Monday 2 September 2013

Down On The Farm


Chyvarloe Farm is situated in Gunwalloe near Helston. It is part of the Penrose Estate, owned by The National Trust. Mr and Mrs C run the farm, and their daily adventures are documented on their fabulous Facebook page. They sell meat and vegetables direct from the farm and other local suppliers, by way of a home delivery system. Their own recipie sausages have won awards, and they are also the proud owners of Boris, reputedly the biggest pig in the UK. They are clearly a young couple who have a shared vision, and work hard to realise a dream of working the land and providing great quality fare to their customers.

I have lived vicariously through their tales of farm life. After all, most of us these days dream of a return to the land in some form or another, don't we? That is in no way meant to trivialise the hard work, comittment and drive that Mr and Mrs C obviously posess. I just admire them from afar. Plain and simple.

Yesterday was Chyvarloe Farm's annual open day event, and me and Mum took Olly and my nephew Billy along (but really they took me). There was lots to see and do, including wood working, story telling, tractor rides, baling demonstrations, a craft and produce market, a nature trail, lots of good things to eat and of course the farm animals themselves. We all really enjoyed exploring the farm. The boys loved the farm trail, and all of the machinery too.

I think all of us were agreed that Godfrey the Turkey was our favourite. Mrs C showed my nephew how to talk to him. I love Turkeys, and quickly fell in love with Godfrey. He seemed to be in his element - strutting and preening around the farmyard. I could have taken him home. Olly loved Wilma the pig, beacuse she came to the fence when he called her name, and loved a good scratch and fuss.


It was lovely to see so many people turn out in support, and there were smiles all round. Cornwall is famous for it's beaches, but it is a mainly rural community and is well known for the quality of it's local produce. There is a real push in Cornwall to "buy local" so that the local economy can thrive and benefit.


I admit that I don't buy locally as much as I should. But after visiting Chyvarloe, I have decided to change the way I shop. I intend to order a meat box from Mr and Mrs C this week. After all, it would be rather hypocritical of me to visit and indulge and not also support, don't you think? And frankly anything would be better than the weekly dispiriting visit to my local Tesco - expensive, poorly stocked and depressingly generic.



Do any of you make a concerted effort to support your local economy? I'd be interested to know how and what and when.

Leanne xx

7 comments:

  1. This looks like great place to visit. I try to support the local economy by buying food and other items from local growers and vendors, as opposed to the supermarket. But around here, it's actually more expensive most of the time to buy local. I wish it weren't because I would love to do it more, but I have to be mindful of my budget, which is unfortunate for everyone, really.

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  2. What a great place, Leanne! I am really bad to be honest and end up buying all of our meat from Tesco and mainly because of convenience and cost! I would love to support our local community, I would certainly love to stop shopping at these supermarket chains who tempt us with offers that are not even offers! I have started to grow my own veg, only on a small scale, but hoping to get bigger each year, and eventually, when money is less tight, I hope to find a good butcher/farm where I can purchase my meat from. Let us know how your meat box turns out, and if you can make the change, definitely do it! I know when I get the first opportunity, I will do it too! :)

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  3. A lovely post, and a very inspirational place. How wonderful that people put the time and effort into places like this. I don't buy local things much, because there's not much available. I do buy eggs directly from farm/garden gates, but otherwise there isn't a great choice.

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  4. What a fantastic place - it looks like a lovely day out for all ages! I know Mr P and I would love it. Not much to buy in London that is locally grown, although I always try to buy as much English/British as possible and support small local businesses like our butcher! x

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  5. Fabulous! What a great day out, this sort of thing is right up my alley. We are gradually making more of an effort to buy locally and seasonally. Nothing annoys me more than seeing oranges from South America in our local supermarket when we have enough to feed our own country but choose to export ours because there is more money in it that way.... Our local farmers work SO hard and I like to support them as much as possible. But of course it is more expensive, especially for the organic stuff, and more often than not convenience dictates a shop at the local Supermarket. Ideally we have more success in the veggie patch this year compared to last and can eat a fair bit from the garden too. Mel x

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  6. Interesting post. Local product from local farmer must be supported. Really inspiring for me. In here local farmers usually have a weak position, especially small land owner- farmers. Almost of them life in a poor condition. Sometimes they produce high quality products, but don't get high value to pay their products. I'm really sorry about the condition.

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  7. What a great day!
    We are heading to the Lizard on holiday shortly, i wonder if the farm opens at other times??? the tractor in the last set of pictures (David Brown Selectamatic 990) is the same model that my son is renovating!

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