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Dining Secretly in Sudbury Open Prison

Carrier bag from Sudbury open prison

John bought a bird feeder which came in this bag

Having written recently about the fantastic food at Fischer’s I though perhaps I would redress the balance slightly and let you know about a very nice lunch we had recently at the Secret Diner, in Sudbury (Derbyshire) Open Prison.

Just for your interest, Sudbury is a Category D open prison for males which I gather means it will usually be for non violent short term or prisoners at the end of a long sentence. Prisoners can wander freely but have to show up for roll calls etc; we do quite often hear of prisoners absconding from Sudbury, and whilst that might be foolish, it can’t be very difficult to do. When we visited, it did look as if there was a fence of sorts, but nothing too off-putting if you were determined to get out.

Anyway, the prison has quite recently opened a restaurant, in the grounds but just outside the fence. The building is an old Nissan hut, but clean and attractively decorated. The Diner doubles as a staff canteen and is only open from 11.30am to 1pm on weekdays. It’s probably advisable to ring to book – the number is 01283 584000 and the postcode for Satnavs is DE6 5HW.

Lunching at the Secret Diner

The very sound idea behind the Secret Diner is that it provides an excellent opportunity for prisoners, who can put the training and experience they receive to good use when they get out. I couldn’t tell who were prisoners and who were staff, but it didn’t seem to matter in the slightest.

You won’t be surprised to hear it is not exactly fine dining; one sits at formica tables and queues up to be served but the food was more than acceptable, very plentiful, with lots of choice and all extremely reasonably priced. We went with a crowd of Parwich friends and we all thoroughly enjoyed the meal and the occasion. We were almost embarrassed it was so cheap, and although the staff were extremely pleasant, we weren’t allowed to leave a tip although it was suggested that if we wished we could donate to some charities they support, including the local branch of Riding for the Disabled, which we were all glad to do. We had a three-course meal, with coffee and it came to well under £10 each.

After lunch several of us visited their Farm Shop, where they sell vegetables etc that the prisoners grow, and things they have made like bird feeders and nesting boxes. I was very taken by the fact that there also several dozen pairs of identical black men’s size 8 shoes, being sold for £2.50 each! No other sizes, no other colours… That was an unanswered mystery and if anyone can ever solve it for me I shall be grateful.

Fantastic Food at Fischer’s

This summer, to celebrate the 2012 “proud to be British’ campaign many local businesses offered real bargains of some sort; one of the most generous and most enticing offers we cam across was the £20.12 lunch offered by Fischer’s, Baslow Hall.

Beautiful gardens at Baslow Hall

The food is delicious, the gardens are lovely

Now, Fischer’s, for those of you who don’t know the area yet, is the only restaurant in Derbyshire to hold a Michelin Star; their head chef, Rupert Rowley, recently won Silver in the Taste of England category at the national Visit England Awards for Excellence 2012. The restaurant is in a beautifully restored country house surrounded by lovely gardens, in Baslow, the other side of Bakewell, about half an hour’s drive from Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns.

£20.12 lunch at Fischer's

John enjoying the pudding

We went in the summer, and loved the whole experience. The food was pretty amazing too! We have just heard from them today that it was so popular that they are going to continue the offer throughout 2013. They are now offering a special “2013” menu, available from Monday to Friday, 12 noon-1.30 pm at a cost of £20.13 for two courses, and £25.13 for three courses between 2nd January to 29th November, excluding 14th February.

Fine dining at Fischer's

Fischer’s, Baslow Hall

This is already fantastic value – but wait for it – in addition, Fischer’s are partners in our Peak District Premier Cottages Privilege Card scheme, which entitles all guests staying with us to a 10% discount on top of the very generous offer. Mention it when you book, and be sure to show them your Privilege Card on your keyring when you arrive!

Obviously, you may well decide to stretch the budget to include wine, or coffee afterwards, but you don’t need to, and will be under no (external) pressure to do so. I must say we did, and then had a very relaxing stroll round the gardens to make the whole occasion a very special one indeed.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Below is a sample menu to give you a flavour of what you might expect. Tables need to be reserved in advance by ringing them on 01246 583259 or emailing: reservations@fischers-baslowhall.co.uk.

“£20.13 Lunch”

Duck Liver Parfait
toasted brioche, Fischer’s chutney

Nasturtium Cured Salmon
tartar, pickled kohirabi, horseradish snow

Confit of Duck Leg
rosti potato, honey & orange sauce

Pan Fried Cod
roast cauliflower, curry spices & granola

Toasted Marshmallow
Haygrove strawberries, tarragon custard

Warm Chocolate Pudding
damson ice cream, caramelised hazelnuts

Two courses £20.13

Three courses £25.13

Our dishes may contain nuts, raw eggs & unpasteurised cheese.

Carefree Catering for the Carfree

Whether you have walked here or come in the sleekest of limousines, you won’t want to have to pay a visit to the shops the minute you arrive, if indeed at all.

It is perfectly easy and part of the excitement building up for your holiday to organise everything that you can possibly think of beforehand, so your stay here is blissfully relaxed and luxurious. You can also plan some instant catering solutions quite apart from making full use of the local pub-within-walking-distance solutions.

You know that we provide you with a pint (no longer in a bottle!) of milk, some butter, bread and six freshly laid local eggs and things like oil, dried herbs etc but we don’t go as far as ingredients for your meals!

Ideally you’ll order what you need in advance and arrange to have everything delivered the morning of your arrival, so we can check and put away everything for you. If you would like to go completely organic, Riverford is a great favourite of ours, and we have a weekly delivery here, on Fridays (only). It is best to choose what you want and ring them beforehand on 01780 789700, explaining that you are staying here (they are well used to it!).Waitrose also has lots of great food, quite a lot but by no means solely, organic. They will deliver here, to DE6 1QB, any day.

Both barns have a fridge-freezer so another top tip we are now suggesting is to order pre-frozen meals from one of two companies we know of, Cook and Life, Fork and Spoon. We have tried Cook many times and swear by them – they are efficient, their meals are delicious and they arrive in packaging so well insulated everything is still totally frozen solid. Life, Fork and Spoon we have not tried yet, but will. Please let us know what you think.

Even with a well-stocked kitchen, you may well still feel like being catered for. Without moving out of the village you can ask our neighbour, Val Kirkham to cook a meal for you (ring her on 01335 390548 to discuss menus and prices), order a curry from Paul and Evie Burlinson (ring 01335 390488).

We have a pub in the village, the Sycamore, which serves pub meals, and there is also a British Legion, on the road going towards Alsop which welcomes guests warmly and which also does food sometimes. Within lovely walking distance for lunch is the Old Gate at Brassington and the Coach House at Tissington.

The pub also has a little shop well-stocked with all the basics so buying anything you may suddenly find you want can be part of a trip to the pub itself, or the purpose of a pleasant little expedition in the village

This post can be seen in addition to all the information we had already gathered so at the same time have a look here at the Forward Planning for Effortless Catering in the More Info Section of our website.

Keep Calm and Carry on Eating Cake

Tom's & Douglas's Barns Cherry Bakewell

In spite of the fact we get very few people actually commenting on the blog friends, guests and often complete strangers will email us, or tell me on Facebook or at parties how much they actually enjoy reading our blog. They do say they enjoy John’s photos too which doesn’t surprise me. I really enjoy writing the posts, just wish I had more time to indulge my weakness! It feels just like keeping in touch with friends, and is a wonderful pastime and stress reliever.

Some nice soul emailed this today: I regularly keep up to date with your blogs; they are a joy to read and much more cheerful than the news, national or international.

Potentially much more cheerful than the news or indeed our blogs, tonight I have a newish recipe which i have tried out twice now and which has received the thumbs up from guests, family and friends. It is a variation on the permanent favourite Fake Bakewell. Perhaps we ought to call it a Cherry Fakewell?

I asked John to take a photo, but he wasn’t quite quick enough before most of the last batch had disappeared, hence the rather sparse display on the plate.

Tom’s & Douglas’s Barns
Cherry Special Bakewell Tart

If you think of the basic recipe as being for every egg 4 oz of ground rice/ground almonds, sugar and butter you can make the size you want. I always make this in a large Aga baking tray so it is the basic recipe times four. For normal family use one would probably do half, i.e. 2 eggs etc.

Recipe:
1lb good (Stork) soft margarine (or butter if you’re feeling expansive)
I lb sugar
*1/2lb ground rice
*1/2lb ground almonds
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Almond extract
Flaked almonds
Fresh stoned cherries, or one tin of cherries, well drained
Short crust pastry (either a bought block or made with 1lb flour)
About half jar jam (sharpish like raspberry, blackcurrant or homemade plum) For the Cherry Bakewell I used cherry jam and some raspberry, as the latter seems a bit softer and possibly moister.

Method:
Roll out the pastry and line the tin you are using. Spread the jam over, and cherries if using. Ideally put the tin (layered with cherries and jam) into the fridge but I can’t say I always – or actually ever – do!

Melt the butter/marge and sugar in a saucepan on a lowish heat, stirring occasionally to ensure the sugar completely dissolves into the melted butter. Add the ground rice/almonds and leaving it on the heat, stir for a minute or two until it is all well mixed and smooth. Take off the heat, and when it is a bit cooler, stir in the beaten eggs and a generous teaspoon and a bit (to size and taste) of almond extract.

Pour the mixture onto the pastry. Sprinkle generously with flaked almonds and pop it into the oven. In the Aga (2-door) I put it on the bottom grid of the top oven with the cold plain sheet over, for about 25-30 minutes+ until it is firm, looks golden and the almonds nicely coloured.

*It is perfectly delicious – and I rather think better – made with just ground rice and no ground almonds at all, but I often do half and half. I’ve never (yet) done it with all ground almonds.

Tom’s & Douglas’s Barns Recipes: Pecan and Molasses Cake

This week was the first time I had made this tray bake recipe, saved (and considerably adapted) from a Sainsbury’s 2006 magazine. It has taken me six years to try it and I wish I had sooner. Both lots of guest have asked for the recipe, so I have tried to remember what I did which varies quite a bit from the original recipe I have in front of me as I write. Perhaps to be safe I will make this again for Monday’s guests before posting this! (I have and it was fine. In fact, none left for John to photograph! So you will have to imagine it…)

I used molasses but you could use black reacle or molasses; you could also substitute walnuts for the pecans without making a great difference to the final taste.

Tom’s & Douglas’s Barns Recipes: Pecan and Molasses Cake

For the cake

1 x 375g pack stoned chopped dates (or chop them yourself)

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp instant coffee granules OR 1 tsp Camp coffee

75g soft butter

125g caster sugar

100g molasses or black treacle

2 eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

275g plain flour

11/2 tsp baking powder

1x100g pack shelled pecan nuts, roughly chopped

salt

23 x 30cm (12” x 9”) non-stick deepish baking tin (if you think it may not be deep enough, to be safe line with parchment with the sides standing 5cm (2”) proud of the tin

For the Topping

75g chopped pecan nuts

75g dark brown sugar

1tsp Camp coffee or instant granules

1tbs molasses or black treacle

Method

Preheat the oven to 190’C, fan 170”C, gas 5

Put the chopped dates into a bowl and pour 310ml boiling water over them.

Sprinkle the bicarb on the top, and the coffee, and leave to stand.

Put the butter, sugar, molasses, egg and vanilla extract into a food processor and whizz until the mixture is creamy.

Drain the dates, keeping the liquid.

Add the flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt and the liquid from the dates to the mixture in the processor and whizz again until well mixed.

Add the dates and nuts and pulse until the dates and nut are chopped – but not too finely – and well mixed into the cake mixture

Scrape into the baking tin. Level the top and sprinkle in the mixed topping ingredients over the top.

Bake on the middle shelf (bottom shelf of an Aga hot oven, with the cold plain sheet hanging on the second rungs down) for 25-30 minutes until risen and firm to the touch.

Eating Well with Minimum Effort in Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns

Revamping our ‘green’ papers for the GTBS inspection on Friday I see that it is over two years since I first published this post. It has needed updating and correcting so I thought it would be useful to post the updated version for any of you planning a holiday here in the future, or even dreaming about one.

Before you arrive, we will always send you an updated list of recommended local pubs and restaurant. We also send the names of a few local butchers, farm shops and delicatessens: we are spoiled for choice in an area that boasts the Chatsworth Farm Shop, various ‘original’ Bakewell Pudding shops/delis in Bakewell, whilst in Ashbourne we have Smith’s for fine wines and good food, the Cheddar Gorge for cheeses, pies and cakes and Natural Choice for everything organic ‘green’. In the two latter shops you can now buy delicious fresh bread baked by the Dining Room on St John’s Street. You will also find a great selection of cheeses at the Hartington Cheese Shop.

Nigel’s on Compton in Ashbourne sells excellent local meat and the meat from the White Peak Butchery in Tissington is something else again – not for nothing do some of our guests walk over every day to buy their next treat!

You may find a visit to the Chatsworth Farm Shop another  essential treat…

For any basic necessities you suddenly find you need, Janet Gosling in the pub/shop, will undoubtedly be able to help you. You could have a quick drink in the pub at the same time if you felt like it or even a bar meal.

And, when you return to cook your effortless casseroles and even steak & kidney pudding, we have the slow-cookers ready and waiting for action in each barn. However all this requires at least some energy output, however pleasurable. There are several recipe books to help.

For totally relaxed forward planning, who don’t you pre-order online with Waitrose (plenty of healthy and organic choices there as well as nice wines)? They will deliver here DE6 1QB any day, free as long as you spend over £50 – which doesn’t take long these days. If you arrange delivery in the 11-1 slot for the day you are arriving we will put it all away for you before you arrive, but of course you can place an order for half way through your stay here if that seems a good idea. If you let us know that you are going to be out, we can take delivery and keep it all cool and safe in our house until your return.

You can also order organic veg, fruit, meat and dairy products – even wonderful chocolate – from the local Riverford Sacrewell Most conveniently they deliver here on Fridays; we can take your order in, keep it refrigerated and put it in your barn before you arrive as we do for Waitrose orders.

The system with Riverford for one-off orders is rather more personal than it is with the bigger Waitrose.  Look online to choose what you would like but the actual order itself needs to be made by telephone on 01780 789700. Explain you are staying here at Orchard Farm and would like your food delivered at the same time as ours on the Friday you arrive. You can pay them by card over the phone, or send a cheque.

You also now can pre-order a delicious homemade curry for the end of the week  (hottish – let them know if you don’t want it too hot!). Ring Paul and Evie Burlinson on 01335 390488; you collect it from their Cottage on the Green between 5 and 7 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Finally, we will let you into a little secret. You will find the kitchen very well equipped, with sharp knives and pretty well everything you might need, and most of our guests find they really enjoy cooking a meal after all, in spite of having vowed they would do the very minimum.

Eating In Without Lifting a Finger…

Paul's Butter Chicken Curry

It doesn’t take long for the subject to return to food, not that I should perhaps apologise. One can’t turn on the telly for a minute without finding a cookery programme and goodness knows how many cookery books are produced each year and fancy kitchens full of even fancier gadgets advertised.

And yet we are told that nobody cooks any more. We know that is not true. A lot of our guests take a lot of pride in cooking, and part of the fun of their holiday is having the time, and in a well-equipped kitchen, to prepare delicious meals to enjoy together.  But even they, and indeed all of us, however keen we may be as cooks, do like occasionally to sit back and enjoy what someone else has prepared.

We are lucky in Parwich to have some really excellent nearby pubs and restaurants where you know the food will be good and the atmosphere fun and you will feel you’ve had a real treat. However, drink-driving laws and winter road conditions both also make the idea of eating in very attractive, and  with no worry about getting home afterwards, much more relaxing. This – with some forethought and planning – is charmingly possible in Parwich.

Discounting the possibility of having cheated by popping something into the slow cooker in the morning, or the often very tasty prepared ready meal meals one can buy in Waitrose and M&S in Ashbourne – and indeed in all the super markets, we have some unique gems in Parwich to offer our guests.

Firstly, you can ring Val Kirkham beforehand on 01335 390 458 to find out about her meals which she will cook in her house next door to Orchard Farm and bring them round personally to your door when you want them. Secondly, you can pre-order a curry from Paul and Evie, at the Cottage of the Green, on 01335 390 488. These are available at the weekend, and you do have to fetch them (5 or 6 minutes ‘walk).

Today John and I did just that. Fridays – our changeover day – are always busy  and supper time can come with us feeling a little weary and with nothing delicious miraculously appearing on the table. We’d planned ahead this week, and ordered a chicken curry, rice and a chutney. Paul and Evie had popped in some very thin lacy-textured poppadoms (heme-made?) and we had a feast fit for kings. Last time we had a lamb curry, next time who knows…?

All we do know is that they will always be very authentic and quite lovely and very good value as we find a portion for one does us both and we are NOT known for our birdlike appetites. We do have to ask for mild to medium strength, slightly embarrassingly for people who lived in India for three years and have eaten some pretty hot curries in our time. I suspect Paul’s ‘Hot’ would be just that, hot! If anyone has tried one we’d be intrigued to know!

Orchard Farm Marmalade Production

John the Orchard Farm Marmalade Magnate

The lengths one goes to to avoid doing the tax, but the organic marmalade oranges and lemons have been sitting in the kitchen since Riverford delivered them on Friday, and we have at least six batches to tackle, so needs must. Perhaps I don’t need to write a blog post as well, but any marmalade maker will recognise that sense of excitement and achievement and the need to share it… The achievement actually extends to having caught the Seville oranges in time,  before they disappear for another year; the season is so short,  one flash and it’s gone and one could easily have missed it altogether.

And now that we leave a little jar of homemade marmalade alongside the bread, milk, butter and eggs for every couple when they arrive we find we are getting through a LOT! We started off just trying it out on our guests after we had made some last year, thinking we would stop again quite soon after a temporary flurry of marmalade sharing, but such was the reaction, with public comments in the visitors’ books and on the blog that we felt almost compelled to carry on. And we are glad to do so,  because anything we can do to make our guests’  holiday here enjoyable and a little bit special for them is a pleasure for us too.

The marmalade production process is very much a joint affair as you can see by this fairly rare photo of John. It is not often he is in a photo as he is usually the one behind the lens We are now using a relatively new recipe I got off the internet recently when I was making between season  grapefruit and lime marmalade, which we are rather pleased with. It involves boiling the quartered fruit first and using slightly less sugar than the conventional idea which means you can eat more.

Let us know what you think, if you still have a holiday here ahead of you before the current batches run out!

10 out of 10 for Cottage on the Green Curries!

The news broke last week about this wonderful new facility available in Parwich and we couldn’t wait to try it out. We knew the curries would be good but we strongly feel it’s always better to recommend from personal experience rather than hearsay (even when it’s our own cottages…).

We ordered ours yesterday. After I had a meeting in Bakewell (yes honestly, on a Saturday morning but more about that later!) we decided a treat was in store so we had booked seats to see My Week with Marilyn in the new cinema at the top of Derby Westfield. And what a happy treat that turned out to be. What a charming film! It wouldn’t suit anyone that needed gunfights and violence but for those that positively don’t want that it is perfect.

And then we came home via the ‘Raj on the Green’ to pick up our pre-ordered curries. The smell alone as Evie opened the door to us was so enticing we could hardly wait to get home to warm up the curry and rice; it had only recently been cooked so that didn’t take long, fortunately. We can safely say it was quite delicious. The portions were extremely generous and neither of us is known for a birdlike appetite, and there was a lot of instantly recognisable chicken breast. So often with normal takeaways one has simply to trust that the vague bits of something or other in your curry (or chinese for that matter) really are what you ordered and not little bits and bobs of something you really wouldn’t have ordered. 10 out of 10!

The curries are only available Thursday to Saturday. One needs to order at least a day in advance, and pick them up from the Cottage on the Green between 5 and 7.30 on the day you’ve ordered them for. We shall be putting the information about how to order etc in the barns and adding it to the info sheets we send out to all our guests before they arrive. We won’t be involved in the process at all – you will order from Paul and Evie yourselves, and collect and pay for your curry. Do tell them you’re staying here but only because they’d be interested – not because we’ll be demanding commission from them!

Some More Foodie Tips and Updates

A light Snack at the Gate, Brassington

The photos look miles better if you click on them to enlarge so please do.

We seem to be on a foodie roll, rather greedily, but following on from take-curries to eat in the cosy shelter of home I thought to start with a pub update for those that want to eat out more sociably. We are so lucky round here with some really excellent local pubs not too far away and our guests all seem to share our appreciation of The George at Alstonefield and the Gate at Brassington.

On Sunday we walked to the Gate, at Brassington, for lunch, forgetting that on Sundays you can’t get the usual hot baguettes and are rather lured towards having a ‘full roast dinner’, which in this case we really didn’t want/need. There wasn’t a great deal of choice for the ‘Light Bites’ and I chose Goats Cheese en Croute on Pears and something (can’t remember what!) but my goodness it was quite delicious! It wasn’t en croute at all, but on toast, but that was a blessing really for someone who only thinks about eating sensibly when there’s no food around. The photo (mine) is bad: it was by candlelight and I didn’t use the flash…

The second tip is for those that like an interesting bread. As a sideline the chef at the Dining Room in Ashbourne is now making the most wonderful breads which you can buy from shops like the Cheddar Gorge, Natural Choice and Wylies Greengrocers; you can’t buy direct from him. The bread – from sough dough, soda to multi grain is not cheap, but it is delicious and well worth looking out for. It tends to go quickly, in my experience but if you can bear to go shopping early you will buy it still warm.

The third tip is to point our guests in the way of the Cheddar Gorge, 9 Dig Street. This is the road at right angles to St John’s Road where the other places I’ve mentioned all are. The Cheddar Gorge is a deli Ashbourne can be proud of, with a wonderful array of cheeses – apparently 80 in all, many of them local – pork pies, cakes and pastries, chocolates and chutneys. It is always busy and can be quite crowded sometimes but there is so much to look at while you wait, and the odd cheese sample to nibble at from the counter…

Another story really, but a few steps down Dig Street you will find Nigel’s, an excellent local butcher that we use when it is less convenient to go to the White Peak Butchery in Tissington. The truth is, we are spoilt for choice.

However, when all’s said and one final personal tip is that I should stop taking photos on my phone and rely solely on John but that would mean him trailing around while I do the shopping. Perhaps a few lessons is the answer.


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