Vegetable feast at national trust restaurant

A VERITABLE vegetable feast is being grown at a National Trust property in double-quick time.

Shallots to celeriac are being served up to diners at Hidcote Manor restaurant, fresh from the new vegetable and fruit garden.

And it's turning into a conveyor belt crop as the trust estimates it only takes 42 minutes to grow a meal – and wants to encourage more people to follow suit.

It takes six minutes to prepare the soil and plant seeds, two minutes of watering and bedding in, 25 minutes to tend and water and nine minutes to harvest and wash ready to put in the pan.

Versatile veg can also be grown in small spaces.

From 10am to 4pm, this Saturday to Wednesday and May 30 and 31, the Trust gardeners will demonstrate how radishes can revel in a window box, parsley will prosper in a pot and lettuce lives happily in an old watering can.

Seeds, tomato plants and pots will be given away in the grow-your-own drive.

Deputy head gardener John Rippin said: "This is the first year running the vegetable garden and the first port of call is the restaurant.

"But if there's any surplus we'll have an honesty box or other system for visitors and the profits will be ploughed back into the garden project.

"We've started off with onions, shallots and garlic, runner and French beans, salad crops including lettuce, rocket, coriander and parsley and more unusual things such as celeriac and pumpkins.

John added: "Hopefully this will give the impetus or encouragement for people to grow their own.

"It's a fantastic way for the whole family to spend time. and there's nothing more satisfying than cooking a meal made from home-grown vegetables."

The venture is part of the Trust's

Food Glorious Food campaign to show its overall commitment to sustainable food production on all land, and the use of quality, local, seasonal and sustainable food in its kitchens and 150 restaurants.