Worcestershire feeds the Cotswold Conference Centre

By Worcestershire Life on January 23rd 2012

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Keeping a supply chain local not only makes good environmental sense but it means that local farmers and producers reap the benefits in terms of increased business and support.

At Cotswold Conference Centre on the Farncombe Estate, close to the picturesque village of Broadway, on-site catering company, Wilson Vale views local sourcing as key to keeping quality standards high, environmental impact low and delegates’ health and wellbeing to the fore.

Andrew Wilson, co-founder and managing direct of the niche catering company, says: “Feeding up to 120 delegates a day at a busy conference centre is a challenging task but when you have a like-minded client who is equally passionate about food standards, environmental impact and supporting local business, then it really is a recipe for success.

“Our catering manager, Rosie Venner, has the freedom and the budget to source quality ingredients from some great suppliers, almost all within a 30-mile radius of the centre. By keeping food miles to a minimum, everything is fresh, traceable, in-season and bursting with flavour
and goodness.”

Most of the vegetables used at Cotswold Conference Centre come from Worcester Produce, a 100-year old organisation in Pershore, using produce from their two farms in Offenham and Harvington and from other local growers in the Vale of Evesham. Bread comes from Lawrence’s Bakery in Evesham. All cakes and biscuits are home-made on site by the Wilson Vale team.

Wilson Vale sources all of the centre’s dairy products from Red Tractor-approved Cotteswood Dairy in Tewkesbury, which gets its fresh milk, cheese, eggs, cream and yoghurt from National Dairy Farm Assured farmers – also all within a 30-mile radius.

Rosie Venner says: “On average, we use 800 pints of milk and 10 gallons of fresh cream each week at the centre. Our jam is hand-made by Elspeth Robertson at Wayside Farm Shop in Evesham, just a stone’s throw from the centre. We purchase four large 7lb jars of whichever flavour she has made that week and that lasts about six weeks, providing 350 cream teas for Cotswold delegates.

“It’s these tiny things that make all of the difference. There is no comparison between mass- produced jam and the home-made variety. An added environmental bonus is that we return all of the jars for re-use. "Richard Howdle, operations manager at Cotswold Conference Centre says: “In this highly competitive sector, repeat business is everything. Personal touches and attention to detail can make all of the difference and keep clients coming back for more. It’s particularly important to get the food right because it’s such a memorable part of the conference experience. We get very positive feedback on our food, which is a great credit to our on-site Wilson Vale team.”

When it comes to water, Cotswold Conference Centre uses a pure water filtration system to provide bottled water for delegates. A local brewery, Goffs in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, supplies bottles of specially-branded beer for the centre’s bar and dining room. “We are a relatively large employer in a very rural area,” says Richard Howdle. “We are committed to minimising our business impact on the environment, while supporting the many wonderful local growers and producers who surround the estate.”

In February last year, Cotswold Conference Centre was awarded Silver by the Green Tourism Business Scheme for its environmental commitment and good practice. 

A member of the Conference Centres of Excellence, the Cotswold Conference Centre holds around 1,000 events every year.

The Wayside Farm Shop, Evesham
Elspeth Robertson’s love affair with home-made preserves started by her mother’s side when as a little girl, she used to help her mother, Patsy, make delicious jams, chutneys and fudge in their kitchen in Birmingham.  “Nothing was ever wasted,” Elspeth recalls: “My mother hated waste and she loved growing fruit and vegetables in the garden so she preserved as much of the seasonal produce as she could.”

This creative energy and love of nature touched Elspeth who went on to train and work as a florist.  Thirteen years ago, she purchased the Wayside Farm Shop on the A44 between Broadway and Evesham, seeing it as an opportunity to marry her floristry skills with her interest in local
produce and baking.   

All of the fresh produce on sale in this traditional farm shop is grown or sourced locally from small, local growers and artisan producers. For example, her wonderful array of cheese comes from Ansteys in Worcester and Simon Weaver’s Cotswold Organic Dairy. Elspeth’s shop is licensed to sell beer, wines and cider, featuring local Scrumpy cider, Knights Cider of Malvern, fruit wines and local bottled beers including Hook Norton from Banbury and other novelty labels. She also sells freshly cut flowers and plants but it is her delicious jams, pickles, chutneys, marmalades, soups and home baking that have people coming back for more.

 “I am very conscious of reducing waste and minimising food miles,” says Elspeth. “I started making jams in the farm shop when I first bought the business as I couldn’t bear to throw anything away. If I had a surplus of fruit I made it into jam. Our jam has become very popular and we make lots of interesting combinations and try to make some quirky, unusual recipes such as pear, lemon and ginger jam and rhubarb, orange and pinenut. Some of her speciality jams include Pershore Sunset and Pershore Sunrise, which use the famous yellow egg plum and purple egg plum layered in the same jar. 

Like many of her other recipes her famous asparagus jam was her own invention made especially for the Evesham Asparagus Festival and is one she’s not letting anyone have!

All of the jams are made in small batches in the farm shop kitchen using just fruit and sugar, so they are very natural.

When it comes to surplus stock, what can’t be saved is composted and Elspeth also has a wormery with some very happy worms “who get to chomp through some delicious waste.”

Despite challenging economic times, Elspeth opened a purpose-built tearoom last August at the height of the plum season and to celebrate, she had a plum-themed opening, complete with a purple ribbon-cutting ceremony and a plum-rich menu with delicious dishes such as plum sausage sandwiches with plum chutney and toasted teacakes with Pershore plum jam. 

“Building the tea room was a very big investment”, said Elspeth, whose daughter, Clare, also works for the business and designed the tea room. They employ five staff to run the business. “We were very lucky to have received a grant from Hereford Council as part of the Rural Development Programme which helped to turn this dream into a reality. We are also blessed with a very loyal customer base and once people find us once, they tend to come back! There’s nothing like the aroma of home-baking to draw people in.” 

Seasonality is all-important at the Wayside Farm Shop. Elspeth is now looking forward to the first sight of early forced rhubarb with its tangy pale pink stalks, and she reminds us that her shop is on the famous Blossom Trail which begins in late March.

She says:” The beautiful Vale of Evesham is one of the most fertile areas for fruit-growing in the country, and every spring thousands of blossoming fruit trees transform the landscape. The Blossom Trail covers 40 miles of some of the prettiest countryside in Worcestershire and usually, the flowering season lasts from late March to early May. It begins with plums and damsons, followed a couple of weeks later by pears and then apples.

“It’s lovely that we can be part of that and people can visit our shop and tea room and get an opportunity to taste our jams and fresh produce and directly relate them to the blossom on the trees.” 

Wayside Farm Shop and Tearoom
50 Pitchers Hill, Wickhamford,
Evesham WR11 7RT
Blog: http://waysidefarmshop.wordpress.com
Tel: 01386 830546
Email: elspeth@waysidefarmshop.co.uk

L J Lawrence & Son Bakery, Evesham
The story of Lawrence’s Bakery started after the Second World War when Les Lawrence started working for Ranks Flour Mills in London after serving in the Tank Regiment for
five years. 

In 1954 he purchased his own bakery on Evesham High Street, which is now run by his son Peter. Today, the bakery employs thirty people in what is a thriving retail and wholesale business.

Peter Lawrence says: “Up until quite recently, my brother, John, also worked in the business but he has retired now. We went on to open a second shop, The Upper Crust, in Pershore in 1973.

“The business still has a family ethos and many of the staff have been with us for twenty years or more, including Margaret Pritchard who manages our Pershore bakery who has worked with us since 1975. Brian Palfrey, Don McLellan, Andrew Dolphin and most of the staff have been with us for many years. I think this is what makes Lawrence’s Bakery special. Experience is everything in this business.”

For a business that has been built on traditional values, Lawrence’s Bakery is in tune with changing tastes and a more sophisticated buying public. Its range of artisan breads include rye breads, spelt and honey breads, sourdoughs and health loaves, as well as freshly baked, more
traditional favourites such as bloomers and granaries.

The bakery also sells delicious cakes, ranging from cupcakes to made-to-order celebration cakes, tarts (sweet and savoury), lardy cakes and doughnuts.

In tune with a local supply ethos, the flour comes from Haygates Mills in Northamptonshire, free-range eggs come from Bumble Hall in Bromsgrove and all of the fruit and fresh vegetables used in their products come via Worcestershire Produce from local growers.

As for his recipe for success, Peter Lawrence has this to say: “The quality of the raw ingredients is all-important. By sourcing locally, we know exactly what we are getting.

“Health and safety is also a priority so constant training keeps our standards and reputation high.

“Last but not least, the recipes we use today in the bakery have been passed down to me from my father’s time and most probably from a generation before him.

“They say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I think the fact that Lawrence’s Bakery has survived and thrived for over 57 years says a lot about our baked products.” 

L J Lawrence & Son
25 High Street, Evesham
WR11 4DA
Tel: 01386 442432 

Goffs Brewery, Winchcombe
In 1994 Marcus and Alison Goff both left their jobs in the City of London to fulfil a dream of running their own business. The UK was coming out of a recession and the couple were ready for a new challenge.

“It was a big leap of faith, says Marcus. “But we were young, without commitments and felt the time was right to make this life-changing decision.”

Armed with a closely-guarded traditional recipe from Marcus’s father, Brian Goff, a master brewer, they established Goffs Brewery in Winchcombe.

Goffs Brewery is now recognised as the Cotswolds’ leading micro-brewery. It sells approximately one million pints of beer each year and has earned a great reputation for its real ales including its famous Jouster, originally created by Brian Goff.

This good, honest session bitter has twice been a finalist in CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival, as well as many other regional awards such as Gloucestershire’s Champion Best Bitter in 1999.

“We were one of the first micro breweries and had an incredibly steep learning curve at the beginning,” says Marcus, who is a chartered accountant by profession. “It was tough going and it involved a lot of knocking on doors. It was a very different market than now but we were determined to make it work.”

The business was entirely self-funded and the pair threw themselves into it wholeheartedly, with Marcus overseeing sales, administration and accounting, while Alison concentrated on building the brewery’s reputation through design and marketing.

As well as Jouster, the well-hopped White Knight and thirst quenching Tournament have become firm favourites with real ale drinkers. To complement Goff’s regular beers, they have introduced the Ales of the Round Table, offering a different unique beer each month with names straight out of the King Arthur legends: expect the floral Launcelot in March and April, the refreshingly light Excalibur in July,  Merlin in September and at Christmastime, Twelfth Knight, with spices giving it a warming festive flavour. Plans are now underway to launch a special beer to mark the London Olympics.

All of the ales are made from Worcestershire-sourced hops, malt and water and don’t contain any additives. The company also sells personalised bottled ales for special occasions such as weddings, anniversaries and births. Marcus and Alison marked the birth of their own daughters – Gabriella in 1996 and Anna in 2003 – with the launch of Sleepless Knights.

 “Our commitments have changed dramatically since 1994 but thankfully, our little brewery and our family continue to thrive,” says Marcus. “We now employ six people and are one of the longest-established micro-breweries in the Cotswolds so I think it is fair to say that our success is testament to the quality of our beers.”

Goffs ales are available in pubs throughout the Cotswolds, the Midlands and The West Country. 

Goffs Brewery Ltd
9 Isbourne Way, Winchcombe,
GL54 5NS. Tel: 01242 603383
Email: brewery@goffsbrewery.co.uk

Photography by Visionary Language

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