Established in 1885, Wilkin & Son have always shown entrepreneurial spirit. Starting out as farmers of soft fruit they diversified to jam making, going on to make marmalades, honey and fruit gin liquers. The company has now established a chain of tea rooms across Essex, the latest recently opened in Chelmsford. Scott Goodfellow explained to Ken Crowther why he thinks they are so popular.
Peter Seabrook speaks to Matthew Bent of Bents Garden and Home Centres about their restaurant offerings and winter food market. Plus hear how Peter is being foiled by foxes.
The annual celebration of the apple takes place throughout the UK in October. It’s a great opportunity to try different varieties of the fruit, enjoy local ciders or juices at one of the many events held across the country. Fran from Lubera has her countdown to National Apple Day.
The Wilkin family have been growing a number of different fruits at their Tiptree farm since the 1800s. Andrey Ivanov the Farm Manger met up with Ken Crowther in one of the polytunnels to talk about their method for growing a successful crop of raspberries for their preserves and gin liquer.
Over the past 20 years things have changed dramatically in the production of English sparkling and still wines. Lisa Greenwood and her husband moved to Shoreham in Kent , where they have approximately 10 acres of vines which were mainly planted in 2004. She told Ken Crowther about the amount of work involved in running the business.