We had the following plan for Sunday: waking up in cool Three Ways House known for the variety of puddings from local The Pudding Club, a visit to The Cotswold Cheese Company and then a cooking lesson in Daylesford Organic Cookery School.
Therefore we spent whole day in Cotswold region in south-central England. A beautiful and picturesque place. English countryside that we know from the movies (remember Holiday with Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Jude Law?:)): little towns, brown houses made of stone that shine in the sun, magnificent landscapes, greenness… Around 11.00 we check in at Daylesford Organic Farm in Gloucestershire. “Passionate about good and real food” – that’s how they describe themselves on their website and in press releases. They’re quite successful, during last 3 years they got more than 60 national and international awards!
In Daylesford we’re welcomed by a parking lot full of cars and a peculiar “dog parking“. First we visit an amazing shop selling various products grown on the farm or supplied by other local producers. We can’t stop raving about how fantastic it looks.. Crispy rolls and brioche, fresh fruits and vegetables, varied, intensively smelling cheese, sandwiches, jars of marmalade and chutney, sweets. Each part of the farmshop is an eyecandy… We just can’t stop looking!
inviting entrance to Farmshop
beautiful!
something for those who love bread like I do!
After a walk through the shop crowded on the Sunday morning, we meet Kathy, a nice girl who leads us to the kitchen for a cooking lesson!
A cooking lesson.. Hmm, Our schedule says: “During your visit to the farm you will personally pick the products/vegetables and prepare your lunch”. On one hand it sounds like a MasterChef announcement where the contestants choose their products and then improvise in the kitchen which I’m not good at. The other thing is: picking the products? Are we going to eat vegetables only? That’s not for me either! 🙂 We already attended some cooking lessons and they weren’t always good. We usually expected a lot and then it turned out that the kitchens and the lessons itself were quite disappointing.. This time we decided not to expect anything so we wouldn’t get disappointed in the end!
Soon we found out that Daylesford is an ideal place for a cooking lesson. I got blown away when we entered the kitchen! Seriously, I have never seen such a beautiful kitchen – not at our friends’ house, not in the magazines, not even on TV! It’s a place that everybody dreams of, that everybody wants to have at home, even if he cooks as rarely as we do 🙂 Bright, modern yet warm and cosy. A big table with approx. 8 kitchen stations with separate tabletops and sinks around. Glass carafes filled with water with slices of cucumber and some mint leaves await us on the tabletops. Next to it you can see white cupboards, flowers on the window sills, large containers with pasta and some spices. Just perfect.
every chair awaits with an essential package: chef’s sweater and an apron
products for lunch: beef, capers, potato
I wouldn’t mind similar kitchen design at home
the blackboard informs about forthcoming culinary courses
We put out sweaters and large aprons on, grab baskets and follow Kathy to the farm! On our way we pass a bakery where local specialties are baked (the owner plans to bake from their own crop in the future!) and a dairy, where 14 kinds of cheese are produced along with cream, milk and yoghurts – all thanks to local cows. The farm itself has been around for 25 years!
There’s pretty much everything on the farm! Animals (cows, sheep and pigs), hens (5000!), vegetables, fruits, wild garlic, mint, mizuna, oregano and purple broccoli (purple sprouting broccoli) that we pick for lunch! I’m a bit afraid – I’m not a big fan of broccoli. Even as a mother I’m not too good here, since I can’t encourage Maks to eat it and the smell of cooked broccoli makes me sick. Sorry, broccoli fans. In the summer there are 30 different types of tomatoes growing here, cucumbers, chilli peppers. You can find 25 strains of apples there as well! And lots of other delicacies since Daylesford offers more than 250 types of fruits and vegetables, Now we’re picking up purple broccoli, watching various salads and herbs and eating mizuna leaves that are used in mustard production.
our main goal and main crop: purple broccoli
spring on the farm
working in great nature surroundings
Hello!
We return to the kitchen with our findings in the baskets to find the chief of Daylesford Cookery School, Steve Brown waiting for us with delicious grilled ricotta, apple and poppy seed bread! After a small energy boost we get to work!
Daylesford cuisine is known for its simplicity. It’s supposed to be simple, delicious and not to complicated. This way anyone can cook something having just 2 or 3 crucial ingredients. It’s fresh and season oriented, based on raw, unprocessed products – as long as it’s possible. Therefore we prepare simple and light meals that reflect classic British combinations such as broccoli and blue cheese. We start with a pretty raw beef covered with cream, sprinkled with capers and fried potato cubes with fresh leaves of lettuce and wild garlic that we picked in the field. In the end it’s sprinkled with olive oil and parmesan flakes. Nothing special, but it tastes great! How does our lesson look like? Steve Brown prepares he beef, shows us how to decorate the plate so it looks beautiful. Then it’s our turn. Good fun. No criticism, no patronizing. Everybody does it as they want. Beef salad tastes great. Next up is purple broccoli. WARNING! Grilled! Covered in olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper and placed on the grill. What does it go with? Crushed British blue cheese, mustard, honey, wine vinegar and olive oil dressing and some almond flakes. Again simple and delicious. If you don’t like blue cheese, you can add goat’s cheese – tastes equally good!
a prize after hard “work” out in the field!
beef salad
broccoli: purple and grilled
After “hard” work of decorating our plates it’s time for dessert. It’s not the first time on our English trip that rhubarb comes into action. This time as jelly with ginger, sweet mousse and granola on top. Light and quite refreshing.
a bit sour jelly with really sweet mousse – amazing!
The cooking lesson at Daylesford Cookery School turns out to be the best part of our trip to Great Britain (as long as Monday doesn’t surprise us with something amazing!). If you ever happen to be around, this place got our full recommendation! There must be a reason why Daylesford Cookery School is on Sunday Times’ list of 10 best cookery schools in Great Britain.
If you don’t have enough time to go cooking, at least visit Farmshop or the restaurant. That’s another must for culinary freaks in England! 🙂
What’s interesting, the lessons at Daylesford Cookery School take place quite often and you can choose from a variety of subjects. There’s 20 different courses to choose from! Baking bread (for beginners and advanced bakers), some British classics, Fish and Shellfish, Perfect Puddings (traditional local specialties – have you heard about sticky toffee pudding?), quick and season oriented dinners, Christmas meals, How to make Pasta, The taste of Provence and lessons dedicated for chefs and cooks are just a few of the courses available. There’s also something for kids and teenagers. You can also pick a course where you learn to cook the meals from Daylesford cook book called “A Love for Food”. As you can see, they thought about everything! 🙂
The courses aren’t cheap – half a day (11.30-14.30) costs 90 pounds while whole day (9.30-15.30) – 175. That’s quite a lot, but cooking in such environment is an amazing experience. On the other hand… I wish we had a place like this in Poland… I hope that someone starts such establishment! Anybody? 🙂
More information: http://daylesford.com/
We visited Daylesford Organic Farm on a trip organised by Visit Britain.
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