Cooking in the Kitchen Garden Sat 4 September FREE
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Cooking in the Kitchen Garden Sat 4 September FREE |
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Since James and Claire Birch took over the running of the Estate in 2005, Claire has followed her passion for the environment by working hard to make real improvements to the environmental impact the Estate makes during its day to day activities. In 2008 we were thrilled to be awarded the top prize in the Lincolnshire Environmental Awards, and the Gold Medal for Sustainable Tourism in the East Midlands Tourism Awards. These awards don’t just recognise the initiatives we have taken, they also give us the opportunity to show people what can be done and inspire them to have a go! Seasonal Local Food. The two-acre restored Kitchen Garden at Doddington is managed along organic lines and uses the best of traditional methods such as double-digging alongside modern techniques of bio-control. Two local schools have plots in the Kitchen Garden and a school visit is offered focusing on vegetables, healthy eating, local production and organic techniques. All the produce from the garden goes straight to the Doddington Farm Shop and Café. The Farm Shop and Café was borne out of the desire to sell and showcase the produce of the Kitchen Garden. The building has considerably more insulation than is required by current regulations and it is heated entirely by our new wood-chip heating system which was installed at the same time (see below). The building is designed to be air-cooled with natural ventilation; the water from the roof is used to flush the toilets; low energy appliances and fittings were sourced as far as possible. Operationally, the shop uses trolleys and baskets made from recycled bottles; there are no plastic bags, and paper bag consumption/use is minimised. We sell our own bottled and filtered water in the Café. The shop has a huge range of locally sourced, low food miles produce, along with all the zero miles produce from our own gardens and kitchens. We also seek out fair trade, artisan-produced and organic produce as far as possible. Customers are encouraged to bring back glass containers to be re-used by producers. Our cooking fat is converted to biofuel and all vegetable waste is composted in the Kitchen Garden. Wood-chip heating system. In 2007 we also converted the entire oil-fired heating and hot water system for the Hall, the Farm Shop & Café plus seven other buildings to a carbon neutral wood-chip heating system. Oil fired boilers have all been replaced with one large wood-chip burner and the centrally heated water is distributed via lagged pipes. Ash from the burner is being used as fertiliser in the Kitchen Garden. The Estate has 600 acres of woodland and the wood-chip heating system needs the thinnings and dead-wood from just 260 acres, so there is a net carbon gain each year as more wood grows than is used in the boiler. Again, the project was facilitated by successful applications for grants from the Lincolnshire Green Heat Programme and the National Bio-Energy grant made this project a reality. It is now a regional showpiece for woodchip heating systems and visited regularly by other people in the area who are interested in similar systems such as schools, hospitals etc. People. For the first time in a generation there are growing numbers of residents in the village who actually work in some capacity on the Estate; 18 at the last count. This is a huge change from the 70s, 80s and 90s when the numbered had declined to 5 or 6. And every person that is employed within walking distance of their home means less commuting, less carbon and less traffic. Our Farm has been accepted into DEFRA’s 'Higher Level Scheme'. This is recognition of our 10 year commitment to a comprehensive programme to improve biodiversity of the estate. The most visible change will be a growing herd of Lincoln Red cattle whose presence improves the flora of the grasslands where they graze, but represent protection of a rare (and delicious) traditional breed perfectly adapted to the conditions in the county. Lincoln Red. In Summer 2009 a herd of Lincoln Red arrived at Doddington under the watchful eye of James Birch and are now living in the meadows behind the Hall overlooking the Trent Valley. Lincoln Red cattle produce extraordinarily good meat, which is very popular in the county. This first herd will start a tradition of cattle being raised at Doddington for eventual sale in the Farm Shop Cafe and butchery. In summary, the greening of Doddington will be a life-long project. We make it our business to keep abreast of developments and relentlessly hunt out sources of assistance (financial and technological) to implement relevant initiatives. The work we have done so far has been achieved with a combination of determination and vision, a lot of hard work from a huge team of staff and volunteers, along with success in accessing the public funds that really are out there for the taking for the right sort of project. |
