A little trip into the countryside
I managed to spend all of yesterday behind the screen, beating my head against the table trying to get a tedious, repetitive job done; so today I decided to at least pop out for a couple of hours and get some fresh air as a break from the job (which is nearly done- Yey!).
Destination: D. Sansom & Sons' Nine Wells Watercress Farm, Whitwell, Herts, SG4 8JP.
Don't ask me why, but the name came up in conversation a couple of days ago, and with Watercress being damn expensive in the supermarkets, and me with a couple of hours to waste, I thought I'd 'pop' over there for a bit of a gander... and it's amazing. The farm nestles between the hills behind Luton airport, but somehow manages to escape pretty much all noise from the planes. The beds are fed by (surprise surprise) nine wells, and the brothers who run the place still do everything the old-fashioned way - sliced and bundled by hand; I'm not sure much has changed in the last 100 years. It's all sold direct from their barn, alongside a variety of other vegetables, which I assume are also local (I forgot to ask). What was initially a bit strange was the constant flow of people who are travelling out into the middle of nowhere, navigating all those windy little lanes, tractors and horse riders (all of which brings travel speeds right the way down to London levels) to pop into the barn by the beds and grab some of this stuff by hand - but I can see why. Their product is absolutely brilliant. The demand for Watercress has one up massively recently (ah... another 'super-food') but this stuff just seems to be a step up (so far - we've only nibbled one bundle :)).
Anyway - work calls again, but if you ever fancy a bit of a weird trip back in time, tradition and even partly in language, drop by if you're passing. They do some pretty mean little pumpkin/squashes... Next time I'm around there, I'll investigate the rest of their stock :).View Larger Map
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