PfL at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall
PfL’s southwest team enjoyed an entertaining afternoon at the Lost Gardens in Cornwall on Thursday the 23rd March.
Alasdair Moore and his team from the Lost Gardens showed us their farm, with its flerd of cattle and sheep who run together to help reduce their worm burden (historically resistant and troublesome) and explained how they use their own produce in their busy café on site.
We were treated to exceptional food, cooked by their chef Nat Tallent. She spoke to us about trying to find ways to use the whole carcass which the gardens visitors would appreciate and then she served up, among other dishes, a tartlet of goats cheese and hogget shoulder cured like ham – delicious.
Afterwards, we listened to Matt Chatfield and Ben Thomas talk about their farming systems. Matt told us about his years working as a delivery driver, delivering food to high end restaurants in London and how that has helped him take on his family’s farm and sell cull yaw which are older sheep, fattened for at least 6 months on his pasture and in his woods, hung for 5 weeks to produce a high end product that he sells to restaurants. His system is simple but his depth of knowledge of the hospitality trade, what chefs look for in a carcass and the ecological status of his land is amazing.
Ben Thomas talked about his two farming enterprises, one working with Natural England grazing Goss Moor in a highly monitored way, with prescribed goals, using Galloway and Ruby Red Devon cattle, and the other enterprise, mob grazing cattle on a shared farm on Bodmin moor. He spoke about the challenges and differences in the two systems and the joy that long grass grazing bought him, drought resistance and a wealth of life that was starting to thrive on his land.
Food, conversation, interesting information and a look at someone else’s cows and sheep, all in all a good day! If you are in the area we recommend visiting the Lost Gardens of Heligan and eating at there café, especially if they are serving the hogget ham!
