New from Coldharbour!  Its been very busy in the Kitchens up here on the Farm over the last few months. We are delighted to announce the launch of a new range of Jams and Jellies.

These are not ordinary – they are made only from fruit grown on the Farm..

When I purchased the Farm in 2005 the cottage garden was a bit overgrown but there were a number of fruit trees so it was clear that in days past the farmer and his wife grew a lot of fruit for their own requirements. So about 18 months ago we decided to build a fruit cage and bought the fruit trees back to life. We have had a bumper crop.

So we have a limited amount of the following.

                                                                 Bramble Jam

                                                                Redcurrant Jelly

                                                                Damson Jam

                                                                Blackcurrant Jam

 All these are nicely packed in 8oz jars with Coldharbour labels – they make an ideal Christmas gift or simple enjoy them yourself.

They are priced at £3.50 and we can post them anywhere. (p&p extra – depends where we have to send them)

 If you would like to buy some of these please fill in the contact form below and we will contact you regarding payment. (Credit cards accepted)

This year in the Cottage Garden we have some lovely vegetables. Last night we pulled the first batch of fresh carrots and beetroots. On the Farm many years ago the cottage was occupied by an old farmer, his wife and children. They would have had a vegetable patch on the Farm and grown many types of vegetables. These were picked then stored or used in pickles and saved for the winter months. For our guests who come and stay on the Farm we try and recreate the story of the Farmer and his family and how they used to live. Many of you often say, this is how grandmother used to make or do things and its great to remember the old ways.

For the carrots we have stored them in a dry box layered with peat. For the base we put down some newspaper, then a layer of peat, then the carrots (not touching each other) and then covered with peat again and so on. We are told that these will keep for months like this if stored in cool, dry place. The beetroot is being boiled, mixed in vinegar and stored in big old glass jars for winter salads. Can’t wait !

Life on the farm will never be the same again! The ‘farmer’ got married on June 1st and we had a lovely day. The weather was hot and sunny with beautiful blue skies. We got married in a chapel in Tunbridge Wells and had a reception for family and friends at  a hotel nearby.

I often refer to the Farmer and his wife who used to live in Coldharbour Cottage with his family. Much of the information found in the cottage, the rooms, this website, the puzzles and quiz for guests and the photos relate to what farm life used to be like back in the 1800s. A wedding in the family would have been a joyful occasion often celebrated by all the local people in the village. The family would have walked to Stone Church for the wedding ceremony and returned across the fields to the cottage to celebrate on the Farm. One can imagine the children running in the fields, the farmers wife arranging a big picnic on the cottage lawns with lots of homemade food and drink for the guests. It would have been a fun day.

A walk in the woods. Bluebells are always fascinating to photograph because of the colour contrast. Just last week I walked through a small area of woodland which we have as part of Coldharbour Farm and it was covered in blue. The sun shone through the trees to make lovely picture. With so little rain in recent weeks it is remarkable that the flowers still come through every year. I always look forward to May and the Bluebells – a special time of year.

In the old kitchen we have a slate tile which people use for shopping lists and messages. Slate roofs were a commonly feature in the old days particularly on barns in Kent & Sussex. With slate tiles a pitch of a roof can be less than the more traditional peg tiles because the rain water could not get underneath.  It also meant the old farmers could build larger and cheaper agricultural structures  for their farm animals. An example of this is on one of the outshuts adjacent to the old Barn at Coldharbour.

Just recently some guests who stayed in the cottage drew this lovely picture of a cockerel. This bird would definitely have been a feature on the old farm roaming about in the yard, picking up the scraps and perhaps sitting on a high perch keeping watch over the hens during the day. Today, we do have some chicken on the Farm and many of you have tasted the delicious fresh eggs for breakfast.  But we don’t have a cockerel – not sure if the guests would appreciate a 4am wakeup call whilst they are on holiday !

The last few days have seen the sun shine and the temperatures nice and warm on the Farm. The main activity now for the Farmers is the lambing with some tiny lambs being born in the Old Barn. With all this going on its easy to miss the colourful blossom on the trees in the cottage garden. This is a very old cherry tree with both pink and white blossom. At some stage we think another cherry tree was grafted onto the main trunk as we get two types of cherries from this tree. So it’s a bit unique.

It’s a wonderful time of year to watch the daffodils flower and all the plants spring into life. The clocks going back and the evenings now lighter the old farmer and his wife would be busy preparing the fruit and vegetable patches for the coming season. Life would have been very busy on the Farm for the whole family – and I would think, a happy one too.

As the nights draw in and the clocks go back it is time for general maintenance on the Farm. Many years ago a family used to live in the cottage, the farmer, his wife and their children. Their way of life was to be self sufficient as much as possible. They grew their own crops, tended the stock and were kept busy with household chores in between. We have tried to re create this at Coldharbour and its hard work ! In the evenings the Farmer would have been in his workshop with a lantern for light and worked until he was tired on small projects which would save him and his family money. The signs would have been made from wood stripped from trees in the forest and etched out using a chisel. You need a skilled hand to do this so I opted for some black paint and a steady hand.!  All good fun. We always encourage guests who stay on the farm to help out doing chores and to get a feel of life in the ‘old days’.

Life on the Farm is very busy. The pigs need feeding as do the chickens, the sheep need looking after everyday and we have been replacing some of the old fencing to make it easier to manage the fields. Back in the old days when the farmer and his wife used to run the farm on their own, they had some cattle too ! – how did they manage ?  Lavender needs picking and stuffed in small pouches to perfume the cottage, fruit had to be picked, damsons, quince and loads of blackberries are now in season. All this then had to made into pies, chutneys and jams ready for the coming winter. And on top of that, they had to bring up a young family and keep them active as well. The children would have had old slate to draw and write upon and this picture seems to some up the busy summer at Coldharbour. A young guest stayed in the cottage earlier in the year and drew this on the slate board in the kitchen.

For the first year since I arrived we have had a bumper crop of cherries! There are 2 cherry trees in the old cottage garden amongst the damsons, quince and pear trees. This year the birds don’t seem to have cleaned them out which means that the guests in the cottage have managed to taste some real fresh English cherries. The old farmer and his wife in years past would have relied on the fruit collected from these trees and particularly the blackberries (coming soon) to make jam, chutneys and cakes. There are many varieties of cherry and we have 2 on the Farm. They are RAINER cherries which are large, sweet and have partially yellow/golden skins (see photo of current crop!)  They generally come later in the season. We also have dark red cherries which we think are AMARELLE and they don’t taste so good. These are harder and used mainly for cooking. So its interesting to learn that what was planted many years ago was done so with care and good planning. The sweeter cherries were eaten during the summer and the others for cooking or even jam and stored no doubt in jars in the kitchen larder.

The old farmer and his wife who used to live in the cottage would have planted Lavender. Not only is it an attracted flower it was very fashionable amongst the ladies. So it was one of the many tasks the housewife would have had to do.  Fresh lavender was dried and put into muslin bags and hung up possibly in the kitchen. It was used for wardrobes, to wash walls and furniture and for lavender bags which were stuffed between sheets in linen presses. The lovely aroma was a welcome one to those used to smokey filled rooms due to the cooking fires. It was also used to repel insects, treat lice, to perfume potpourri, in furniture polish and soap, as well as a cure-all in household medicine cupboards. You can see some lavender hanging high up in the roof of the cottage kitchen.