When we heard that the Welbeck Farm Shop had been named the Farm Butcher of the Year in the FARMA awards 2015 we really thought that we needed to get in the car and drive over to Worksop and the Welbeck estate to check them out. It turned out to be a pretty good idea. Here is just a little flavour of what we saw and found.

They describe their aim better than I can on their website saying that;

The Welbeck Farm Shop is dedicated to showcasing the very best in regional produce. We aim to support the local farming community and minimise food miles wherever possible.

We adhere to the following sourcing policy:

1. Firstly we will source products from the Welbeck Estate
2. Secondly we will source products from the tenants of the Welbeck Estate
3. If the products cannot be found on the Welbeck Estate we will source from the surrounding counties of Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire.
4. We will look outside this sourcing zone only if products are not produced locally

Sounds like a pretty decent mission statement to me

 

Its quite hard to get distracted by all the great stuff that they have on sale in the shop. Around the back of the shop and the sides you have the counters filled with meats, cheeses, cakes, and pies. While in the middle of the shop table and benches are laden with produce such as these local seasonal strawberries. We bought a punnet of these to go with the meringue that I am just about to buy in the next paragraph 🙂

 

Boutique Aromatique at Welbeck Farm Shop

At the back of the shop you will find Boutique Aromatique described as “Nottinghamshire’s first independent fine chocolaterie, patisserie and sweet pantry.” They say that “Every recipe is handcrafted, using only the finest artisan chocolate and ingredients from around the world”.

The first thing that caught our eye were these magnificent looking Chocolate and Rasberry ‘Giant, Chewy’ Meringues. Apart from being mouth-wateringly attractive they were just £2.20 each. We snagged one pretty sharp into the basket. Later on that evening we were to chomp down into these with some of those fresh strawberries and a little bit of cream.

The pastries and cakes were also looking pretty good too, the most attractive to me were the Passion Fruit and Lime Meringue Tarts. I was loving the little meringue peaks rising up like little towers on some sort of magical cake castle. You can also find the Boutique online soon and follow them on Twitter too.

The Butchers Counter at The Welbeck Farm Shop

The Meat counter was filled with lots of great looking stuff. I had my eye on the sausages, but I managed to be restrained. I am going to save these for another visit when I know that I am going to need them. I know that you can put them in the freezer, but it just isn’t the same if you don’t eat them fresh.

I wasn’t that restrained though as I walked away with a small package of smoked and cured streaky bacon, and a small slice of black pudding. Neither were to make it into the pantry, the closest they got was the kitchen counter enroute to the cooker for a late breakfast plate (a tea time breakfast plate to be honest)

For that very late late brunch I was needing some bread for my toast, and what better to choose for the task than a slice of sourdough from Welbeck Bakery?

I picked up a small loaf for just £2, it was really good, tangy sour bread, with a chewy crust. Sliced fresh it is a bit too chewy for me, but toasted it was perfect for the job.

I loved looking at all the breads, their sourdough was something that I could only dream of baking at home.

To add to that late breakfast brunch I was adding in a pack of eggs. I liked that you could choose a selection from all the eggs on offer.

I had three brown eggs from Burford Brown hens and three white eggs from Arlington White hens. Nice!

Pie Counter

Pork Pie

The Pies and pork Pies were looking pretty delicious on the counter. I liked the way that the pies had little baked letters on them so that you could tell them apart. The Rabbit was looking pretty tempting but they only had big ones left and I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat it all.

Instead, just because I could, I had a small pork pie, which was consumed pretty quickly when I got home.

The Pork Pie didn’t have as much jelly in it as I like, but the meat flavour were pure and good, and the pastry casing was not at all greasy, not heavy and was a pretty light bite. A good solid effort of a Pork Pie

Sausage Roll straight from the oven

There was a definite bonus moment as a tray of freshly baked sausage rolls arrived as we were looking at the pies. Total distraction ensued and we bought two to eat straight away.

It was pretty good, nice flaky pastry and a light flavoured meat filling that was still all moist from the oven. I will be honest and say that I kind of stuffed this down as opposed to savouring it!

The Cheese Counter

They also have a pretty good cheese counter at the shop featuring quite boldly the excellent Stitchelton made in the dairy. I bought a couple of bits of two of my favourite cheeses; a slice of Comte, and a slice of Ogleshield. I really liked the fact that they really did not mind that I was just buying basically a small sliver of 100g, no fuss and a great big smile from the cheese man.

So all in all a pretty good reccy mission to the Farm Shop. I can see many a weekend drive coming up over to the estate!

 

I’ll just leave you to with a few more  pictures to whet your appetite and give you thoughts to ponder 🙂

Produce Counter

The Meat Counter

More Meringue!

 

You know what there really is too much good stuff on offer here at the Welbeck Farm shop, you really just need to drive over and take a look for yourself!

Located at

Welbeck Farm Shop
Welbeck
Worksop
Nottinghamshire
S80 3LW

Tel: 01909 478725
<!– Fax: 01909 478725
–> Email: farmshop@welbeck.co.uk

Follow them on Twitter and Check them out on Facebook too