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Our Friends in the North

By Rob Crossan

11 Months Ago

The most famous bass player in the world had only stopped being a Beatle for a few months when his early solo single Uncle Albert reached number one in the USA. To the probable confusion of Stateside listeners, he references a uniquely Lancastrian dish on the track when he sings the lines, ‘Admiral Halsey notified me. He had to have a berth or he couldn’t get to sea, I had another look
and I had a cup of tea and butter pie.’ McCartney was referring to a dish originating in Preston, just on the fringes of the Forest of Bowland region. “There were traditionally many Catholics in Preston and they couldn’t eat meat on Friday,” explains Katie Wilson, founder of Bowland And Bay who organise small scale food and drinks tours around some of the 150 plus artisan producers who live and work in this rural corner of the North West between Manchester and the Lake District. “So, to get around this requirement, the butchers of the town would fill the pie with dauphinoise style slices of potato and onion then add beef dripping to the pastry. It makes the pie turn the most glorious golden brown colour.

 

When I took a tour of London chefs to the region recently, they all loved the high end restaurant food but claimed the butter pie was the absolute highlight!” Katie, a 51 year old Lancashire native, has spent her whole career as a food buyer. Excited by the food scene she encountered in Eugene, Oregon after a year studying American History there in 1991, she returned to London to become a buyer for the Majestic Wines chain and then the National Trust, where she met numerous producers across Britain making everything from sustainably sourced chocolates to locally produced gins. Now back in the Forest of Bowland, Katie doesn’t hold back when it comes to extolling the gourmet virtues of her home. “The variety and provenance of the produce here and the amount of independent, entrepreneurial suppliers make the Forest of Bowland not just the most exciting gastronomic hotspot in the UK, but also on the planet,” Katie enthuses. “I was blown away by Oregon on an excitement level as a food buyer when I was there in the 1990s.

Meet the Producers

Lizzie Billington
Wild Fox Gin Distillery

What inspired you to start up the distillery in Bowland?
“My family are fourth generation farmers in the area and I suppose I’ve always been the black sheep! We’ve always considered gin to be the ‘after milking’ drink and we just got bored with all these mediocre new fashionable gins that required all kinds of flavoured tonics. We just wanted to make a gin that could be poured with plain tonic for people in a hurry. After 47 different attempts, we made something we loved in 2019 and it’s all been a journey from there!”

What makes the Forest of Bowland so special as a food producing hotspot?
“I think it’s just an innate passion that people in this area have. We’re so lucky to have such an abundance of produce and incredible land in the Forest of Bowland. We’ve always been makers and doers up here and I think there’s a real emphasis on quality over quantity. The land is so versatile too. For example, juniper berries generally prefer sandy soil but we’ve just managed to get our own juniper bushes into shape and they’ll be introduced into our gins soon.”

Apart from your own, what’s your favourite Bowland based product and why?
“I have to say Rosy Goat Ice Cream. My kids literally never touched another ice cream brand again after trying it for the first time! And I love the Blacksticks Blue cheese made by Butler’s. We’re totally separate enterprises but I love that the cheese they create comes from milk made by the cows on our farm!”
wildfoxdistillery.co.uk

Nicola Green
Rosy Goat Ice Cream

What inspired you to make goat’s milk ice cream in Bowland?
“My daughter, called Rosy, is one year old and we found out soon after she was born that she’s lactose intolerant. My husband Matt and I are dairy farmers but we started keeping goats too a few years back. We decided to try and use the milk to make some ice cream for Rosy to eat and it was a huge hit with my other kids too!”

What makes the Forest of Bowland so special as a food producing hotspot?
“It’s the support network, I think. When one of the producers here wins an award or gets recognition, it’s like we all win. And nobody treads on each other’s toes. There must be about five cheesemakers within a few miles of where I live but we’re all doing something slightly different and it all does feel very collaborative.”

Apart from your own, what’s your favourite Bowland based product and why?
“There’s a cheesemaker in Garstang called Dewlay who make absolutely brilliant traditional Lancashire cheese and lots of cheddars, too.
facebook.com/rosygoaticecream

Graham Kirkham
Mrs. Kirkham’s Cheese

Mrs. Kirkham’s cheese has been around since 1978 — what changes have you seen in the Bowland region since then?
“The food scene in Britain was pretty dull back then but the producers in Lancashire have always been here. I think the change has come through farmers’ markets and cookery TV shows becoming a big deal in the 1990s. It got everyone  interested in where their food comes from and the stories behind it.”

What makes the Forest of Bowland so special as a food producing hotspot?
“It’s not too commercial in the way that other rural counties like Somerset have become, I think.
And there’s such a rich history here to the producers. My grandmother made cheese her whole life
and passed down the skills to my mother who started Kirkham’s 44 years ago. Once there were over 200 unpasteurised cheese makers in Lancashire but when rationing came in, most either closed down or switched to cheddar as semi-soft cheese wasn’t considered suitable for travel.
So, we’re now the last raw milk cheese maker in the whole of Lancashire. It’s stories like that which really get people intrigued and passionate, I think.”

Apart from your own, what’s your favourite Bowland based product and why?
I absolutely love Goosnargh; it’s a really distinctive gin that’s made in Bowland that has such a fresh,
clear taste. I think we have the best vine tomatoes which I love to have on a toasted slice of sourdough that I buy from a bakers called Lovingly Artisan. For my money, they make the very best sourdough bread that you will ever eat anywhere in Britain.”
mrskirkhamscheese.co.uk