Skip to main content

A Week on the Estate: Harvest, Hard Work & Red Heritage

This post is over 90 days old and may contain outdated information, links or references.

In the first full week of autumn, we briefly traded grey skies for a burst of high summer, with several days of high humidity and highs around 30C.

The conditions meant we had plenty to do out in the fields. We’ve been working hard on the last few fields of winter wheat on land currently in conversion to organic status. At Driby, we worked right through to the early hours of Wednesday, finishing off with some of the driest corn we’ve seen in a long time. If anyone knows how to conjure up a useful drop of rain, do let us know.

At the Hall, Jacqui Rhodes figured out what to do with the Walled Garden’s healthy crop of horseradish. Here’s the recipe, with a little inspiration from Mary Berry. It goes jolly nicely with some grass-fed Lincoln Red roast beef:

‘Peel and finely grate 3tbsp of fresh horseradish. Mix with 1tbsp white wine vinegar. Separately, whip ¼ pint of double cream until thick. Fold the cream into the horseradish mixture and add salt, pepper and caster sugar to taste. Garnish with chopped chives. Enjoy!’

Harvest 2021

Speaking of fiery roots, reader Jenny Bayley very kindly shared memories of how horseradish was prepared in her house:

‘My father used to dig it up from the roadside! He washed and peeled it then used my mother’s hand-mincer. He had to do it out in his shed with the doors wide open as it was so strong and stung our eyes. It was then stored in vinegar in a large old sweet jar, ready for use with sugar, cream from the top of the milk and possibly a little salt, [to go] with roast beef.’

If you can think of any other recipes or uses for horseradish, do let us know via the relevant post on our Facebook page. We’ve got loads of the stuff!

You may have explored our lovely corner of the Lincolnshire Wolds on two legs or two wheels. If you’re a horse rider, why not visit us on four legs? We’ve devised several riding routes of varying lengths for you to enjoy with your horse. We’ve also designated a horse-box parking verge and installed a watering trough on Ormsby Ring near St Leonard’s Church, South Ormsby.

We recommend the Tennyson Trek to get you started. At 6.4mi (10.5km), this pleasant ride is half on bridleways, half on quiet roads and all set in the beautiful, rolling countryside of Tennyson Country.  Whether you’re on two feet or four hooves, don’t forget to pre-book your well-earned drinks and snacks (including the Lincoln Red hot beef roll) from The Old School Tea & Coffee Shop.

watering station, horses and cattle

Finally, we’ve published two new blogs this week for your reading pleasure. The superior taste and quality of our grass-fed Lincoln Red beef generates plenty of interest in the history of the breed, how we care for our herd and much else besides. Click HERE to for a full and entertaining account of all things Red, from ancient heritage to life on the pasture, from flourishing wildlife to farm-to-fork provenance.

We’ve also published Chapter Four of ‘Granny’s at Brinkhill’ on our ‘My Days’ page HERE. This week, Cecile Stevenson recalls the friendly Italian prisoners-of-war who worked Lincolnshire’s farms in wartime, and describes a poignant peacetime encounter with ‘Lili Marlene’.

If you’d like to share your opinion on anything you’ve read here, we’d love to hear from you. Just head to our Facebook page HERE and comment beneath the post that linked you to this blog. As ever, thanks for your support.

TAKE A LOOK AROUND

Explore South Ormsby


Product added to basket