When, in 1993, Terence Conran opened his first restaurant, Quaglinos, he almost re-invented modern dining in London. He created a sensation with his show-stopping crustacea altar, which took up one whole wall of the restaurant. The piece de resistance on the menu was the plat de fruits de mer, which was based on the famous dish served in the French Riviera and served two at a minimum. But I always found that Conran’s offering, which gave as much emphasis to profit as to style, contained too many fillers, such as winkles and mussels and not enough of the luxury items. If you want the genuine article in London, the place to go is La Poissonnerie de L’Avenue, which was founded in 1962, and has been the best fish restaurant ever since. There, the plat de fruit de mer contains a whole lobster, lots of oysters and best of all, enormous Norfolk crab claws. The price (for two) is £76, which is no more than you’d pay at a Conran restaurant but is twice the quality.
Archive for the ‘Farm’ Category
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Plat de Fruits de Mer
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
The Law of Unintended Consequences- Killing our bat population
Well meaning laws sometimes have unintended consequences, which entirely defeat their intended purpose. We had a splendid example of this this week when 25 pensioners, some in their 80’s, lost their jobs at Longleat because their employers were worried that they would lose the right to dismiss them when a new law comes into force next year.
The Wildlife Act, which is intended to protect bat roosts, has a similar effect. Nowadays, you can only get planning permission for alterations to a listed building if the application is accompanied by a Bat Survey and a Mitigation Strategy Report, which determines whether bats will be disturbed by the building work. The financial consequences of the survey have been described by Mr John Orchard, who played the game and paid for a survey. The survey found that no bats roosted in his house, but a single pipistrelle was seen to enter the building during the survey. The sight of that solitary visitor necessitated further work and supervision resulting a in a total bill of more than £5,000.
This is idiocy in anyone’s book. The consequence is that the Wildlife Act guarantees the destruction of many of the roosts which it is designed to protect. Many people, frightened by the lunatic expense which may be involved, make sure that all evidence of bats is removed before any survey is undertaken.
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
Six Tuscan Columns
Six Tuscan columns are an essential feature in the design of my garden for the Gardening World Cup. Two sets of double columns frame the statue in the centre of the loggia and a column at each end adds balance. The columns are identical, each 7ft in height and for that extra touch of elegance they should taper slightly from the base to the top. About a fortnight ago I was made aware that Tuscan columns are not stock items in Japan and that we would have to get them made especially- and could I send the exact measurements to our contractors in Japan? Today I saw what they had managed to knock up in such a short period of time. The photo shows what they have achieved. They are made of solid cedar using tools which were designed to make children’s spinning tops. This astonishing achievement is the work of the project director’s cousin, who has a workshop set up for making children’s toys. The whole job was completed in just four days from getting the drawings and they are perfect.
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
The Killer Badgers
The first thing we did when we began to garden here was to put a deer fence around the garden with a cattle grid at the entrance. Without that the garden simply wouldn’t have got going. But while the cattle grid kept out the deer it was useless with badgers, who just waddled over it, and we quite often saw them doing just that when we returned home late at night. This was potentially a problem as badgers forage for worms and can cause havoc in the process. They are large and powerful animals. We then discovered that they were actually living in our garden- their sett was in the fern garden. But we have been lucky- they forage in the woods behind us and tend to leave the garden alone, although they sometimes make a mess of the lawns.
But whilst I can live happily with badgers in my garden I share the antipathy of all farmers towards them. They carry TB; they infect cattle with TB and are responsible for the slaughter of tens of thousands of cattle each year. On my farm I’ve had two scares, when, after routine tests for TB, cattle have had a positive reaction. In both cases they have been false alarms, but three healthy rare-breed cows have had to be slaughtered and we have been put to immense trouble and expense because of the false readings. In the West Country whole herds of cattle are routinely put down. There is no doubt that badgers are responsible for spreading the disease. Now the new government has had the courage to allow badgers to be killed in the infected areas. The last time this was proposed 47,000 animal lovers complained and the government backed down. This time the government must hold firm.
Sunday, September 12th, 2010
Death by Killer Potato
I’m taken with the idea of someone meeting their fate in a manner which is appropriate to their lifestyle as in Tom Stoppard’s falling bookcase or Mike Edwards’ bale of hay (see September 10th). I nearly fulfilled my destiny today in a manner which was entirely appropriate to me. I was driving to the Damson Dene Hotel taking as usual some produce from my kitchen garden, which in this case was two trays of potatoes, which were perched behind me on the back seat. I don’t dawdle on these winding roads, especially as I know them so well. So I was belting along at a fair pace when an idiot shot out of a side road without looking, making me slam on my brakes. When I did so the potatoes behind me shot forward, two of them smashing against the windscreen. I’ve no doubt at all that if one of these potatoes had hit me on the back of the head I’d have been a gonner. A fitting way to go, no doubt.
Saturday, September 11th, 2010
Our Wagyu Cattle- Looking Magnificent
The last time I saw Wagyu cattle looking this magnificent was in Kobe, Japan, on a very hot summer’s day. They were in a large barn in temperatures approaching 100 fahrenheit, being cooled by enormous fans, which had the dual purpose of controlling the powerful stench of ammonia. In Japan, this is how Wagyu cattle are kept year round- it is in effect factory farming. In contrast our Wagyus have the freedom of the open field and access to fresh grass rather than the imported grain which is fed to their Japanese counterparts. Today, our English Wagyus, who have been raised from embryos, looked to me to be the picture of health. In three month’s time they will be ready for slaughter- the very first since we began the embryo programme three years ago. We are fortunate in this country that we have the option to give our cattle the freedom of the open fields- unfortunately the Japanese don’t have the choice because they don’t have the land available. Nor do they have the land to grow their own grain, which is why they rely on imports from Australia and Canada. It won’t be long before we find out whether our superior methods of husbandry will lead to superior meat. Now that would be something.
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
A “Special Delivery” Post Office Style
In 1840, when Grange was a mere village, the postal service was charmingly organised, as this description from The North Lonsdale Magazine shows:
“The postman was an old man who walked over from Lindale carrying the letters in the crown of his capacious hat. We frequently lay in wait for him but on asking him if there were any letters for us he always replied: Naay, naay, ladies oi can’t tell, yo mun e’en choose for yourselbes”, off came his hat and we searched for our letters in this unique mailbag, much to the relief of the poor postman, whose inability to read or write absolved him, he felt, from any responsibility as to the sorting and delivering of the letters to their proper recipients.”
This morning the postman left me a card at my office saying that he had tried unsuccessfully, at 7.50am, to deliver a letter which needed signing for as it was a “special delivery”. On ringing the number on the card my secretary was told that they were unwilling to deliver the letter with our normal mail (which arrives at about 11am, when the office is manned) and that the only way I could receive it would be by going in person to Lancaster Post Office with my passport, or some other photo ID. And, if I didn’t do so within 7 days the letter would be destroyed. I wonder if the person who took the trouble arrange for this “special” delivery had any idea that they were paying extra so that the Post Office could destroy it? And I wonder why it is that the postal service was so much better 170 years ago when it was handled by an illiterate postman?
Friday, August 20th, 2010
L’Enclume on the ascendant
It was a brilliant move by Simon Rogan to take over the lease of Howbarrow Farm in Cartmel and secure control of the supply of organic produce to L’Enclume. Raymond Blanc has a kitchen garden at Le Manoir, which supplies his restaurant. He is forever on TV seen plucking a baby carrot from the ground and gazing at it with intense Gallic admiration. I’ve visited the kitchen garden at Le Manoir and I’ve seen the number of covers served every day in their restaurant and one thing is certain- the garden can only supply a tiny proportion of the produce which they use. With L’Enclume it’s different- not only is the scale of the operation much smaller than at Le Manoir, but the source of supply is many times larger. There is of course the problem of seasonality, because in England things go in and out of season very quickly, which affects the availability of supply- but this can be overcome to some extent by constantly varying the menu. Now Simon has leapt into 4th place in the Good Food Guide ranking of the top restaurants in Britain- only just behind Le Manoir. Well done Simon- this is richly deserved- and watch your back Raymond.
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
Squirrels
Beatrix Potter kept rabbits in her garden at Hill Top. They weren’t pets; they were for the pot. I don’t know how she despatched them, but whatever method she used the chances are that she would be committing a criminal offence under the law as it stands. The other day Mr Raymond Elliott, who is a window cleaner, was convicted of a criminal offence under the 2006 Animal Welfare Act for drowning a grey squirrel which he had caught in a trap. These traps are sold by the thousand and we use them here. The RSPCA has decreed that the only way to stay on the right side of the law if you want to kill squirrels or any wild animal is to take it to the vet and have it put down with a lethal injection. If an animal has been killed by lethal injection it is against the law to eat it, which will put anyone who keeps rabbits, ducks or chickens for the pot in an impossible dilemma. The reality is that the Animal Welfare Act will make criminals of most farmers and owners of small-holdings and indeed the many gardeners who, like Mr Elliott who want to protect their plants and their crops from squirrels. Is there any justification for killings squirrels if we don’t eat them? Yes, because they are a scourge, particularly in a area like Cumbria where they are driving out the red squirrel. Let’s not forget that Tufty was a red squirrel- grey’s were unknown in Beatrix Potter’s day.
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
Albizia Julibrissin
The Albizia Julibrissin (also known as the Persian Silk tree) is one of the most admired plants in my garden. It is a perfect tree for a small garden, with an “umbrella” look, never growing to more than ten feet tall, with mimosa-like leaves which have the charming characteristic of closing up at night. The delicate pink flowers appear at the top of the tree, so it is best positioned where it can be viewed from above, which is why I have three examples on the lowest terrace of my Italian garden. Here in Japan I’ve been delighted to see the Albizia growing in its natural habitat, almost like a weed, at the sides of roads and in natural woodland. In the warm, wet, climate of southern Japan it grows into a full sized tree, 25 ft or more and tends to lose its characteristic umbrella shape. It made me think how lucky we are to garden in England, where our temperate climate allows us to grow a far wider range of plants than in most countries of the world. The hedgerows in Nagasaki are full of my favourite plants, such as Cannas and Tradescantia Purpurea which, together with the Alizia, all do well in Grange- but very few of the plants which thrive naturally in Grange would survive the hot and humid conditions of Nagasaki.
The photo is of an Albizia Julibrissin in the gardens of Huistenbosch, Nagasaki.