TWO tenants on the National Trust’s Brockhampton estate near Bromyard were among the prize-winners in the National Trust Fine Farm Produce Awards. Now in their eighth year, the awards celebrate the breadth and quality of produce grown, reared or made on places owned or managed by the National Trust, including tenant farms, orchards and gardens.
Tanwood Products from Brockhampton Estate took its fifth consecutive award, making the enterprise seven-time winners since first entering in 2006. Janet and Les Rogers, who run the company, this year won over the judges with their strawberry jam.
Clive Goudercourt, Fine Farm Produce Awards judge describes the jam as: “Rich jam with plenty of whole strawberries – a taste of summer.”
Tanwood use fruit and vegetables from Brockhampton Estate and Hanbury Hall, near Droitwich to make a ra-nge of 14 jams and chutneys using local, traditional rec-ipes.
Mr Rogers explained: “We-’ve been making the strawberry jam for about five years using hand-picked strawberries from Hanbury Hall. Everything is done by hand, in small batches of 15 jars at a time, and we keep our ingredients good and basic which is why we get such a good end result.”
Warren Farm, also on Brockhampton Estate, won an award for its rapeseed oil, after entering for the first time.
Farmer James Hawkins said: “We’ve farmed our 520 acre farm for the past 11 years. Last year we decided to move into rapeseed oil production adding value to a crop produced on the farm. Winning this award recognises the quality product we produce on the estate and is the springboard to push it further afield.”
Rob Macklin, head of food and farming at the National Trust and chair of the judging panel, said: “This year’s award winning foods have really captured the essence of the special place where they have been grown, bred or produced. “It is our aim to really connect customers to where their food comes from and these awards are a great way for us to do this.”
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