We also have a few unusual gifts too and we will keep you posted on Southlands Farm “Parma Ham” coming soon!

For those of you who are local we are having our first “FARM SHOP OPEN DAY” on SUNDAY 11th of DECEMBER OPEN 10am till 4 pm. All very welcome… Come and see where we are ,whats in the freezers and to make your trip feel festive a complimentary mince pie or or two!

Hopefully see you then,
Charles and Dee

With the wind bashing our trees recently I have had rather a lot of fallen apples to deal with. Now the weather is getting colder we have an excuse to make all those delicious cozy puddings.One of our family favourites is Tarte Tatin. It is the perfect way to use your apples and tastes delicious too!
This classic French tart is made in an ovenproof frying pan, you can purchase a Tarte Tatin dish from cookware shops, not cheap but I use mine time and time again,

Ingredients;
6 large eating apples
4 oz/125g butter
4oz/125g granulated sugar
8oz/225g puff pastry
Oven 400F, 200C, Gas 4

Firstly melt the butter and sugar together in the pan,
Peel, quarter and core the apples,
Arrange in concentric circles around the outside of the pan, on top of the melted butter and sugar.Continue filling the middle with apple this time going the other way.Repeat until the whole pan is filled in.This is what makes the pretty pattern of apples.
Place the pan over a high heat until the mixture begins to caramelise.This will take apron 30 mins.When the bottom of the apples have begun to caramelise (apron 20 mins) carefully turn each one over so the other side also goes a rich golden colour.
Remove from heat and cool a little.
Roll out pastry into a circle apron 1 inch bigger than your pan, the thickness of a 2p coin.
Place over the top of the apples and tuck in any extra pastry down the sides of the pan/dish.
Prick the top 3-4 times with a fork,
Cook for 15 to 20 mins until brown and crisp.
Leave to rest for a few mins then loosen around the edges with a flat knife and turn upside down onto a flat plate.
If the odd apple sticks just lift out the pan and replace on the tart.
Serve with a dollop of thick double cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
(p.s. DID YOU KNOW ….. We are now stockists of the delicious Doddington’s Ice cream in our NEW FARM SHOP! I find their hint of ginger or honey ice cream goes really well with this recipe. You can also substitute the apples for pears. )

Harvesting the most yummy strawbugs as we call them! Now making jam. Just strawberries, lemon juice and sugar so satisfying to think this will see us through those dark winter mornings with lashings of butter on hot toast!
Mummy’s Strawberry Jam!
(Forgotten skills of cooking by Darina Allen)
1.8kg(4 Lb)unblemished strawberries
Juice of 2 lemons
1.6kg(3 1/2 Lb) granulated sugar
Put the strawberries and lemon juice in a stainless-steel saucepan and cover with the sugar.Leave overnight.Next day, bring to the boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Mash some of the berries with a potato masher. Continue to boil until it reaches a set – about 30 minutes. Pour into sterilised jars, (I pop mine in the Aga warming oven and boil the lids in a pan) Cover immediately and store in a cool dry and dark cupboard.

Just finished a second batch.Now we have about 30 jars, labeled by Rosie ready to go in our shop.

Mum was so impressed with it that she had to have one, so I bought her the last one, and she took such delight in toppling huge thistles with one precise blow that she decided that it would make a very good Christmas present for everyone, so she bought a dozen direct from Ralph Martindale who make all sorts of tools, forks, hoes and machetes of every type for every sort of plantation all over the world, altogether fascinating, well worth a poke around the website if you have a spare moment.