Tag Archives: village greens

Village Greens Farm Shops

Award winning ethical farm shops in Ockley and Dorking run by owners Catherine and James Dampier who have stuck hard to their founding principles 

The upside: This is ethical trading at it’s finest with all suppliers fully researched before products are listed 

The downside: Be prepared to pay for quality and integrity but its totally worth it

The flip-side: Both shops are in lovely locations and at Ockley you can enjoy a take-away coffee in their very own bee garden across the road

Full details of both shops are listed below

James and Catherine Dampier gave up successful jobs to start their food business and through hard work and determination have made their mark. In a climate where spurring food retailers are eager to undercut each other and suppliers how did a business set up on ethical principles fare?. Its eight years since the first Village Greens shop opened in Ockley near Dorking. They wowed locals with their well sourced range of preserves, chutneys, local cheeses and meat. Word of mouth, local press, social media and a changing perception of food buying have all played a part and with two shops under their belts and a loyal following this business is thriving. James and Catherine are the first to admit this hasn’t been easy but this creative innovative couple have dug their heels in and stayed the course where others have not.

With their first shop in Ockley they also have an acre of land to grow their own produce and flowers. In the summer months they sell their home own salad leaves, fresh herbs, courgettes, beans, kohl rabi and fruit. What they are not able to supply themselves is sourced locally from within a 30 miles radius of the shop. Currently they have eighteen suppliers who are within ten miles who provide beef, lamb, chicken, sausages, ice cream, wine, chocolates, bread, milk, cream, cheese, cakes and more. Providing a fair deal to their suppliers is part of their winning ethos as is employing local people to help in the shops. This also extends to using local materials and tradespeople proving that with a little extra thought and care this is an achievable aim.

At Denbies they also grow vegetables and flowers in the walled garden on the site loaned to them by the owners for this purpose. This means that in season the produce for both shops has travelled metres to be sold. In addition to the farm shop they also sell garden plants including herbs. This shop also has a deli counter where cheese and charcuterie can be cut to order rather than just pre-packed items.

It’s the food here of course that creates the winning element for me and I just wished I lived a little closer to be a more regular shopper. Those lucky enough to do so can take part in the vegetable box scheme too. These are prepared every Friday for pick up at either of the two shops are for delivery providing you live between Ockley and Dorking. Both shops boast a eclectic stock of cooking ingredients, fresh free range poultry from Etherley farm, sausages from Bangers Galore. Luxury chocolate comes from a selection of local producers such as Cocoa Bonbon and Kokoh, artisan bread from Chalk Hills and Capel Bakery.

 

 

Village Greens hosts a  meet the producers days at their food fairs held every year and samples are a regular feature! last time I was lucky enough to sample Silent Pool Gin which is fabulous (and coming from a non gin drinker this is epic) and perfect lemon drizzle cake from Chalk Hills Bakery. On each visit you’ll find new stock, nibbles and a friendly knowledgable welcome. This venue gets a highly recommended from me!

Village Greens Farm Shops are located at:

Coles Lane
Ockley
Dorking, RH5 5LS
01306 713474

Denbies Wine Estate
London Road
Dorking, RH5 6AA
013606 880720

www.vgfarmshop.com

Pop up Café Beetroot Hummus Recipe

Beetroot hummus with smoked oil and roast spices

I found this lovely recipe in the Guardian food section ‘Cook’, edited by Felicity Cloake.  It’s an unusual take on a dip we love: beetroot gives this version an intense, irresistible, deep-pink hue. Use freshly cooked or roasted beetroot – pre-packs give a watery finish. The original recipe suggests that you peel the chickpeas but buy a good-quality brand so you don’t need to. A food processor or blender gives the best result. We have also used a locally grown and pressed smoked rapeseed oil which adds an additional flavour layer.

Ingredientsbeetroot_hummus_6x9

250g cooked, peeled beetroot, roughly chopped
1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained
75ml tahini
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp roasted ground coriander
3 large garlic cloves, crushed
1-2 tbsp smoked rapeseed oil
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the beetroot in the food processor with the drained chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, coriander and crushed garlic. Process until the mixture is smooth enough for you.

Heat the rapeseed oil in a heavy frying pan and fry the sesame and cumin seeds, stirring continuously, for no more than 2 minutes, making sure they don’t catch. Add about two-thirds of this to the food processor, along with some seasoning, and blend.

Place the hummus in a serving dish and make a swirl in the centre. Spoon over the toasted seed-and-spice mix and serve with crudités.

We served this with our Taste of Surrey Platters with beetroot that was grown locally by James and Catherine Dampier and their team at Village Greens. They have two farm shops in Surrey where they sell produce from local producers and from their own land. We used them for all the fresh produce for our event plus tomatoes from Nutbourne.

Beetroot hummus recipe

veg_platter

Roasted rhubarb with mascarpone

Roasted rhubarb and muffins

After a cold spell it’s warming to see the first show of forced rhubarb heralding spring. Intensely pink and wooingly desirable it’s a fabulous ingredient. Here are two simple but rewarding rhubarb recipes to inspire.

Roasted rhubarb with light lemony mascarpone

3 large stems of rhubarb cut into 10 cm sectionsroast_r_whole
2-3 dessertspoons of maple syrup or a good sprinkle of light brown sugar
1 x 250g tub of light mascarpone (full fat if you prefer)
2-3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
Zest of 1 lemon
a little sugar to sweeten
Edible cornflower petals to decorate (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 190˚C/170˚C fan assisted/ Gas mark 5.
Place the rhubarb in an ovenproof dish and drizzle with syrup. Roast for 15-20 minutes and cool slightly.
Mix together the rest of the ingredients except the flower petals.
Divide the rhubarb between 4 plates and serve with a spoonful of mascarpone cream. Sprinkle with a few cornflower petals to serve.

To enliven this recipe, make a delicious, tart yet almost toffee-like sauce. In small pan heat 1 dessertspoon of pomegranate molasses and 2 dessertspoons of date syrup. Let the mixture just come to the boil then remove from heat and cool. Serve a spoonful with each plate.

Roasted chopped rhubarbRhubarb and ginger muffins
I saw this recipe ages ago on the Village Greens website. This is my variation.

2 free-range eggs
150g golden caster sugar
50ml sunflower oil
125ml natural yogurt
1tsp grated orange zest
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
300g sliced roasted rhubarb
300g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
½tsp bicarbonate of soda
½tsp salt
1tsp dried ginger
a few chunks of crystallized ginger, finely chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 190˚C/170˚C fan assisted/ Gas mark 5. Fill a muffin tin with 9 deep liners or 12 muffin cases.
Combine the eggs, sugar, oil, yogurt, rhubarb, orange zest and vanilla. Mix well. In a separate bowl, stir all the dry ingredients together thoroughly. Then mix the wet and dry ingredients together until just mixed.
Spoon into muffin cases and top each muffin with some ginger and bake for 25 minutes. Remove and cool on a rack.

At their best served while still warm

Roasted rhubarb and muffins

Crumbs of Capel

Crumbs of Capel The Old Brickyard, Coles Lane, Capel, RH5 5HPdineke_soda_bread

A small artisan bakery in Surrey Weald supplying totally handmade bread.

Buy from: Village Greens or the Dorking Food Float.

Avoid: Inferior factory-made imposters.

Is it worth the calories?: Traditional slow-fermented bread using ingredients with provenance gets an undisputed thumbs up.

Tips: Book onto Dineke’s course and learn how simple it is to prepare artisan breads at home.

Having sampled Dineke’s breads and fruited buns at Village Greens’ food festival last summer I snapped up a place at one of her bread courses. Offered in partnership with Village Greens in Ockley, the principal retailer for Crumbs of Capel, it seemed a perfect foodie night out. In confidence, luck has not been on my side in the sourdough department so I was secretly hoping this would turn things around.

dineke_trio

At a cost of £25 (including ingredients and dinner) I attended ‘Soda and Sourdough’ at the community hall in Capel. The evening started with a run through of the principles of sourdough starters. We prepared a sourdough bread first, which needed a couple of hours to rise, and then a speedy soda bread. While waiting for the bread to rise and prove, we had dinner and a chance to chat. Catherine Dampier, our Village Greens’ hostess, had put together a buffet of scrumptious products from the shop, all served with Dineke’s wonderful bread. Everything was local, carefully sourced and in perfect keeping with the ethos of the evening.

Nutbourne tomatoes, charcuterie, soft ewes milk cheese from Golden Cross Cheese Company and English Regional wine from Denbies

Making sourdough is a lengthy process, not to be confused with bread machines and easy-blend yeast. No, sour dough breads take time, a long time: when Dineke is baking for her retailers she makes the dough in the evening and ferments it all night. In the morning the dough is knocked back, kneaded again, formed into loaves and proved for another two hours. Then it’s ready to bake. But all the decisions are based on experience and timings can change each time you bake.

We were all provided with a portion of bubbling starter, which takes a couple of weeks to make. Warm water is added to flour to start the process, which encourages the growth of naturally occurring yeasts. This is fed with fresh flour and mixed and hibernated to create (eventually!) the bubbling, fermenting mass of batter characteristic of sourdough. Flour choice affects the result. We used Sharpham Park’s organic spelt flour for the sourdough and Doves Farm white organic for the soda bread.

making sour dough

Dineke’s course was jam packed with bread-making wisdom and tips but the most important was that to make your starter all you need is good-quality flour and some hand-warm water. It really is that simple. So why had I and so many other would-be sourdough bakers been sold the idea of fresh orange juice, raisins, bottled water and other mixtures? No wonder my previous efforts with strange concoctions in my airing cupboard had been a disaster.

sour_dough_rolls6x9Armed with a cup of starter, we added flour and a little more water and salt. We kneaded this for 10 minutes and formed it into four equal-sized rolls. We had a choice of seeds for toppings to add texture and nutrients – and to make it look good. We left this to rise while we got on with our soda bread.

For the soda bread we added bicarbonate of soda, the raising agent that gives soda bread its name, to white flour, then our choice of liquid: natural yogurt, milk, buttermilk or water. Kneading isn’t required, just a quick mix to form a soft dough. Ready to bake as soon as it’s made, we put our loaves in the oven while we tucked in to our dinner. Afterwards we had time to check our breads and troubleshoot.

If you don’t want to bake your own bread, Dineke supplies over a hundred loaves of bread a week to Village Greens (available fresh every day) and at the Dorking Food Float on Saturdays. Her gluten-free cheese biscuits and nibbles are available from Tanhouse and Kingfisher farm shops. Working to full capacity, Dineke has plans to convert her garage to a larger bake-house to increase production.

There are plenty of reasons why you should go to Village Greens in Ockley but this bread is near the top of the list for me.

www.crumbsofcapel.co.uk

01306 710087

Food Fair at Village Greens, Ockley

I went to my first Village Greens Food Fair in 2012 and have been raving about them ever since! The next one is on 19th July 2015 at their shop at Denbies Vineyard near Dorking.

To get a taste of the sort of event its likely to be see my review!

The sun shone on our visit to meet local food producers at the Village Greens Food Fair. James and Catherine Dampier have been running this fair for six years and it is a truly lovely afternoon

Catherine Dampier out. Held in the field opposite the shop, one of the highlights was admiring the produce they grow  to sell in the shop. We’re now looking forward to the first frost so we can enjoy cavola nero at its best! It was a perfect day to celebrate local food and a village shop that brings its local community together.

First we sampled some lovely honey products, made by the Sparkes family. Their award winning honey marmalade was unusual and delicious and their chilli and honey jam had a distinctive Thai edge.

You couldn’t help being drawn to the delicious aroma of coffee from a converted Citroen van.  Gary Best is the coffee oracle of Surrey. Coffee Real source the most wonderful coffee from all over the world and roast it in Capel . You can buy their coffee online and in local shops in Surrey and further afield.

Coffee Real - roasters of single origin and single estate coffee in Surrey

Next door was Crumbs of Capel, an artisan bakery who make sourdough bread, tea cakes and soda breads. This is real craft baking on a small scale. The depth of flavour of their rye bread is unrivalled and their teacakes a chewy flavoursome mouthful.

Yum Cha drinks are made on a farm in Leatherhead by Guy Woodall; his wife was offering tastings of their unusual take on iced tea. Refreshingly different, Jane and I sampled them all and liked the tart sour plum the best.

Yum Cha iced tea drinks

Cut and Dried is a relatively new company specialising in crispy or chewy dried fruit: their catchphrase ‘dried not fried’ says it all. These are intensely flavoured, chewy and perfect for lunch boxes, Mike Eposito of Cut and Dried snacks and dips. Beetroot would be perfect with a sour cream and chive dip for pre-dinner drinks. The pineapple is intensely flavoured and moreish: a great snack for fruit-phobic kids.

A tiny local business, the Jam Lady  offers  beautifully presented jams and preserves made in the traditional manner. A few, like the chilli jelly with lime, have a distinctly modern twist. She forages for wild plums and damsons and will use up your end of season rhubarb if you give her a ring! Currently she only sells at fairs and events; if you want to try her wares, contact her at thejamlady@hotmail.co.uk.

The Jam lady

A warm scent in the air took us to  Discerning Soups, who sell a small range of delicious soups and dips, including humus and smoked mackerel and tuna pates. Their  sweetcorn and bacon chowder was a sweet, salty piece of heaven and a sweet potato soup was as comforting as a warm loaf (with fewer calories).

Discerning Soups

Neil and Michaela, Surrey’s only cheese producer, were selling  Norbury Blue and Dirty Vicar cheese. Refreshments were provided by  Splendid Occasions, a new concept business who offer pop-up vintage tea parties. We stopped for a pot of Earl Grey tea and a chunky slice of millionaires shortbread.

Dee and Hannah served up tea and cakes vintage style

White chocolate Goupie with Lavender  (image courtesy of Goupie)

Goupie make chewy chocolates that make great gifts. The white chocolate and lavender was satisfyingly different, the mocha a rich coffee flavour.We finished by trying most of High Weald Dairy’s cheeses; Jane bought some enticing Sister Sarah goat’s cheese as a gift, but it’s unlikely to make it to her sister Sarah!

High Weald dairy offering Haloumi cheese samples

Village Greens