Back to the Garden

An alternative to strip-lighting and counterfeit food: a locally based choice of very good groceries. At Barney, just off the A148, organic beef, lamb and a flock of garrulous French chickens are raised to supply Back to the Garden, its farm shop and Barn Restaurant. For Christmas, numbers swell with turkeys and geese. Every kind of vegetable is grown in the organic garden and most fruits too. Each morning Ron makes his way down the road to the store, piled with the day’s crop.

At about the same time Chris, Rob and Lee are warming the ovens in the kitchen and Paul is inspecting and laying out meat, local
pork and bacon he has cured himself, rabbit, wild game and venison from the estate woods, as well as steaks, ribs, joints of Aberdeen Angus-sired beef, and the lamb from the Barney pastures. Behind the delicatessen, Peter assesses the maturity of cheeses, something he has been doing for over twenty-five years; running his eye over the organic charcuterie and ham. Jean takes charge of the vegetables. Coffee will be on, the smell of fresh bread in the air.

At Back to the Garden you’ll find the beers of hard-working local brewers, pickles, conserves, jam, a range of organic wine for all pockets, fresh bread and pastries, artisan and wild food. Visit first thing any day (except Monday) for coffee and home-baked cake and the chances are you’ll meet one of the local producers dropping off goods.

In the evening there could be a private party going on in the oak- beamed barn, a book launch or an exhibition. Private events can
be catered for in the Barn or just about anywhere in Norfolk by our catering team. On Friday and Saturday evenings we now have candle lit fine-dining in the Barn Restaurant.

If you’re in a hurry, ring through an order. Pre-order through the website, or choose a gift to be sent on your behalf. If chopping and washing, grilling and baking are not what you want to do, buy a Back to the Garden ready meal. Embankment Beef with Yetman’s Stout, for example, named after the long-gone railway line, now covered in vetches, harebells and grass, where the sheep and cattle roam.

Like other farm shop owners, Delaval and Veronica Astley wanted to get back to farming on a human scale. Growing for friends and neighbours, knowing that the animals are not ending up under supermarket lights miles away, and that the vegetables are being tasted at their best, is a reward in itself. Being voted Best Farm Shop 2011/12 is another.

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Editorial by: Back to the Garden, LetheringsettFresh Local food, organic produce, cafe and restaurant in North NorfolkTel: 01263715996       www.back-to-the-garden.co.uk