March 2008

 

Another February has slipped away, leaving earth tremors behind and clusters of bright Spring daffodils swaying in the cool winds.  The countryside in this beautiful part of England is showing more signs of life every day - tractors are relentlessly pursued by clouds of seagulls and crows during the seasonal preparation of swathes of rich brown land.  March is again here, and with it a renewed sense of hope.

The landmark calendar event happens on the 30th of March when the clocks spring forward. An hour less in bed should be seen as a small price to pay for approximately 200 extra hours of evening light over the coming months. Almost ten days’ worth of hours to spend gardening, barbecuing and picnicking or sitting outside The Priory Inn with a fine bottle of rosé or ice-cold beer – our summer weather of course permitting…

 

We are not into “ego-cooking” here in The Priory Inn’s kitchen, we just buy good, local ingredients that are in season, and we allow them to speak for themselves so that you get the maximum enjoyment from the inherent taste and nutritional value.  However during the lean times, our respect for the seasons throws extra challenges to our chefs.  We are currently entering the “hungry gap” when Winter supplies are becoming scarce but the Spring vegetables are not yet emerging.

 

Currently the surrounding farms are busy transplanting seedlings to be planted out (weather permitting) in 3-4 weeks time.  So the vegetables now available are limited to the root vegetables and leafy greens such as kale and Pentland Brigg (a stronger version of curly kale). The root vegetables that are on offer for the month of March from The Home Farm in Tetbury are Jerusalem artichoke, pink and red beetroot, green cabbage, extra-sweet carrots, red Russian kale, parsnip, winter radishes and swede. 

 

New relationships with local suppliers are vital to The Priory Inn’s identity and continue to keep our product fresh so we are thrilled that Lucy’s Dairy has made contact with us.  Grazing 12 miles away in Kingswood (near Wooton-under-Edge),  Lucy’s herd of 270 dairy cows will now be supplying us with delicious, fresh milk and cream.  Chris and Lucy Simmons are the third generation of Simmons’ to be dairy farmers with Chris's grandparents moving to Folly Farm in Kingswood in 1939 having farmed previously in Malmesbury and at Cattybrook Farm, Almondsbury.  It was at Cattybrook Farm that Chris's great-grandfather used to deliver milk from a churn, on the back of a horse-drawn cart where local people would assemble with their jugs.  Today the milk and cream is produced from start to finish on Folly Farm.  The 270 cows are fed and calved by Chris, milked by him, his father and their staff and the raw milk processed by Lucy.  We acknowledge the Simmons family’s dedication and welcome them to our ever-growing list of local suppliers.

 

Nomination forms for this year’s Cotswold Life Food and Drink Awards are now available and public nominations for many categories such as best retailer, chef, food personality, local menu, dining pub, farmers market etc will soon be put forward to the judges.  We have copies of the form at reception should you wish to express your support for any of the wealth of local talent for food and drink involved with The Priory Inn.

 

This month we also welcome the refreshing sight of a new artistic look to a prominent corner of our gastro-inn.  The very talented and charming Norma Crownshaw from the nearby village of Beverstone sketches and paints beautiful botanical illustrations.  We are very grateful to Norma that we are able to display her work for sale this summer in the gastro-inn.  We also have discovered that Caprice Kesby (our front-of-house manager) has great artistic skills and she is responsible for the “Bubbles” in the bar.  Caprice may be open to negotiation on the sparkling canvas if there is a generous starting offer proposed!  If you know of any local artists who produce big bold work that would fit in at The Priory, please put them in touch (tanya@theprioryinn.co.uk).

 

We also display other talented local artists' work such as Laurie Plant. We have some bright and beautiful fish painted by talented Tetbury artist Nat Morley and Dougall painted by Carol Conde.  All art displayed is for sale (except Dougall!).

 

Don’t miss Sunday live music evenings here at The Priory Inn - great entertainment and a chilled start to the week.  This month we have: Blind River Scare (2nd), Ceilidh-jo (9th), Sweet Black Angels (16th), Mark Roberts on Easter Sunday (23rd) and Smoothee (30th). Click here for a full list.

Tanya Kelly 01/03/2008