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Keep in touch with the Food Alliance Blog - sign up here Follow on Instagram here, Facebook here Here's where you can see what's happening for good local food in Herefordshire. From local food events, through farming to food waste - we use the Sustainable Food Places topics so you can see the things you're interested in at a glance. Click on each one for more information or scroll down the most recent. Contact us to tell us what's going on in your part of the County and sign the food charter to add your voice! |
Wicton Farm, Bromyard, is an exemplar in high welfare, sustainable dairy farming and they need your help!
Congratulations to the fantastic team behind the film, "Six Inches of Soil". They have been nominated for the BBC Food and Farming Awards Digital Creator" Award.
Hopefully you managed to get to one of the ten screeenings of the film that the Alliance organised throughout the county. The announcemnet will be made at the awards in Bristol on 18th November... watch this space.
The team are currently exploring regenerative dairy. Hear all about it on their podcast..
Jamie’s Farm is a charity set up 15 years ago by ex history teacher Jamie Feilden. The charity now runs seven farms throughout the UK, one being in Longtown.
Food Strategy
The Food Strategy Policy paper A UK government food strategy for England: Towards a Good Food Cycle: a UK government food strategy for England, considering the wider UK food system is available here: Read the full report here
Journey to regenerative Farming.. a regenerative agriculture mentoring project. Cherry Taylor from 'Action on Climate Emergency Monmouth' shared a brilliant report about three Monmouthshire farms who received mentoring from regenerative farmer Ben Taylor-Davies, aka 'Regen Ben', who was on our Six Inches of Soil panel in Llangrove last year, as well as hosting our Autumn 2023 Breakfast Feast.
It was super inspiring to meet the team at Perrystone Farm who manage the stock there and at the neighbouring Brockhampton Estate. The team is made up by Mark, his wife Hazel, and recent recruits, Kitty and partner James, who bring their experience of working with other progressive farm systems in Herefordshire and beyond.
Producer Spotlight on Chapel House Farm, Craswall
Simon and Anita Dale farm in Craswall and Much Dewchurch and are a great example of field to fork eating, closing the food loop in Herefordshire's Golden Valley. They are an inspiration!
The farm to table restaurant Native near Tenbury Wells on the border of Herefordshire -Worcester has been awarded its first Michelin Green Star! It offers hyper seasonal, modern British, fine dining from wild food pioneer's Ivan Tisdall-Downes and Imogen Davis. Instagram:earthnative.
And having already been featured in the Michelin Guide, The Bull’s Head, in Craswall has been named the 33rd-best gastropub in the country, according to the Top 50GastroPubs
In the first Producer Spotlight of 2025 we are showcasing Marches Mushrooms!
Amie and Taylor started Marches Mushrooms during the pandemic, when their jobs were threatened by COVID restrictions. Amy was brought up foraging and cooking with her father who ran the restaurant “The Penny Bun” (the mushroom also known as the cep!) in Hay on Wye. He was the inspiration to start their new venture. After a mushroom cultivation course they set up their business in a disused dairy and grow mushrooms strains which require a low tech, consistent summer/autumn light, temperature and humidity.
A few opportunities to eat good food and share some community experiences this season...
From Talk Community - the Here for the Holidays Programme
"Our programme is free for all school aged children (reception to Year 11), who are eligible for benefit related free school meals. There’s a fantastic range of exciting indoor and outdoor activities to choose from. There will also be a healthy meal on offer at every session attended, so no need to bring a packed lunch."
More info here
Other Events throughout the Holidays are listed on the Talk Community Website . Christmas Day sees a community lunch at Bishops Frome Village Centre, and a Salvation Army Lunch - see below for details.
One of the Alliance aims is to support farming and food production that is great for nature and the local economy - here’s one! You can find more in our Buy Good Food page.
Anna Jones – Trust Your Gut @jonestrustyourgut
Anna is a burst of energy, passionate about great food, passionate about health and passionate about how we can make our diets better. She makes a delicious range of products all based around the fermentation process. Fresh, natural ingredients go into her ferments, sold in recyclable, plastic free packaging all at her farm and orchard near Ledbury.
RAW Apple cider vinegar contains the “Mother” (it’s cloudy, unfiltered and unpasteurized unlike mass produced versions). She also makes kimchi, Kraut, and Slaw in an array of tantalizing combinations plus Mothers and Scobys to get you fermenting at home..
The ferments have numerous health giving properties to boost a healthy gut biome, boost immunity, regulate sugar levels and reduce inflammation, along with many more properties. See her website for more of the science Trust Your Gut Watch this space for fermentation workshops..
One of the Alliance aims is to support farming and food production that is great for nature and the local economy - here’s one! You can find more in our Buy Good Food page.
Rod Lewis originally trained as a Cordon Blue chef in London, but has fine tuned his skills as a charcutier in Italy. He uses a whole pig to create his wide range of products that include Nduja, a spreadable, Calabrian style spicey salami, various chorizos (a regional take on the traditional Spanish sausage}, to Lomo embuchado (cured loin).
He sources his pigs carefully, and as locally as possible. Older pigs that have built up muscle ie, being free range, are better suited to his products, and impart a better flavour and structure. The meat and fat of factory grown meat is soft and blended together, whereas the muscle on an older animal that has been foraging is firmer and the fat more defined. Free range pigs that are allowed to roam of course also require lower inputs too.
Through St Martin's Food Share - please let anyone know who could use!
3rd December
Basic Food Hygiene course – In person In Hereford, St Martin’s Church Hall. HR2 7RJ
9am – 4pm although times are a little bit flexible – but is a 6 hour course.
One of the Alliance aims is to support farming and food production that is great for nature and the local economy - here’s one! You can find more in our Buy Good Food page.
Daphne’s is full of sunshine, whatever the weather..
The owners Autum and Daniel (the team is completed by Lettice) are passionate about good quality, local, seasonal ingredients and both they and their suppliers are rightly proud of these partnerships. The imaginative starters, stand out delicious pizzas and sensational puddings are all delivered with warmth, and an infectious enthusiasm.
One of the Alliance aims is to support farming and food production that is great for nature and the local economy - here’s one! You can find more in our Buy Good Food page.
Katie Cordle, Long Lane Dairy - Sheep’s milk yoghurt, sheep’s cheese, halloumi
Katie started making halloumi during the pandemic when she began experimenting with the sheeps milk that a neighbour https://www.shepherdsicecream.co.uk/ was able to provide.. She now makes two cheeses and yoghurt which are sold in shops or direct to restaurants. (Crème fraiche, and ricotta are by products going direct to chefs).
One of the Alliance aims is to support farming and food production that is great for nature and the local economy - here’s one! You can find more in our Buy Good Food page.
Mick and Alice Westrip of Rhos Organic are an inspiration.
They run their shop/deli in Knighton and their organic market garden (a couple of miles outside Knighton) with just one other helper, Adam, who comes just two days a week.
Their vegetables are sold in the shop, and in 35 weekly boxes that are collected, or delivered to collection points including Presteigne where they also supply Daphne’s restaurant.
From Herefordshire Wildlife Trust:
*Vacancy: Café Team Member Queenswood Country Park & Arboretum*
Full time/ permanent; £11.44 per hour
"We are looking for an enthusiastic person to join our café team at Queenswood Country Park and Arboretum.
At Queenswood café we pride ourselves on a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, excellent customer service, and good, wholesome food made with locally sourced ingredients. As well as regular breakfast and lunch service we cater events such as corporate lunches and seasonal events, so there’s plenty of variety.
...In good local food in Herefordshire right now?
If you're reading this, you're either interested in or working towards good local food in Herefordshire. Please help us build a brilliant picture of all that's going on so that we can celebrate it, support it and do more of it!
It will take a very small amount of time and we're happy to receive your thoughts in any way - a quick note+ contact details, a document you already have, or a link.
Here's the form! You may see it below or click the link.
Dean Storey and his dedicated team at Monkland cheesemakers make 6 varieties of cheese, using raw milk from Grove farm, Brimfield and the original recipes designed by the previous owners. Kass and Mark who now run the shop and café.
The Little Hereford cheese was taken from a book of recipes by Helen Yield, Herefordshire’s chief dairy maid in the early nineteenth century.
You can take a fascinating tour of the Creamery where you’ll learn about how the nuances of the pasture, climate, temperature and bacterias create the different flavours and textures. The raw (unpasteurized) milk allows for more diversity in the flavour. It’s a true art form..
VEG BOX CO-ORDINATOR, HEREFORD
Part Time – 20 hours/week
We have a new position within our team for a CO-ORDINATOR to support our growers in delivering our new veg box scheme and wholesale veg sales.
This is a varied and exciting job based in part at our garden in South Wye and part working at home. It is a fantastic opportunity to join our newly expanding community organisation. We are looking for someone with excellent organisational, IT and customer facing skills who can confidently work on their own initiative and help drive our business forward.
We are gearing up for our next showing of Six Inches of Soil as part of the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust's Apple Day Celebration at Queenswood Country Park Sunday 20th October. The whole day runs from 11am - 4pm with the film showing at 1pm - 3.30pm including Q&A with local farmer Rich Thomas who will give his reflections on the film and an insight into the joys and challenges of farming in Herefordshire.
Tickets for the film and Q&A are £7.50 and can be bought HERE on the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust's website.
