own kitchen at the above mentioned – The Bell at Yarpole. In fact, their passion for good food extends to dining at good eateries, even when they get time off…!

Lawrence is very keen to source as many of his supplies as possible locally. This can expand as their tenure lengthens. Already using some butchers in Ledbury, The Food Group has contributed a list of many local suppliers of all kinds of produce, which the couple can avail themselves of. The menu also features a variety of fish dishes – the New Wave company from Gloucester is happy to replenish stocks daily – a new one on me. And, just in case you thought all this was sounding more restauranty and less pubby, there is a barter board for us mortals who ‘home grow.’ Included on the Sunday Roast menu, if your family all enjoy chicken, you can order a whole one with all the trimmings to carve at your table. Now there’s a good idea.

On the social side we have sparked some ideas for inclusion in Ledbury’s Big Breakfast and Poetry Festival events. In August, plans to have a Sausage Festival at the pub are already on the table. Excuse the pun… Musical, Quiz and Themed events are all a possibility for the future – creating a social hub being the intention.

Lawrence and Carolyn, with their family, Joe and Hannah, really want to make this pub a success. It will require a lot of hard work and dedication and I hope that with local support the possibilities for The Farmers’ Arms are endless. Cheers!

April 28, 2014May 27, 2014

Food Group stimulates Taste Buds at our Beer Tasting Event

Banana, chocolate, citrus, apples, grass, peaches – these were just a few of the aromas and flavours experienced by tasters at Ledbury Food Group’s “Appreciating Great Beer” tasting event on Saturday 26^th April in Ledbury.

Master Brewer and Beer Judge Derek Orford introduced a contrasting range of beers both local and continental – lager, wheat, English Ale, stout, Trappist and Lambic – to demonstrate the variety of beer styles available. Tasters appreciated learning more about how beer is made and judged, and how to assess aroma and taste, sampling various malt barleys and hops as well as beer.

Ledbury Food Group ran the event to stimulate interest in our local beer heritage and products, with kind support from Hay Wines (Ledbury), Whittington’s Brewery, Untapped Brewery, and the Friday Beer Co, who between them supplied the beer tasted at the event.

Details of the beers tasted:

Crystal Wheat Beer from the Untapped Brewery, Raglan
Cats Whiskers from Whittingtons Brewery @ Three Choirs, Newent
Black Hill Stout from Friday Beer Co, Malvern Link
Budweiser Budvar from the Czech Republic
Rochefort: Trappiste 6 from Belgium
Mort Subite: Geuze a very different style also from Belgium

March 24, 2014August 14, 2020

Appreciating Great Beer – Beer Tasting on Saturday 26 April, Ledbury

The Ledbury Food Group are delighted to invite you on a beer tasting journey with Master Brewer and Beer Judge Derek Orford, starting in the Three Counties with local beers, and continuing with some international classics.

Derek recently returned to Herefordshire after brewing ales, lagers and stouts in the UK, Caribbean, Ireland, and Australia. He qualified as a Master Brewer in 1991 and is an examiner of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling. He is hoping to become recognised formally as a Beer Sommelier later this year. He currently runs Bosbury boutique liqueur maker Three Counties Liqueurs with his wife and daughter and is also hoping to get back to hands-on brewing soon with his own recipes.

February 20, 2014April 14, 2014

An apple a day…

Did you know that, according to the CPRE, you could eat a different English apple variety every day for six years without trying the same one twice? Let’s see, 6 times 365… I make that 2190, ignoring the odd leap year!

If you would like to find out more about the incredible varieties of apples we grow in this country, have a look at the National Fruit Collection’s website at http://www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/index.php They list all the known varieties from A.D.W. Atkins to Zomer Delicious, complete with photographs where possible and detailed descriptions. Check how many you have eaten, or identify the mystery tree in your garden!

I wonder how many we grow in and around Ledbury – does anyone have any idea?

Thanks to Rachel Hicks for alerting me to today’s useful fact!

February 3, 2014April 14, 2014

Big Breakfast – more photos

Thank you to all those who made the Ledbury Big Breakfast 2014 such a successful event despite the weather by participating, breakfasting, buying to take home or just being there. The Breakfast Ice Cream from Just Rachel made it to the Cider shop on Saturday morning and Mrs K Clark nominated the winning sausage in the competition run by Trumpet Corner and Llandinabo Farm Shop – pork, black pudding and leek. Please let us know how you enjoyed the event or tell us how we can improve things next time on ask@ledburyfoodgroup.org (or Twitter @LedburyFoodGrp) or leave your comments here.

More on this event will follow but in the meantime enjoy the pictures.