Autumn Farm Walk (Isle of Wight) Weekend Write-up
FRIDAY (23 OCTOBER 2015): The Spring Farm Walk in Oxford was always going to be a hard act to follow but we gave it our best by settling on the Isle of Wight as our location for the October event. The weekend saw a group of 24 meet at Wollops Wood Farm, near Southampton, where we were able to leave excess cars for the weekend (by kind permission of Andrew and Kathryn Graham), before descending on the Isle of Wight by ferry. Our hosts were very grateful of a set of Farmers Club glass tumblers, a small gift to show our appreciation for secure parking. We particularly noted Andrew Graham saying; 'Katherine gave loads of these over the years to hosts of our visits on Under 30s weekends, but we’ve never had our own set!' We headed straight for The Royal Hotel in Ventnor which was to be our base for 2 nights. Thomas Wheatley-Hubbard (current Master of the Worshipful Company of Farmers) had recently informed me that The Royal was the islands' version of The Farmers Club – and he wasn’t wrong! The food and rooms were excellent and the service across the weekend was unfaultable.
On the Friday evening we ventured out in to Ventnor for a relaxed meal and welcome drink over which old friends could be re-acquainted and new faces introduced.
Alec Williamson; "I very much enjoyed heading out to the restaurant and then for a drink in the local pub" – all will agree it was great opportunity for the group to gel and relax at the start of the weekend.
SATURDAY (24 OCTOBER 2015): On Saturday morning, after a hearty breakfast we headed to The Garlic Farm, and was warmly welcomed by Colin Boswell in the farm shop's education centre.
Many will agree with Bradley Etchell who said his "favourite part of the weekend was the industry insight provided by Mr Boswell"; it was a real eye opener for most. Mary Bell, U30s Vice-chairman, described how "it was very interesting to hear the challenges his business faced and evolved from being a main Supermarket supplier and recovering to become a local niche brand on the Isle of White. It certainly taught me never to give up on a business venture". Tom Malpass agreed stating "Listening to Colin's life story, his rise and fall with one business and how he has rebuilt a second time" was his favourite part of the weekend. Mary's top tip: "Buyer beware, their Vampire Slayer Seriously Hot Sauce certainly lives up to its name!"
This was followed by tastings, a tractor & trailer ride & a fantastic mixed platter garlic based lunch.
The Garlic Farm Facts: Colin Boswell's father took on farm tenancy in 1958 (Colin was 6 years old) Colin's original enterprise when took over the farm was sweetcorn but in 1999 this was sold. Re-moulded as a smaller, family orientated business growing and selling garlic and variety of garlic based products. Started with visiting farmers markets to sell product which still continues today. Colin has travelling to different countries (including Portugal, France, East Turkey & Georgia) to look at wild garlic and new growing techniques and has his own trials plots. The Garlic Farm has about 200,000 visitors each year; and I expect more once programme with Mary Berry (filmed on location with Colin) is aired in May/June 2016.
A take home message of the morning was about adding value and Georgina Knock said: "I learnt to increase my scope when it comes to the possibilities which could stem from the farm; this came from seeing the variety of avenues Colin Boswell had developed at The Garlic Farm". This could also be seen in the afternoon visit when we moved on to The Tomato Stall We met Paul Thomas, Managing Director, at one of the four greenhouse sites on the island. Due to the possibility of plant contamination (either disease or cross-pollination) we suited up and entered a 2hectare glass house of the tomato variety Angelle.
It was the end of the growing season (Febraury to November) but there were still a few juicy ones to try. This particular variety, indicually picked, could yield between 2 – 2.5kg/m2 and considering the expanse of just one glasshouse that’s a lot of tomatoes. Charlotte Harris noted one of the things she learnt from the visit was "that each individual tomato plant grows over 20 meters long between January and October, and before bee hives were added to the glasshouse that we visited [40 hives per glasshouse] all of the plants were pollinated by hand!" After visiting the packhouse Alec Williamson said "I learnt that there are varieties of tomatoes that are ripe when green and others that ripen orange; many of which are less acidic. I will look out for them in future when I otherwise would not have."
We were shown an array of products (whole tomatoes through to tomato juice) distributed by the Tomato Stall to 300 – 400 shops per week. Shops include Claridges and Ocado, whereas their produce can be found served up in Jamie Oliver's 15 and the Ritz; a world away from the single first farmers market they attended on Pimlico Road in 2007.
Both farm walks' hosts emphasied the importance of a good brand.
Tomato Stall Facts: 27ha of glasshouses on the Island Isle of Wight is near-perfect conditions for glasshouses with natural light reflection from water but ambient temperature caused by sea breeze. Grow 36 commercial varieties and trial up to 200 new varieties each year Glasshouses whitewashed to stop plants being scorched by the sun Water, CO2 levels and heat (by vents) all controlled electronically Closed loop system for composting and water Trialling artificial lighting with well-known electronics/lighting company to see if can grow cost effectively where sunlight not so intense. Mr Thomas did a media degree, became a chef and after travelling in Australia returned to an opportunity which has developed into his role today. Started to move away from relying on wholesale market as price was dictated by the supply from other countries and Mr Thomas found value could be added quite easily. Holland has 25ha glasshouses The day ended with a black tie dinner at The Royal Hotel and we were joined by Mr Boswell and his wife, Jenny, along with our after dinner speaker John Heather. John is the Isle of Wight Group Secretary for the NFU and also a committee member of the Isle of Wight Agricultural Society.
John Heather explained about the strengths and weaknesses of farming on the island and the issues some of his client's face (which we would never even consider on the mainland). He also described the island's county show on Sunday 26 June 2016 – which I am sure a few of us will be attending.
SUNDAY (25 OCTOBER 2015): Sunday concluded the weekend away with Georgina Knock's highlight of the weekend; "A beach walk and fossil hunt with stunning sunshine, white cliffs as the backdrop and being shown some incredible 35 million year old fossils!" And Charlotte Harris agreed that this was one of the most enjoyable parts of the weekend by saying: "seeing casts of dinosaur footprints on the beach, mind blown." (we hope not literally).
Dr Steve Sweetman talked us through some of his favourite fossils that he has collected ever since his interest in palaeontology started as a young boy on the island, before guiding us along the beach to the famous Isle of Wight dinosaur foot prints. Other recent landslides allowed everyone to get their hands dirty and search around for treasures; alas we retired for our final lunch having discovered no new species. Dr Sweetman has personally discovered over 30 new species of dinosaurs and is working on verifying others. A fascinating experience. Following a weekend that offered us an insight into farming in a totally different way to which any of us were used to, we headed back to the ferry and the mainland to reflect on our experience, lessons learnt and an all-round enjoyable weekend surrounded by friends.