Les Herbes de St Pierre

Why choose Herbes de Provence or a tisane from France when Les Herbes de St Pierre is a good deal closer? Cathy Le Feuvre visited John and Christine Mather’s cottage industry

Near the top of Old Beaumont Hill you’ll find Belmont Farm, a traditional granite house with a red roof and a beautiful garden.

It’s been home to John and Christine Mather and their family for more than 25 years; their lovely surroundings have inspired them to create one of Jersey’s newest cottage industries - Les Herbes de St Pierre.

Many will remember John as the Deputy States Vet in the 1980s and 1990s and subsequently a full-time veterinarian, but when he retired three years ago, his focus turned to a home project initially envisaged by French-born Christine. Wanting to improve her health and fitness she had begun looking into taking ‘tisanes’ - herbal teas.

Christine said: ‘Back home we drink tisanes for medicinal purposes, so it’s not so much for the flavour, but more for what it will help you with, and I couldn’t find anything here, so I started growing things in the garden. It grew from there really. We had too much for ourselves, so we started giving the teas to friends and family, and then we grew so much, we began to sell it.’ The herb drying process which began in the family’s airing cupboard has progressed to a specially built production unit in the garden known as ‘The Facility’, where herbs are slowly and naturally dried, ground, mixed and packaged in recyclable containers and biodegradable compostable tea bags. Everything is done by hand, from the growing and propagation of herbs from seed to the harvesting and picking and the deliveries to the customer’s door.

Les Herbes de St Pierre already offers more than 30 different flavours of herbal tea, all of which are branded ‘Genuine Jersey’, and skin care products using home-stilled distilled natural oils, like calendula from marigold flowers. There are culinary herb mixes, and herb-infused salts are a new speciality, combining Belmont Farm herbs with sea salt from the ancient salt pans of the Guérande district of Brittany.

‘We’ve now got a new association with Jersey Fine Tea, which produce locally grown black, white and green tea, and they’re soon to launch a mint green tea which uses our mint,’ Christina added.

Why ‘Les Herbes de St Pierre’? Well, that’s a nod to a popular culinary herbal mix.

John explained: ‘I was thinking... everyone knows what ‘Herbes de Provence’ is, and we have a very similar mixture - rosemary, thyme, winter savoury, oregano and basil.’

We step outside the fragrant atmosphere of The Facility and into the garden where we come upon ‘The Circle’, a plot where Christine, who teaches French at Hautlieu School, spends many hours, among other things harvesting camomile flowers.

We move through a picturesque granite arch in the old garden wall to an adjoining field and, on a small strip bordering the driveway, Christine and John proudly point out beds of herbs in abundance including varying types of mint, including spearmint, garden and Moroccan mint. They now grow or collect about 30 herbs and flowers, which are used in their growing range of products, including tisanes.

‘Everything is natural, we don’t use chemicals or pesticides and we stick to the traditional, true ‘officianalis’ species of plant, the original cottage garden strains, not hybrids,’ John said. On the banks, John points out nettles, plantain and other plants which may be classed as ‘weeds’, but which actually have medicinal properties.

‘I’d always been interested in medicinal herbs, seeing the benefit in my work. I’ve had books on herbs for 20 years and I knew all the medicinal stuff because there was a demand for people not wanting to use, for example, eardrops with antibiotics for their dog,’ John said.

Herbal remedies for animals? John has translated that extensive knowledge into products for human enjoyment, and although there are no claims that their tisanes can ‘cure’, helping others understand the benefits of herbs and plants is a passion for Christine and John.

John continued: ‘We’re probably proudest of our ‘RelaxMax’ a tisane which we’ve invented.’ “ Everything

is natural, we don’t use chemicals or pesticides and we stick to the traditional, true ‘officianalis’ species of plant, the original cottage garden strains, not hybrids

‘It includes herbs which are nervine and adaptogens, which help you adapt to cope with worry - lavender, passionflower, camomile and lemon balm - you can’t buy it anywhere else; it actually tastes rather lovely,’.

For more information or for placing orders: www.herbesdestpierre.com or e-mail: lesherbesdestpierre@gmail. com. Their products are also available from Creative Cottage, St Peter.