For the second year running, we invited students aged 10 – 11 years from two local schools to come to our establishment to participate in a fun-filled day.

The children arrived, ready and willing, with their mother’s favourite aprons on. We took the children down to our orchard and talked about apples, plums and other fruits and berries. Most of the children either had an apple tree or knew someone that had one.

Then it was off to the kitchen to make pies, crumbles and tarts. I was worried about letting a group of children loose with flour in our clean kitchen so we broke the group into more manageable groups. Still, they didn’t let me down: they managed to cover every square inch of the kitchen with their ingredients! The reward for me was seeing them enjoy mixing the ingredients and understanding about the flavours.

All the pies, crumbles and tarts were popped in the oven and we adjourned into one of our dining rooms which we had turned into a classroom with a flip chart and a selection of British and worldwide fruits.

We asked the children about their favourite and least favourite meals. We then educated the children about the food chain and the importance of using fresh produce. Before the day started most of the children had turned their noses up at the thought of eating apples and plums. Seeing the children tuck into what they had made was the best part of my day – and also gave us our first ten minutes of silence. The children left with happy smiles and information packs with all their recipes and asked when could they come back.

I am happy to put something back into our local community and I couldn’t think of a better reason than supporting British food. I would like to thank Pauline Parker, our MD for her support. We look forward to taking part in British Food Fortnight again.