Hop into Spring with Kingfisher

April 2023 | Issue 34

Spring has sprung…

Finally, with the changing of the clocks and the birds singing we are rewarded with better, brighter days. Easter is just around the corner and the greenhouse and garden call. Our seed shed has packets of seeds from Antirrhinums and Beetroot to Turnips and Wallflowers! We have ample stock of peat free compost and seasonal plants to fill your pots with. After all that hard work why not treat yourself to a Hot X Bun or two!

We look further ahead to May, a busy month with lots of bank holiday and the Coronation of King Charles III. Abinger Hammer’s calendar is filling with the Teddy Bear’s Picnic, Monday 1 May and Village Cricket fun, Monday 8 May.

We will be celebrating ‘Surrey Day’ on Saturday, 13 May, with our ‘Day out in Surrey’, along with a new ‘Kingfisher Kid’s’ competition too! Save the date!

Our doors will be closed on Easter Sunday. The Kingfisher Team wishes you a very Happy Easter!

SHOP EASTER ONLINE

Kickstart April…

With winter crops naturally finishing for their season, there are a few little surprises with a selection of mediterranean vegetables available to tide us over until the spring crops are ready.

Experiment with new flavours…

Puntarella
Purple Sprouting
Beetroot
Isle of Wight Tomatoes
Wild Garlic
Jersey Royal Potatoes
Fresh Herbs

We are spoilt for the choice of flowers in April…

Lilly of the Valley
Stocks
Ranunculi
Lilac
Hyacinth
Tulips
Scilla
Blossom

SPRING PRODUCE ONLINE

If the Easter Bunny is running out of ideas …

Here is a selection of delicious treats from our Farm Shop perfect for Easter. Why not fully embrace spring and pick up a little something for your Easter Sunday table…

EASTER TREATS

Watercress Pate…

A watercress recipe from our collection of favourites. This is a wonderfully simple recipe, but definently not one to be underestimated. It packs it’s punch with flavour, is beautifully green in colour and can work as a dip as well.

If you have a favourite watercress recipe, we would love to know. Email it to us and we can share it on our website along with all the other recipes we already share.

You will need:

2 Bunches Kingfisher Watercress
100g cottage cheese
50g cream cheese
2 Spring Onions
2 Tbsp Wholegrain Mustard
pinch of salt & pepper

FOLLOW THE RECIPE

Our Surrey Day Celebrations…

When: Saturday 13th May 2023 | Where: Kingfisher Farm & Flower Shop |

Time: 10am - 2pm

Save the date! As part of Surrey Day, we are bringing together some of the best local producers around, for a day of tastings and tours! Come along to pick up a few goodies and to get to know some of your local businesses.

We are opening up the Watercress Beds for tours… find out how we grow the crop from seed to shelf and learn a little Kingfisher history. The tours will last approximately half an hour and we invite you to our ‘Day Out in Surrey’ celebrations afterwards. 100% of your £5.00 spent on the tour, will be donated to RABI - a national charity that provides local support to the farming community across England and Wales.

Keep your eyes peeled for more announcements and updates about Surrey Day!

Find out what else is happening near you on Surrey Day.

FIND OUT MORE

Kingfisher Kids Competition for Surrey day …

We are calling on all the little Kingfishers to get their pencils, paints and brushes out to create a beautiful piece of art for us. Read on for all the details…..

The Newt In Somerset have opened their pantry doors! Their beautifully packaged products once exclusive to their visitors and guests in Somerset are now available to you in our farm shop. Perfect for an Easter tea are these two curds.

Hawkens Gingerbread Mini Men … The cutest gingerbread made by hand in Grantham, home of Gingerbread baking! They add a little bit of fun to the tea time plate.

Meet the Local Producer…

Silent Pool….the obvious association for many is gin! But the first business to make this part of the Surrey Hills home was the multi award winning Albury Vineyard.

The first vines were planted on the slopes of the north downs in May 2009. A lot of patience and three years later, 2012, Albury Vineyard had wine for sale! Silent Pool Rose, fit for the Queen. What a wonderful accolade to have their first wine chosen to be served on the Royal Barge for Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

This family business is the dream come true for Nick Wenman.

“I had always dreamt of owning a vineyard. When I was at school, I won the school economics prize and you could choose the book the headmaster awarded you on speech day – I chose the “World Atlas of Wines and Spirits” which he wasn’t very happy about!

I was lucky to retire from the IT business early and decided to follow my dream just as great English wines were starting to become available.”

Nick not only chose to grow the vines organically but to follow the biodynamic practice of growing. “Biodynamics is an extension to organics where we try to get harmony between the earth, the plants and the cosmos. It’s difficult to explain scientifically and some folk think we are crazy but many of the great vineyards and wines of the world are biodynamic including Crystal from Louis Roederer and Domaine de la Romanée Conti. For us it gives our wines a special character which is unique to our location on the south facing North Downs in Albury.”

The weather is by far the biggest influence on the business, with yields varying enormously depending on the season. The changing weather patterns is a mixed blessing; the warming climate is generally positive for growing vines but the ever frequent extreme weather conditions can cause real problems.

As a business that was born in the Surrey Hills, Albury Vineyard is very much focused on a local market in Surrey and South East London. Ever since the vineyard released their first wine in 2012, Kingfisher Farm Shop has been a customer. The still rosé – Silent Pool Rosé – which Barrie delighted in selling to all the local customers. He was often heard relaying the wines fame, having been served on the Queens Barge! It soon sold out!

The vineyard is frequented by lots of local visitors for Tours and Tastings and other events. They are also certified organic, which is unusual in the UK, and as a result quite a few top restaurants list their wines including Sorrel in Dorking.

‘Vineyards of the Surrey Hills’ is a collaboration of 5 independent wine producers located in the Surrey Hills, of which Albury Vineyard is one. It has really helped them establishing the Surrey Hills as a premium English wine region. One of the benefits of this collaboration has been the huge increase in visitors from London and further afield. How lucky are we to have this on our doorstep!

Our final question to Nick… what does the future bring for Albury Vineyard?

“We will remain a local family business offering premium wines and visitor experiences. We have planted some more vines and will soon be producing more than 30,000 bottles each year, but our business focus will remain the same and we have no plans to export or sell to retail chains.

Environmental sustainability is a key focus for us and we are opening a new Wildlife Walk which will be open to the public later this year. I often say that the vineyard is a generational business and I’m lucky that my daughter Lucy is fully involved and will one day take over from me.”

KINGFISHERFARMSHOP.COM

Photography Credit: @chloe.hardwick