Discovering Lancashire’s Farmers
When Simon called me from Bunzl Lockhart to book a second tour with National Chef of the Year Winners he said it must be a Monday. The traditional day for chefs to be off and to tie in with Obsession global gastronomy festival at Northcote. Also the day when many kitchens, makers & inns are closed for food tours. Not a problem, I thought, because Lancashire Farmers never stop, so let’s go and meet them.
Over the past 4 years I have collaborated with over 250 food & drink artisans, which means I can build tours for any day of the week, any season, any dietary request. Just last week I was chatting to new artisans about collabs including chocolate makers at the castle & an organic farm with an off grid restaurant. So there is always something new to bring folks back to Bowland & Bay.
NCOTY Food Tour
With some of the best chefs in the country on the tour we wanted to showcase the breadth of skills in the region. I collected everyone for a 10a.m start from the Ribble Valley, including #craftguildofchefs National Chef of the Year winners:
Alex Angelogiannis – Senior Sous Chef, Glenturret Lalique Restaurant.
Cleverson Cordeiro – Head Chef of The Frog by Adam Handling.
Orry Shane – Exec Chef at Entier Ltd.
We set off for a 7 stop tour covering lamb, beef, cheese, gin, ice cream, shrimps and the North’s oldest wine & spirit merchants.
Stop One: Lancashire’s Last Raw Cheese by Beacon Fell
Kellie gave us the behind the scenes tour of Lancashire last raw milk, hand crafted cheese. From the cast iron presses, to the ageing room and then a tasting of mild, tasty, mature & smoked.
Stop Two: Saltmarsh Lamb on the Coast
We headed to the coast and the wild expanse of the Lune estuary. To meet Michelle at #landandsea. As Michelle explained about her Untamed Suppers and cooking over fire, we had a hot pot supper ready to taste. Made with the hyper local Saltmarsh lamb (almost hogget aged) sweet and full of flavour.
Over the past year Bowland & Bay has been gathering hotpot secrets from farmers around Lancashire including the one & only Ruth Kirkham. So this was a hot pot from the heartland and a first for my tours. Michelle paired the dish perfectly with a samphire gose hand picked from the marshes, from a collab with #farmyardbrewco. What a combo.
As we headed out across the tidal road, we met the flock and Stuart, along with Tess in full collie mode. The foodie gods were with us.
Stop Three: Morecambe Shrimps on the dockside
Following the Lune river, we arrived at Glasson Dock to visit the smokehouse. For over 50 years the #portoflancastersmokehouse has been curing and smoking everything from fish & meats to cheese & garlic. The perfect quayside spot for the famous and in season Morecambe Bay shrimp, served warm in a spiced butter. Loved for centuries these tiny brown shrimp are hand peeled, making them a luxury tastebud morsel.
Stop Four: Dexter Beef on the Fells
Leaving the coast we headed back into the Forest of Bowland and high up onto Harris End Fell to meet #wyresidedexter beef farmers and taste the delicious grass fed, slow grown steaks. Paul showed everyone the herd and new arrivals, whilst Charlotte got on with preparing the fillet and ribeye steaks. As we gathered in the farmhouse kitchen, the chefs were full of chatter about nose to tail cooking. Tallow in particular was much lauded. All too soon we waved them off and headed south along the western fells, in search of goats.
Stop Five: 1000 Goats
In the middle of kidding season, Nicola very kindly gave us a window into her world on their family goat farm. With just under a 1000 goats and the flock growing by the hour, the goats made their presence known. We sampled pure goat milk ice cream by the fireside, enjoying its delicate fresh finish, palate cleansed, ready to head to the gin farm.
Stop Six: Master Distiller
As the clock reached 3pm its was time to move to the hard liquor and Inglewhite. Lizzie settled everyone in for craft gin flights at #wildfoxdistillery. Each one with a unique personality. The chefs were also treated to tasting the spirit fresh from the still at 83% ABV and experience waygu fat washed gin. The conversation in the van from then on was a little louder.
Stop Seven : Victorian Wine Warehouse
Driving my merry band of guests back along the Ribble Valley, we headed into Clitheroe for our last stop of our Foodie Adventure. #dbyrne&co has been serving the good folks of the north since 1879. Still family owned and run, we met Joe to talk about some of the 8000 different wines and spirit packing the floor to ceiling shelves.
On the way around the warehouse, everyone warmed their souls with a shot of Benedictine with hot water (the Benny n’hot). Whilst I told the story of how East Lancashire became the biggest consumers of this Normandy spirit, since the First World War.
Farewell & Foodie Goodies to take home
Back to barracks before 5pm. With Foodie Goodie Bags for the chefs, packed with even more fabulous Lancashire produce: Craft beers, Fairtrade bean to bar chocolate, TOTI deli delights, even a freshly baked Mrs Kirkhams ginger cake! All part of Bowland & Bay new offer for private guests, tailor made from £15-£50. I just can’t fit all the deliciousness into one tour!
Thank you Lancashire Farming Folks for creating a very special Monday Food Tour – which will last long in the memories of chefs from around the UK. Thank you too to Simon & the Bunzl Lockhart team, great to meet up again and share food stories folks – have a wonderful stay in the North West and safe travels home.
