Hampton Estate Naturally Reared Newsletter November 2015
We must be enjoying life enormously as time is flying and the last of the Hampton Beef Collection Days for 2015 is almost upon us. FRIDAY 27th NOVEMBER is the big day and we are taking orders for scrumptious flavoursome prime Hampton beef to replenish your fridge and your freezer.
Our butcher Steve (of Mike Humphries fame) has again deemed our two beasts hanging in his cold store as “the best he has seen”, praise indeed from Surrey’s premier butcher.
We have already taken orders for all the rib joints and all the fillet but we have our fabulous 10kg family bags available with that special mix of steak, joints, stewing steak and mince. We can also handle any bespoke order at the moment be it a topside or silverside joint for 10 or five kilos of prime minced beef. If your freezer has any spare space then now is a really good time to stock up for Christmas supplies so that ingredients for a quick lasagne or spag boll are always to hand. Somewhere in the house will be the tin of tomatoes, pepper, salt and an onion and hey presto all made.
Alternatively a slow roasted succulent piece of prime brisket is a fantastic winter standby and is dead easy to cook overnight with just pepper and salt on the top. A winner hot or cold.
The best Hampton wild venison should be available and again is full of flavour and is fun to cook. Do book early to avoid disappointment as deer are hard to stalk at this time of year therefore supplies will be limited, but Hampton haunch is worth its weight in gold, will feed half an army and impress everyone.
Hampton Herbies and Hampton Beef Bangers are in good supply and keep everyone going, so don’t forget to add a couple of packets to your order and you will have the best breakfast combo ever with eggs, tomato and a couple of rashers of bacon.
Unfortunately we will not have any pies for sale. We sold everything last month and so pies are off the menu. We will have to last until 2016 for the next Hampton Special Beef pie, but as we know, they are worth waiting for.
On 27th November Paul Young of Imbibros fame will be hosting a wine tasting with us, and will be taking orders from his excellent stocks of wines from all parts of the world. I love his Spanish reds, and incidentally he is also the provider of high quality jambons (hams) and other delicious Spanish delicacies which I am sure we can order on the day.
Our other guest supplier will be Charlie Gardner of The Cold Pressed Oil Company Ltd who wowed us with his local and flavoursome oils earlier in the year and is back by popular demand. His truffle oil has gone down a storm here at Hampton and I am sure he will be tempting us with tasters and Christmas gift ideas.
On Friday 20th November we will be hosting the annual Christmas Fair at Myrtles Courtyard which promises to be another huge success. Lots of ideas for presents, lots of different stalls, Hampton beef for lunch and all in aid of Parish Funds so do come along from 10.00am onwards. It’s probably time to purchase the first present of the season.
We are in the middle of a major timber programme on the estate, most noticeably felling pine trees in the area known as Culverswell. Suddenly new views and vistas have emerged just south of Littleworth Crossroads which is very exciting. The trees have been growing for over 70 years and this is the final fell, following thinning over the years. We will be raking and burning all the brash ( sticks, small branches) together with the dead rhododendron wood this winter, and will be replanting next winter. We also leave a number of specimen trees on site to maintain the interest in the landscape and hopefully provide natural seed. Its long term stuff and involves large scale machinery brought in specifically for the job, but all critical for positive estate management.
The November winds are fast blowing away the wonderful colours we saw on the estate and elsewhere in Surrey last month but I hope that the photos at the top remind you of our exceptional autumn. The cows are thriving and still enjoy munching the grass which is growing in the mild weather to date. We weaned the calves from their mothers last week and as always both parties objected fairly vociferously but have now accepted their new status quo and quietened down.
Bridget and I really look forward to seeing everyone on FRIDAY 27th. We will have cake, biscuits, fresh coffee, sausage tasters, wine tasting, oil tasting, braziers burning and of course your prime Hampton beef to pick up. Flick through the recipe books, zip Kate or I your order and come over and see us.
Very best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Newsletter October 2015
Voted one of the best beasts ever by butchers Michael Humphries of Rowledge (and heavy) I am delighted to report we are now taking orders for our October beef collection day. This will be on FRIDAY 30th OCTOBER and please do order as soon as you can to avoid disappointment. We have our family 10kg bags available (the special mix of joints, mince, braising and steak) as well as any bespoke order that you require. How about a 2kg piece of rolled sirloin or a double rib on the bone, each oozing with flavour, so easy to cook and they look superb? Silverside, top rump and topside are all great roasting joints especially with roast spuds, or pot roast a brisket with onions, carrots, a leek, a parsnip and a good splosh of red. It’s almost autumn and we all deserve a roast! Add a couple of kilos of mince and a kilo of shin (just in case) and hey presto you have a bespoke order.
Pulled brisket is just as delicious after a long slow cook, served on granary bread with mustard and could be the answer to your menu conundrum. Just a thought.
Hampton Herbies, those incredibly popular house sausages will be available as will our Hampton Beef Bangers to which everyone exclaims “I can’t believe its beef”.
For anyone keen on the autumn barbeque we have our 100% beefburgers ready to order and coupled with the above sausages, you can’t go wrong.
And I think we should have supplies of venison as our two very professional stalkers patrol the woodlands and fields in the early mornings and late afternoons looking for specimens.
I watched Mike Robinson from The Pot Kiln pub the other day giving a masterclass of venison butchery in the food theatre at the Surrey Country Fair and Ploughing Match held at Loseley. He was extremely skilled, extremely entertaining and gave me lots of tips and thoughts for recipes. I also invested in a terrific venison cookery book which will be on display on October 30th called “Venison, The Game Larder” and gives a comprehensive guide to all things deer. It’s good to know that our wild roe deer are consistently voted the best tasting of all venison species.
I am afraid that you’ve eaten all the pies! Actually it’s more that we haven’t any meat from last month’s beef day to make into pies as all meat was sold so they are off the menu this month. Possibly next month, depending on the chef’s temperament and Christmas spirit, as our next beef day on Friday November 27th will be our last for 2015.
With both the Rugby World Cup and the British Bake Off behind us we turn to exciting new adventures in the hop world. Our new hop garden in Puttenham is about to take shape and the last hop garden specialist in the country is descending on Puttenham during October to start building the garden. He first has to square the area then put in a screw peg for each plant (1000 per acre) before he starts on erecting poles and finally the wire work. All this in an incredibly clay bound field which is ok to work on if dry but nearly impossible if wet. He is up against it once the clocks go back and the days become shorter but will return in the spring to finish. Meanwhile we will be planting new hop plants (all Fuggles variety) in December so that they get a good start, with lots of moisture and roots that take well.
We welcomed the Surrey Federation of WIs to Myrtle’s courtyard last month for a celebration of rural crafts and country fayre with lots of local food and produce stalls. We saw many old friends and welcome to new readers of the Hampton Newsletter who signed up at the event. Silent Pool Gin were in fine form (nothing like a gin taster at 9.30am) and they think that hops could be a new ingredient for gin. It’s surprising how quickly a delivery of green hops can be made under very special circumstances. The day was great success, helped by glistening late summer sunshine and lots of happy visitors.
Do put Friday 30th October into your diary, tablet, smartphone or chalk it up on the wall. Do think about those large, delicious shepherds pies, lasagnes, bolognaises, sausage rolls and all the beef ingredient you will need to make them. Do join Bridget and I for fresh cake, fresh coffee, a glass of red at lunchtime, a sausage taster and lots of chat, and do put your order in as soon as inspiration hits.
We look forward to seeing you at the end of the month
Best wishes
Hampton Newsletter September 2015
Hop harvest…
Our September beef collection day will be on FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 25th and the beef is, as always at this time in the month, hanging in the butcher’s coldstore, gently maturating. Four weeks hanging is just one of the secrets to the quality of Hampton beef.
And that prime beef is available for order in 10kg family bags (steaks, joints, stewing, mince), in best barbeque bags (steaks, bangers, burgers), in bespoke form (for instance a couple of steaks, a roasting joint and two kgs of mince plus two packets of Hampton Herby Sausages), or in whatever form you want (a complete sirloin to roast for a very special family get together). Hampton Beef Bangers and Hampton Herby Sausages are available in packs of six, and Hampton 100% beefburgers are all ready and waiting for you in packs of four.
Hampton Special Beef Pies are also on the menu this month and as ever are incredibly popular with young and old alike. Using only the best prime stewing or braising steak, fresh vegetables from the walled garden and some fine red our pies are filled with flavour. Individual or family sized they will be snapped up by those pie aficionados amongst you who know your onions. Order now.
After much demand last month we are restocking the freezer with Hampton wild venison which is always so popular, but restocking takes time, so do order as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. It’s still the buck season for roe deer and invariably Paul our stalker can find any number of does early in the mornings on his rounds whilst the bucks stay sensibly out of range, hence the squeeze on supplies.
September and October are perfect months for large Shepherds Pies, family sized Lasagne, that very exotic Moussaka with the last of the aubergines, or the first deep stew of the early autumn. Do let us know what you need in the way of beef, or a recipe and we are here to help.
We are delighted to have two big attractions on 25th September here at Hampton to add variety to your visit. Tessa Smith will be having an exhibition in the house of her glorious black and white photography to which everyone is warmly invited. Family groups, individual portraits, pets, even the golf bag and the car have all been subjected to Tessa’s lens and the results are sensational.
Worth thinking about a photo shoot for Christmas and more details for Tess at www.tessasmithphotography.com Her exhibition runs all day.
We are also really pleased to welcome The Cold Pressed Oil Company, based at Clare Park Farm, Crondall, where they grow and press English rapeseed. Its delicious oil and works especially well in the Hampton wok. Charlie, who runs it will be with us to give out tasters and temp us with his dressings and sauces of which his truffle oil is an absolute winner. www.coldpressedoil.co.uk
Our hop pickers are doing stirling work in the Puttenham hop gardens bringing in the 2015 crop. Our Fuggles hops survived the extremely dry weather in June and early July and then lapped up the August damp which swelled the fruit and gave them the necessary aroma which our brewery customers demand. The hop gardens look glorious with a full crop reaching up to the sky and this week’s weather looks set fair which is incredibly helpful for everyone in the garden on tractors and trailers. Don’t forget that now is the time for a Hampton hop garland if you need a 365 day dried flower arrangement. Available from the hop garden (GU3 1AY) until we finish picking (approx. 17th September) we can supply lovely decorative bines for £18 each. I’m afraid that they will not be available on Friday 25th as all will have been picked and dried. Do order today.
In the meantime our new to us (second hand) hop picking machine, to be installed over the winter arrived from Herefordshire on five low loaders last week and almost caused the biggest Hampton traffic jam imaginable as they somehow managed to meet in front of the house from different directions. Now all unloaded and waiting for the new hop picking building to be erected.
And just to update everyone on our bull saga, General, of poorly foot fame, is now grazing with the rest of our boys in the water meadows by the River Wey standing firm on four feet with seemingly not a care in the world. Regent, our new arrival continues to look mighty and very happy with his lot, as he does his stuff in the Park with the herd. I think in rugby terms he has played himself into the first team, but we also have strength in depth.
Bridget and I really look forward to seeing everyone who is picking up Hampton beef, venison, sausages etc on Friday 25th. Fresh coffee and cake will be ready and waiting for you from 10.00am and do order on line or on phone to be sure.
For your diary just note two beef days left this year 30th October and 27th November.
Best wishes
Hampton Newsletter August 2015
Our next Beef Collection Day will be on FRIDAY 21st AUGUST and we have lots of prime Hampton beef for sale. Steaks to sizzle for the barbeque, or a roast to savour hot then finish with cold slices between two chunky bits of bread with a drop of mustard. Stewing steak to make a delicious casserole, skirt for that summer holiday steak and kidney pie, and mince to make the big family lasagnes and shepherd’s pie.
Hampton Herby Sausages and Hampton Beef Bangers will be available in packs of six and we will have Hampton 100% beef burgers which seem extremely popular with all age groups. Add in some mouth watering Hampton wild roe venison, perhaps a fillet or haunch and you have a good selection of the best beef and venison Surrey can produce, straight from the farm.
We also have Hampton 10kg family bags ready for you with a range of joints, cuts, steaks and mince, and Hampton BBQ Bags with sausages, steaks and beefburgers.
And even better news, if that’s possible; Hampton Special Beef Pies are back on the menu and available as individual pies or family pies serving four. Made with an abundance of Hampton beef, home grown onions and herbs and a dosh of good red they are a staple diet for many discerning households.
Do put your order in now to avoid disappointment and email or phone us here at the estate office. Don’t forget to check that recipe you have been meaning to have a go at this summer and if it involves beef or venison and a special cut or a bit of advice do ring and we will do everything possible to help. We have lots of delicious Hampton honey for your toast and local charcoal for your barbeque. Just add to your order.
Meanwhile Hampton Estate continues to dry up and our grass dwindles as the cows graze an ever increasing area. These conditions really justify our investment in pedigree Sussex stock as they thrive in sparse conditions and potter around the park in excellent condition. Milking cows would have rebelled by now demanding much higher quality feedstuffs. We cut and baled more Lucerne a couple of weeks ago which sit proudly in our winter larder with the first cut taken at the end of May. In four weeks’ time we should be cutting again and the bales will provide a high protein feed for the youngstock and fattening animals this winter. Our hay has been made and is also in store and fortunately we have enough barley straw from last year to keep us going for the coming months.
And now onto our new bull, Regent, who is doing an excellent job with the cows and after a week of active service looks exhausted! He hails again from the notable Petworth Sussex herd, one of the mainstays of Sussex cattle breeding and arrived here last week to take over from General. This is the main breeding period of the year and a working bull is imperative for success, so if for any reason you suspect that your bull is not working alarm bells sound. Our bull called General developed a sore foot just at the critical time and despite attention from the vet, from us, and from the cows, he simply wasn’t performing to the exacting standards demanded by all. Fortunately we were able to secure Regent, and General is on extended sick leave as his foot heals but he will soon be back to fighting form, leaving us with the dilemma of having two bulls.
In Puttenham our Fuggles hops are growing well and hop picking will start at about the same time as usual, ie the beginning of September. The hops are beginning to form on the bines but it will take the rest of this month for the aroma to develop. They still need lots of TLC to make sure they are in tip top form for harvesting.
Our plans for expanding the hop enterprise are progressing well with a planning application for a new picking and drying building lodged with the planners, new plants ordered and we are amassing new hop poles and anchor poles from the estate woodlands. It’s a big long term project.
On Friday 21st Bridget and I look forward to seeing all our customers, to pouring out freshly brewed coffee and tea and hearing of holiday plans and holiday memories. Freshly baked cake and biscuits will be on the table and sausage tasters will be cooking. Red and white will come out at about lunchtime. Do put your order in and make a note in the diary to come and see us.
Very best wishes to all
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Newsletter June 2015
Flaming June is upon us and it must be flaming barbeque season. Therefore you must be in need of wonderful beef supplies, tender beef burgers, prime steaks, an array of sausages and a joint to serve cold, sliced thinly and accompanied with mustard, fresh lettuce and mayonnaise for that summer picnic. Luckily we can help. Our next beef collection day is on FRIDAY 3rd JULY and we have supplies of all the above, plus more, all ready to be ordered and picked up.
Fresh coffee, tea, and even elderflower cordial (if we are lucky and make some over the weekend) will be ready for you from 10.30am, plus Bridget’s speciality cakes to try. Last month’s rhubarb cake went down a storm but the coffee cake was appreciated too, and combine it with a warm Hampton Beef Banger taster things couldn’t get much better on a Friday morning. So do email or phone with your order and we can do our family 10kg beef bags, any bespoke order that you may have, our 100% beef burgers, our Hampton Herbies and Hampton beef bangers and there is venison available at this stage too. We look forward to seeing you.
Hampton has been hectic on many fronts over the past few weeks. The Scouts area camp at Broomfields down towards the River Wey saw 1400 scouts, guides, brownies, cubs and leaders camping for two nights surrounded by activities and adventures. The Woodland Woggle took place the next weekend. Organised again by the Scouts the Woggle Fun Run saw 500 runners and walkers head over a 10k course around the estate raising much needed funds. The Ride in the Park which took place at the end of May was aimed at children learning to ride bikes, scooters, skateboards and even rollerblades and give them a car free driveway to practice on. The garden was open, the WI made fantastic teas and I’m delighted to report only one slightly grazed knee. At the other end of the exertion scale Great Strides, an endurance walk/march started and finished on the estate raising funds for Cystic Fibrosis and involved a 40 mile circuit around Surrey. Everyone returned home successfully and a fantastic amount of money was raised.
This week we have our annual schools countryside day when we host a number of schools on the farm and show them what we do over the year in each department. Forestry is always popular as each child goes away clutching a roundel of silver birch which has been cut for them, and I always hope to collect a number of oohs and aahs showing calves and their mums, though often the Hampton donkeys steal the show as they are stroked to death. We also show them gun dogs and obedience, vermin control and ferreting, hands on butchery and finally a game about pollination which involves very large catapults and home-made bees. All very exciting.
Making hay whilst the sun shines is a good farming motto and we are doing just that. We started mowing grass this morning, and all was well until a stone flew up and shattered the back window of our new tractor, glass everywhere but now fixed, and onwards and upwards. We will move the mown grass around in the field to dry it out tomorrow and hope to bale at the weekend, cab windows permitting! Meanwhile we took our first cut of Lucerne last week and made some fabulous bales which have gone into store and will be much enjoyed by the cows later in the year.
Talking of cows, General the bull has been reintroduced to his many wives and looks remarkably well and we have chosen four young heifers as replacements to join the herd. There is still one more cow to calve and we are urging her on to produce. They are all roaming the park eating a wonderful diet of natural grasses and our butcher Mike Humphries from Rowledge thought our last animals he butchered were the best ever. Things are looking up.
Do place your order, do come and see us on Friday 3rd July, especially in the knowledge that our next beef day will not be until FRIDAY 21st AUGUST.
Bridget and I really look forward to seeing everyone and happy cooking and barbequing in the meantime.
Very best wishes,
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Newsletter May 2015
Ne’re cast a clout ‘till May be out and the very good news is that May will be out for our next beef collection day on FRIDAY 5th June and everyone can cast around for beef instead. We will be ready for everyone with fresh coffee and cake from 10.00am and with luck the sun will shine and the conversation will be lively. We have the most wonderfully sociable and charming customers and there’s always plenty to discuss.
Our 10kg family beef bags are waiting to be ordered and we will have plenty of Hampton Herbies and Hampton beef bangers. Our 100% beef burgers are now packed in handy trays and just add a couple of steaks and a rack of short ribs and the barbeque will be humming. We even have a really good source of local Surrey charcoal made in the traditional manner which will give all your meat just that little bit extra. The 4 to 5 kg sacks cost just £5 each and you will be burning good Surrey timber (in the form of charcoal) and enjoying the fantastic aromas of sizzling prime local beef.
Alternatively if eating rather than cooking is your thing the good news is that Hampton Special Beef Pies are back on the menu for June. A family pie feeds four and an individual pie surprisingly feeds one, but all are packed full of Hampton steak, herbs from the walled garden and a good bottle of red infusing the lot.
So what’s happening on the farm? The calves are all galloping around the park, then look a little embarrassed that they’ve lost their mums, so roar back to them and drink masses of milk giving their noses a sloppy looking white hue. After which both mum and calf have a bit of a sit and potter off to contemplate either the lake or the shade of a parkland tree. Not a bad life really. The bull is on an extra special diet to gird his loins (quite literally) as he has work to do when he is reintroduced to the herd on June 1st, and we have 5 cows still to calve and they seem set on keeping us guessing, a little like The Duchess of Cambridge but minus the cameras.
The hops in the hop garden at Puttenham are growing well. Our Eastern European helpers have spent two weeks training them and now each string has two hops growing up it. The discarded young hops are a great delicacy, especially in Italy, where they are sold in local markets as an asparagus equivalent. This is a market we have yet to develop! In the meantime our plans to expand the hop gardens with more Fuggles hops are taking shape. Over 600 hop poles were cut out of our chestnut coppice this winter in preparation for the autumn and new hop plants have been ordered. They are predominantly seeded female plants but we also need males for pollination at the rate of six per acre. The autumn will be busy.
At The Manor Farm Craft Centre we are sorry to say goodbye to the indefatigable Janice Midgley who has run the Tea Rooms with aplomb for the past fifteen years. She has decided to retire and we all wish her well as she will soon have time for her myriad interests. Following a competitive marketing campaign her successors have been chosen and will putting their own mark on the tea rooms from 1st June.
And on the day before, Sunday 31st May we will be holding our annual Ride in the Park here at Hampton. The drives are open for nervous or inexperienced or simply learning cyclists, scooterers, rollerskaters and skateboarders. The garden is open, the ice cream van is open and tea is open. The whole day starts at 2pm and parking is in the field towards Myrtles Courtyard. Access is from the Cutmill end of the estate and there is something for every age group.
Do order your beef, pies and sausages for Friday 5th JUNE when we will also be sausage tasting, and Bridget and I look forward to seeing you., or on Friday 3rd July the following collection day.
Best wishes
Hampton Newsletter April 2015
Hampton calves in the park….
The wonderful Easter weekend being over (and how about that late emergence of a bright golden sun on Easter Monday) our collective thoughts turn away from roast lamb and veer massively towards fresh well hung prime English beef. I inspected our beef hanging magnificently in the cold store at the butcher’s yesterday and have to say it looked really good. It is hung in ‘primals’ ie large quarters and the marbling is prominent as is the fat covering, which will make for the most delicious meat in three weeks’ time when it will be ready for you, butchered and packed.
Yes, it’s our next beef collection day on FRIDAY 1st MAY and Bridget and I look forward to showing off our new meeting room again and distributing fresh Hampton beef to everyone along with sausage tasters, freshly brewed coffee, cake ,biscuits and a drop of red at about lunch time. As always we will be open from 10.30am onwards and do send us your order, or ring it through to avoid any disappointment.
Hampton 10kg family bags are available at this stage with a comprehensive beef selection to suit every occasion. Alternatively any bespoke order can be accommodated from rolled sirloin joints to a kilo of mince. We have rib joints for sale which are always massively popular, short ribs, top side, top rump, silver side for that aromatic pot roast, and at this early point in the month just about any piece of beef you may wish for. The only exception is I am afraid our mouth-watering fillet which is booked out until August. Sorry.
We will also have good supplies of Hampton Herby sausages, Hampton Beef Bangers and Hampton 100% beefburgers because by May we will all be itching to get the barbeque out. Also good on the barbeque are beef kebabs which simply requires a bit of braising steak, an easy marinade and some dry charcoal and a match.
We have some delicious looking oxtail for sale together with liver, kidney, beef cheeks and other offal. This as usual will be frozen but there are some very inventive recipes out there for such delicacies.
Bridget and I had a quick flick through some of Jamie Oliver’s recipes the other day and what really caught our eye was Bloody Mary Beef with Creamy Horseradish which sounds excellent and looks pretty manageable. He also has some good thoughts on Barbeque short ribs, a great sounding Insanity Burger, and finally a very tasty looking Malaysian Beef Curry. A quick Google will provide all the details and could expand your culinary brilliance even further!
We are really delighted that we are now supplying The Donkey at Tilford with our prime minced beef which they are using for their summer menu which includes a Hampton inspired beef burger. Well worth a visit, The Donkey is a firm favourite with all of us at Hampton as it’s so local, extremely friendly and is known for its great food and of course Hogs Back Beer. It was also the local diner of choice for Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe whilst they shot the film of Robin Hood some years ago here on the estate.
And talking of the estate we now have 32 new born calves skipping around the fields near Myrtles Courtyard under the watchful eyes of their mothers.16 cows are still to calve and we continue to keep a beady eye on them all, checking morning, noon and night. The plaudits should go to the bull who was remarkably busy as soon as we put him with the cows on 1st June last year and made friends extremely quickly.
Come and see the herd, the garden, ride a bike and have some tea, as our annual Ride in the Park will be taking place on Sunday 31st May from 2pm. Do put the date in your diary as it’s an afternoon really geared to all those who are too young or too wobbly to venture onto our Surrey roads with safety, but can roar round the Hampton drives in complete safety from cars. An afternoon for all the family and more details on our website.
And finally we are delighted to welcome Andrea Pinnington of Fine Feather Press on May 1st who will have a selection of her publications for sale. We all oohed and aahed over ‘The Little Book of Garden Bird Songs’ last month as we listened to really good recordings of Blue Tits and Goldfinches. This month Andrea is bringing a wider selection which should be very popular for presents from parents, grandparents and even great grandparents. Have a look at her website www.finefeatherpress.com
Kate, Bridget and I are ready for your orders and look forward to seeing everyone on 1st May for some summery thoughts and inspired culinary conversations, or Friday 5th June the following collection day.
Very best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Newsletter March 2015
The snow drops are looking absolutely sensational at Hampton at the moment and Bridget and I really hope that they will stay this way until at least FRIDAY 20th MARCH when we have our next Hampton Naturally Reared Produce collection day.
I think that snowdrops are exceptional throughout the south of England at the moment and let’s hope that this is the nearest to real snow there is this year. The only things whiter than snowdrops are the resident Hampton swans who glide up and down the lakes and which I can luckily keep an eye on from my office. Exceptionally majestic in the late afternoon sunshine.
But down to work, and we have the most delicious prime Hampton beef available for 20th March, in our 10kg family bags, in bespoke form for individual cuts and orders, or in large scale amounts for those involved in serious family catering operations as everyone returns for the Easter holidays. Good availability at present but do book to be sure of your order. After last month we had just two small joints left!
Hampton Herbie sausages and Hampton Beef Bangers are ready to add to your order and they do go well with Hampton 100%beefburgers. A tad nippy at the moment to fire up the barbeque but again by Easter you never know what the weather will be doing and it’s always good to have a little something in stock. Our 100% beefburgers are exactly that, and extremely popular with all generations. Over the years we have had terrific feedback from all age groups including “My first ever beefburger and it was simply yummy” and that wasn’t from a 3 year old.
I’m afraid that we are out of pies and handfuls this month. My apologies from all the catering team but they should be back on the menu later in the year. Absence I’m sure will make the taste buds grow fonder.
I am also missing a buzzard. One of the young buzzards which we watched wheeling and gliding over the park last year took a wrong turn and navigated itself to Oxfordshire and has decided not to return. I know this because I had a lovely email from a 12 year old ornithologist in Oxfordshire asking if the bird had been born here because he had identified the green ring on its leg as a Hampton tag. We in turn have a local ornithologist here who enjoys studying buzzards and insanely (50 feet up in a buzzards nest with Mum and Dad circling close by) is happy to ring the young’s legs for identification purposes with green tags. We always have three or four pairs of buzzards on the estate and to know what some of them get up to is fascinating.
On the cattle front we hope to be deluged with fit healthy calves in the next few weeks. We now have 50 mums who are all expecting and should produce their off spring outside in the smaller fields close to our cattle coralle and shelter. We can then look after any problem cows in the shelter should the need arise. Deep straw, deep hay, bliss! In the meantime we will be checking the imminent calvers in the field at least three times a day and will open the sweep stake on who will calve first in 2015.The first due date is March 15th and I hope that the majority will have calved by the end of April.
Fresh coffee, tea, cakes and biscuits will be ready for everyone who visits on Friday March 20th and do put your order in as soon as you can to avoid disappointment.
Very happy cooking and best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Newsletter January 2015
Hampton Pies in the making and Hampton Handfuls
Friday 13th February does not sound auspicious but trust your luck and come and visit us for beef and our naturally reared produce. Beware of all ladders on your way (please do not go underneath them) and you will be rewarded with not only the most delicious beef, venison, sausages and pies but also a well-deserved cup of freshly brewed coffee, some cake and a sausage taster.
We are looking forward to seeing you for our first beef collection day of 2015. As you know this had to be changed as the cows decided to be fairly unhelpful at the beginning of January, but our subsequent cunning plan worked beautifully and we soon calmed the cows down, told them not to be so unhelpful and they all played ball. Two of the larger, older animals were dispatched successfully to the abattoir, on time and everything worked like clockwork.
We have had lots of orders for 10 kg family bags as customers restock after Christmas and the New Year, but we also have capacity for bespoke orders at the time of writing. A delicious sirloin joint or a special carvery rib would not be out of place with a fine bottle of red for that Saturday supper party, or a couple of kilos of braising steak would make a tasty family lasagne or casserole to ward off thoughts of snow and ice.
We will also have offal this month (frozen) so do order liver, heart, kidney, cheeks and oxtail if the mood takes you. Not everyone’s cup of tea but there are some great offal recipes for the adventurous. Tongue always works well!
We hope to have some more venison in stock, though do bear with us on this one. As always the hours of sunlight at present are so limited and the weather is pretty raw that it’s simply not easy to stalk our roe deer. However, we are after them and need to keep on top of their numbers, especially as we plan our tree planting programme in the woods. Young tree shoots make for a tasty supper for a roe deer and a couple of deer can soon decimate a plantation. In turn roe makes such fantastic meat and is so nutritious that a couple of our customers can decimate a haunch or fillet.Hampton Special Steak Pies are on the menu this month and as always come in family and individual sizes. Crispy pastry and lots of beef filling make them a ready stand by. Bridget will also be cooking Hampton Handfuls, the Surrey equivalent of a Cornish pasty. Having baked 80 of them in November as an experiment for our November beef day, they all sold within 60 minutes. They are based on Hampton prime minced beef, but using a special secret recipe they are transformed into a Handful. They cost £3 each and do place your order for either Handfuls or pies to avoid any disappointment.
Hampton Herbies and Hampton Beef Bangers are always available on our collection days and come six to a pack. Do add them to your order and eat them for breakfast with an egg, lunch with a dab of chutney or for tea in a sausage and leek pie. Just a thought. Marmalade is extremely topical at the moment with Seville oranges in the shops, Paddington in the cinema and the traditional marmalade making season upon us. Two batches were concocted last weekend at Hampton and the larder is looking very promising. Four more loads to go and we should have a year’s supply. In the meantime the Hampton bees are fast asleep and hopefully warm, but as soon as we have fresh supplies of honey we will have them on sale at a beef day. Watch this space.
Bridget and I look forward to seeing you on Friday 13th when we hope the meeting room will have been refurbished and the new log burner will be crackling away. New wall coverings, a proper meeting table and chairs and new flooring are all being found at the moment and we hope that you will approve. Fingers crossed the paint will be dry
Do put in your order as soon as possible and very best wishes for happy winter cooking.
Bill and Bridget