Yeo Valley

Our WI (Women's Institute) group had its summer outing last week. We went to Yeo Valley, a local organic farm and dairy. It was baking hot and there were a number of older members present, but the staff couldn't have been nicer and more considerate. The farm is family owned and run and makes milk, yoghurt, butter, cream, and fruit compotes. It is occasionally open to the public and has a beautiful tea room where you can have coffee, tea or lunch.

We arrived at about 10.15 and sat on their terrace having coffee.

The view from the terrace was stunning, English countryside at its best.

We were then given a tour of the gardens. They farm and garden organically, which is quite labour intensive and means regular inspections from the Soil Association. 

They have lots of wonderful sculptures dotted around the gardens.

We then went back to the tea room for a cookery demonstration. We were shown how to make butter in the food processor, basil ice cream, soda bread and trout gravadlax. The trout came from Blagdon Lake which you can just see through the gate in the photograph above.

Then it was time for lunch. There was spinach and ricotta cannelloni, or a frittata for those of us who cannot eat wheat, with soda bread (or GF bread), a green salad and a tomato salad. For dessert there was the basil ice cream, which was surprisingly delicious, with local strawberries and shortbread. They also kept us plentifully supplied with water throughout the day.

After lunch we had a talk from one of the gardeners about making compost. It doesn't sound all that fun but was surprisingly interesting. They make it in bulk of course, but I got some tips for making it at home.

Then there was more tea and cake for those who still had the room. I bought a copy of their newly published cookery book and also a 'goody bag', which turned out to be a cool bag filled with their Yeo Valley produce.

And finally, even their loos were beautifully done, with some amusing pictures and decor.

This was the sign on the door of the ladies' toilet.

These newspaper cuttings were on the ceilings.

This cartoon was on the wall by the sinks.

We had a wonderful day, and weren't we lucky that the weather was on our side for once.