24 March 2008

Local Links

In a slight departure from the usual ramblings I've added a new category to the right of the page - Local Links. This lists some local food and drink places we use and visit, obviously not much use for most of you from outside of the local area but hopefully interesting all the same. The more observant may notice there are three breweries in the list! Sheffield used to have several large breweries all of which have now closed - which apart from Stones is no bad thing! We now have a thriving micro-brewery industry.

The Hillsborough Hotel is a local pub that brews its own beer on the premises - and very good it is too. We've had a couple of get togethers for the Allotment Association there. Anyone thinking of going, the Stannington Stout is amazing!

Kelham Island Brewery has a special place in my heart, it was the last major project of my degree before my finals (just a few years ago...) to produce a simulation of the brewery to see how they could increase production. Obviously I'd like to think I had a hand in the fact they built new premises next door after we found they couldn't increase production in the premises they were in... However, more importantly they do some very nice beer, Pale Rider being my favourite.

Bradfield Brewery is a relatively new find. Situated on the outskirts of Sheffield, about 10 minutes away from us but in the middle of the countryside, they do some more than passable beers and we're hoping to try the pub out soon.

Not just beer!
Probably the most regularly visited on the list is Coppice House Farm Shop. We probably go at least twice a month to stock up on meat. They raise their animals in the Valley just a few minutes from home, and just down the road from the allotment (plot no 1). They have a good philosophy in raising their animals, the meat is very good, and they also supply manure for the plot!

Our Cow Molly is in fact an ice cream maker on a local dairy farm. It is seriously good! I think we picked up our first pot at Coppice House Farm Shop, but on Easter Sunday we made it to the farm where it is produced - where the kids got to feed the new born lambs as well. Again the farm isn't far away from home and still officially in Sheffield, but was in the countryside.

Finally, picked up the South Yorkshire Good Food Directory from Our Cow Molly, which lists a whole variety of local suppliers of food, restaurants, farmer's markets, etc. Looking forward to trying out some of these in the book.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

what the heck is rockdust ? Me thinks you've spent too much time researching the breweries ! LOL

RobD said...

I think you'll find you can never spend enough time researching breweries! Rockdust is used for soil remineralisation - something quite useful on plot no 1 when it's not been worked for years and on a serious slope where most nutrients will have been washed down into the Valley below long ago.

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