Woodhouse Farm News Blog

Tenbury Wells, just over the border from Herefordshire into Worcestershire, holds a mistletoe festival every year, with the mistletoe auctions at the heart of the events. The auctions have been running for over 100 years but the celebrations now include a National Mistletoe Day (endorsed by Parliament for the nearest Saturday to Dec. 1st annually) and a Druid procession and ceremony with the crowning of a Mistletoe Queen and Prince. The Mistletoe Foundation website writes that “Mistletoe is the manifestation of the magic in the land, that is why it grows in the places where the magic is strongest.” As we believe that much of the remaining mistletoe in the country grows in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, it stands to reason that “the magic” is strongest here too - come and stay and see! Click on any photo to take you to the Tenbury Mistletoe Festival website.

Visitors to The Wainhouse will be familiar with the little butterfly-shaped boxes containing one black and one white chocolate which we leave as part of their welcome basket, and those guests arriving at Christmas or Easter into any of the cottages know they will receive larger selections of these chocolates made and sold in Ledbury by Ben and Melissa Boyle. The cocoa beans for the Belgian chocolate buttons which Ben uses come from all over the world. He transforms them into a wide selection of chocolates and he and Mel are now planning to sell them online too. Click on any of the photos to take you to their website.

Some recent guests had an extremely enjoyable visit to Monkland Cheese Dairy where it is possible to watch cheeses actually being made from unpasteurised cows’ milk taken from one local herd. The milk is put into large vats, has bacterial cultures and rennet added and turns into curds and whey. After further processes of compressing, turning and moulding, the cheese is matured before being sold in the Dairy shop or one of three other  Mousetrap (Monkland Dairy) shops in Herefordshire and Ludlow. Visitors can tuck into a selection of the cheeses at the Dairy itself, with pickles and chutneys, and what cannot be eaten on site can be wrapped up and taken away. Monkland Dairy is particularly known for Little Hereford, made to a traditional Herefordshire recipe, and Monkland, which is bathed in brine. Click on any of the cheeses to take you to the website.

It’s that time of the year again - Harvest time -  and in Herefordshire, one of our biggest crops is apples. Many of them are turned into cider, by Bulmers, based in Hereford, Westons, at Much Marcle, and many other  cider companies. A small collection of parishes near Ledbury join together every Spring and Autumn to organise activities and events around  the traditions of apple growing and cider-making. Apart from buying unusual varieties of apple, you can taste and buy cider or even press your own apples with the Little Cider Press Company! There are walks and bike rides, shirehorse dray rides, demonstrations of cider-making and much more. Local pubs and restaurants will even be serving dishes using apples and cider. Click on the photos to take you to the Big Apple website.

Held at the Herefordshire Race Course, this year sees the fifth Food Festival.  There will be cookery demonstrations, including some by the Hairy Bikers, the current celebrity guests.The food pavilion will be providing space for over seventy independent food and drink producers from the area. You will almost certainly have heard of Bulmers, Westons Cider and Tyrells Crisps, all from Herefordshire, but there are many other small cider companies, breweries and several vineyards, Pixley Berries (sold at Waitrose), Jo Hilditch’s British Cassis, Neal’s Yard Creamery, chocolates, ice-creams, breads, hand-made puddings, preserves and fruit juices. There is now even  the Chase Distillery. Founded by William Chase who started Tyrells Crisps, it produces the country’s only potato vodka and excellent gin.Click on any photograph to take you to the appropriate website.

H.F.S.Morgan was the son of a Herefordshire clergyman, with a great interest in engineering and motor cars. He started the Morgan Motor Company in Malvern in 1912 and the three wheeler in the photograph was an early design. Today the company remains in the Morgan family and the factory is still in Malvern. Indeed, many of the early workshops are still in use. It is possible to  visit the factory for guided tours. Witnessing the traditional skills used by the craftspeople, (there are no robots) working with for example, ash wood and also the incorporation of cutting edge technology like the blown aluminium used originally in the aircraft industry was really interesting. Seeing the whole manufacturing process from start to finish was fascinating, as was the museum on site. Click on any of the photos to take you to the Morgan website.