We’ve just been filming in the farm shop with a couple of our producers from Tideswell (on the shelves any day now, Penny Ward’s Litton Larder sticky toffee pudding, as I predicted back in November).
Manager Andre Birkett is one of the nicest people on two legs, couldn’t do enough, even on a hot, busy Easter holiday afternoon. If you’ve never been, go. Jump in the car, drive through some of the loveliest countryside EVER to Chatsworth House and round it off with a stroll round the Duchess’s larder (and perhaps a cuppa and cake in the stunning courtyard, overlooking the rolling High Peak hills.)
As my mate and colleague Jane said as we tucked into salmon bagels and Andre’s signature chicken liver pate (wow) this view’s rubbish. It’s a bit pricey in the shop, but fabulous quality and carefully sourced by Andre and his team. (Twenty nine years he’s been on the estate, arrived as a callow youth from Keighley College as one of the Duke’s personal chefs. I bet he can tell some tales.) Gloucestershire has Daylesford Organics, Yorkshire has Fodder and Derbyshire has this. It’s a tough call, but I think Chatsworth is first past the post. But I would say that, being a local girl and all. MW
Chatsworth Farm Shop, Pilsley, Bakewell, Derbyshire
DE45 1UF T: 01246 583392 www.chatsworth.org