Honey and Harvest 2017 at Deans Court
Now in its third year, Honey and Harvest is an absolute highlight of our calendar at Deans Court. An event dedicated to inspiration and creativity, on Thursday, October 5th we invited a group of photographers, stylists, writers and entrepreneurs to spend the day with us where they were treated to a variety of workshops, talks and activities including an ancient Druid orchard blessing, beekeeping, Italian cookery with Silvana de Soissons, an introduction to Sri Lankan spices with HariHari Curry, as well as a talk on tea and all its associated traditions around the world from Comins Tea. Our lunch was a vegetarian feast made almost entirely from the produce grown in our organic kitchen garden and displayed on a table beautifully decorated by The Linen Works. Featuring delicious and unusual salads, tarts, vegetarian curries, Druid bread, Italian delicacies, we finished with crumbles and cakes.
The day was a joy from start to finish, our aim, as always, was to help connect local creative and entrepreneurial people and provide everyone with a heap of inspiration. We couldn't be more thankful to all our contributors who dedicated their time, skill and knowledge to help create such an interesting and fun day. Below we've shared a few pictures from the day as well as links to recipes for all the food we enjoyed for lunch.
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Our Honey and Harvest day started in the orchard with an introduction to the Druids, which involved tasting their delicious, homemade foods, including hawthorn sauce, preserves, mead and gin; all made from natural produce they had foraged.
The Druids then lead us through an ancient orchard blessing, especially relevant as the day conicided with the harvest moon!
Onto the kitchen garden, Teresa, our head gardener talked to our guests about the permaculture scheme we've adopted and why a new 'no-dig' policiy is having such a dramatic effect on the growth and vitality of our kitchen garden and it's organic produce. Pictured below of kitchen garden captured by Anna, We Are Here Now
Moving back inside, Silvana de Soissons of The Foodie Bugle provided an Italian cookery masterclass. We learnt to make delicious traditional Lombardy dishes such as crostini con crema di zucchini (courgette cream toasts) and salsa verde di noci e prezzemolo (a salda verde with walnuts and parsley). You can find links to the recipes at the bottom of the page. Picture of Silvana captured by Monalogue.
Lunch followed in the dining room on a harvest themed table beautifully styled by The Linen Works.
A few of our vegetarian salads for lunch, captured by Monalogue. Recipes are available at the bottom of the page.
Arch Druid Ian Temple presented us with his homemade Awen bread to accompany lunch.
After lunch we regrouped in the hall where Michelle of Comins Tea (left) and Illana from HariHari Curry (right) talked to us about their niche products and the story behind their businesses.
No Honey and Harvest day is complete without a peek inside our apiary. Louise our beekeeper helped everyone into protective bee-suits and opened the hives, before sending each guest on their way with her homemade honey chocolate. A look inside our apiary as captured by Monalogue.
Our day ended with a tour of The Gate House (our 7 bedroom holiday property) and tea and cake in the cafe, where a few people also bought goodies from the home store. Pictures below captured by We Are Here Now and Monalogue.
Harvest Lunch Menu
Our lunch was a vegetarian feast made almost entirely from produce grown in our garden. Silvana de Soissons provided Italian delicacies and Arch Druid Ian Temple made us delicious loaves of Awen bread. Below is the menu and with links to the blogs we found certain recipes on.
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Kale & Apple Salad (vegan, GF)
Tomato and Parsley Tabbouleh (vegan)
Cabbage and Kohlrabi Salad with Peanut Dressing (vegan, GF))
Courgette and Passata Tart
Tomato and Green Pepper Tart
Beetroot and Goats Cheese Quiche
Fresh, Seasonal Green Salad (vegan, GF)
Druid Bread – made by Druid Denis Andrew
Beetroot Curry – made with HariHari Spice Kit
Zuppa di Pomodoro with Cannellini Beans, Chickpeas and Chilli – Silvana de Soissons
Roasted Peppers and Corns with Balsamic - Silvana de Soissons
Walnut Salsa Verde - Silvana de Soissons
Mascarpone, Ricotta, Herb and Flower Creams - Silvana de Soissons
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Vegan Apple Crumble (vegan, GF)
Pear, Ginger and Coconut Cake (vegan)
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To see further pictures from the day search #honeyandharvest on Instagram as well as taking a look at the following blog posts.
