It has been a busy week as the farm prepared for CarFest.
A full moon over the glamping field
How wonderful must it be to combine your three favourite things and make up a festival that then raises millions for Children in Need. Well this is what Chris Evans achieved last year combining food, cars & music and year two promised to be bigger and better. It was amazing to see the farm transformed from operating as a farm to becoming the home for tens of thousands of people. I am not quite sure what the poor sheep will be eating this week after the festival-goers have trampled their dinner but I have to say that the event itself was just a wonderful experience. The atmosphere was so lovely and as the lady helping cash up, I can honestly say that I was shocked by how much people will spend on a simple burger, sausage or spit roast.
The tea vintage team get it so right
There were also loads and loads of mobiles with nice offers from people like The Collective yogurt, Belvoir drinks, Ryvita mobiles and Jamie Oliver’s Fabulous Feasts, but the one that grabbed my attention was Tea Vintage. They just captured the mood with fun music, clever table settings and a great offer.
After a full weekend of farm festivities, it was a relief to have the bank holiday and to depend on trusty friends to find the perfect place to relax this Monday. Mr Jones chose Smokehouse in Islington which is the new home of Neil Rankin. He comes with a long list of cool credentials, having worked through Chez Bruce, Pitt Cue Co. and John Salt hype but we were actually relieved that he had lost the whole lick-a-brick thing and just got on with what he does best. We were sad to see that the Bank Holiday delivered a Sunday menu only and I don’t feel that really showcased his best Green Egg/smokey offer, but everything we had made us feel that we would want to go back and try the full menu.
An impressive craft beer with over 20 in tap
And the drinks list was impressive with a huge amount of craft beers on tap as well as a whole host of others, and wines by the glass, carafe and bottle.
For a chilled out, laid back, tasty and fairly reasonable plate of food, try Smokehouse.
bellowblogs 
Oh dear … a fairly reasonable plate of food. Bit like sayings someone was …. nice.