I’ve not long returned from a well overdue break, spent in France. We visited Versailles, Avignon, Bordeaux, Brest and Lake Geneva to name a few. I enjoyed some delicious food and wine and took in some stunning scenery. The natural wonders of the world never fail to amaze me, and a sunset like the one we saw at Lake Geneva one evening is just enough to stop anyone in their tracks. It was absolutely stunning. I enjoyed many incredible seafood dishes too, for example the most amazing fish soup at a restaurant called Le Paillard. I also ate skate for...

The rain has come at the right time for the Farm, but definitely the wrong time for the Farm Shop. Our Butcher’s counter is famous for its fantastic BBQ meats and it is where a lot of our summer trade comes from. We remain optimistic though and I’m glad to see the weatherman reporting better news for the week ahead! The BBQs should be out in force over the weekend. The month kicked off with celebrating my Godson’s 18th Birthday – where on earth does the time go? Then we celebrated a friend’s wedding. Agricultural weddings are always fantastic, the...

I find it fascinating that this is my 40th year at Becketts! Stepping back to the 1st of January 1980 our largest tractor was a John Deere 3130, 2-wheel drive with 91 horsepower. Fast forward 40 years and we have just purchased a John Deere Still 6250R, 4-wheel drive with 250 horsepower, how times have changed! Over the last three years we have upgraded three of our tractors, I’m hoping this will see us set for the up and coming years. Earlier in the month I celebrated my birthday and what a celebration it was. I was taken to The...

It’s that time of year once again when the oil seed rape is in flower, and doesn’t it look fantastic. It’s good to see people enjoying taking photos with the fields in the background, even if one of them this year had some nudity to it! I’ve been enjoying cooking again and am building up a real repertoire of desserts. Since I discovered last month that a weed wiper does the same job as a blow torch (I’m told the art of improvisation really helps the best of chefs!!), I thought I’d try another famously caramelised pud and made Baked...

I’ve just returned from a few days in southern Portugal, in Tavira on the Algarve coast. It was a beautiful place to visit and I was there to celebrate the 70th birthday of a close friend. The celebrations were great. Why was I stood on a chair? I was singing happy birthday of course! We enjoyed a delicious roast suckling pig for dinner. You’ll know from previous instalments of ‘Simon’s News’ that I really like my cars. As you can see the hire company provided me with one of the best cars I’ve been lucky enough to drive to date!!!!...

Aren’t we having such glorious weather for February! On the farm the weather has brought everything forward. We’ve managed to start with fertilising the crops which we’d usually not do until mid-March, but we’re a whole month ahead with it. It’s brilliant news! I’m sat looking out of my office window at the Becketts Island and it’s just so lovely to see the daffodils coming through. It’s really starting to feel like spring. I’ve been enjoying cooking again, getting back into that. I really like seafood, so my posh version of fish and chips is a firm favourite. It’s all...

It’s been a couple of months now since I wrote my last update and whilst those two months have been filled with lots of fun and happiness (Christmas and New Year’s being among it all!) I have some sad news to share. Earlier this month, the community lost a local man, Jack Connolly in a tragic accident abroad. Jack was a friend of mine, a civil engineer in his 30’s, recently married with two wonderful children. He was a huge part of the Woodrush Rugby Club and many in the local community, including people among the team here at Becketts...

As we approach the end of October, our family Halloween Events are just around the corner. Each year, the Becketts Farm witches open up their Pumpkin Parlour and Halloween Kitchen for pumpkin carving and spooky baking sessions. It’s lots of fun and I’d really recommend booking your child or grandchild a place if you haven’t already. There are still a handful of spaces remaining. Earlier this month, I was asked to judge a ‘Chocolate Challenge’ team building session in the Orange Kitchen Cookery School. The teams are given two and a half hours to create a selection of chocolate truffles,...

Simon’s News – October 2018 As we approach the end of October, our family Halloween Events are in full swing. Each year, the Becketts Farm witches open up their Pumpkin Parlour and Halloween Kitchen for pumpkin carving and spooky baking sessions. It’s lots of fun and I’d really recommend booking your child or grandchild a place if you haven’t already. There are still a handful of spaces remaining. Earlier this month, I was asked to judge a ‘Chocolate Challenge’ team building session in the Orange Kitchen Cookery School. The teams are given two and a half hours to create a...

On the Farm this month we’ve drilled the winter wheat and plan to drill around 100 acres of beans later in October. I’ve enjoyed some delicious meals out this month, with the most memorable dish being this amazing soufflé. You will know from my previous blogs that I am a keen cook and as soufflé is notorious for being a technically difficult dish to make, I’ve got my sights set high on learning to make them. I also ate at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir in Oxfordshire last weekend, where the excellent food and service we experienced while dining was tainted...

As in the hymn, ‘all is safely gathered in’. Our harvest this year has been easy with the weather, so we combined the last of the beans this week, just before the end of August. We’re still busy on the farms as the cycle starts once more with next years’ oil seed rape already planted ready for harvest in 10 months’ time. An old photo of me emerged this month, which I thought I’d share here and encourage any compliments on this amazing perm that I had back in the day when perms were all the rage. Cooking has been...