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Following on from my first post on our June trip to the Dordogne…
Every single morning during the holiday we went to a market to buy ingredients for our meals that day. I know this is probably unsustainable for real everyday life, but gosh I loved it.
I didn’t have to meal plan ahead, I didn’t ever once write a shopping list, we just turned up and made up dinner based on what we fancied. As you will see the first few days of our holiday the weather was minging – so much rain and grey skies!
This (above) was the little market in nearby Chateau l’Eveque, about 3 or 4 stalls, we went to the veg man and bought amongst other things some incredible wrinkly tomatoes (sorry no pictures – was trying to avoid getting soaked – lots more food pictures to come later though I promise!), a punnet of fragrant strawberries and a melon.
I’m not a melon fan, but in France I adore melons they are so much tastier – our experience in the Loire was when you went to buy a melon from a market stall they would ask you if it was to eat today or later, and find you the best one.
We also went to the bakery for breakfast and got croissants (for me) and pain au chocolat (for Mr Rigg) – these rated quite highly in the taste test. We determined to find out the best bakery in the area for breakfast goodies and we found our favourite – details below.
We are spending the weekend in the Cotswolds with my family, and popped into The Organic Farm Shop. On the road in there is a wooden area with a lovely family of piggies rooting about beneath the trees.
After calling to them, two little piglets trotted over to investigate – they reminded me of the two pigs in Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Pigling Bland.
They were so gorgeous with their pink snouts smudged with rust coloured earth, their cheerful grunting and inquisitive eyes.
But they soon got bored and pottered off to find good patches of soil to snuffle in.
These two were sat in a dip, one sprawled out, the other on its haunches, enjoying the afternoon sun and licking each other – how I wish I had a better zoom at times like these!
A last parting picture of one of these lovely piggies…
Yesterday we took a trip to Little Heath Farm in search of a delicious cut of pork for our lunch today. We don’t normally do the whole Sunday Lunch thing, but every so often it seems like a nice thing to do. Today is one of those days, and we are working on the crackling as I write this post!
We’d bought our pork, some of their own grown potatoes (gently roasting in goose fat), and a couple of apples from a local orchard, and were on our way back to the car when two small piggy faces appeared from behind the barn. On further investigation, we discovered two young pigs rooting around on a patch of scrubby grass, clearly on the wrong side of their fence.
Sue came out of the farm house with a big smile and a wave, and we pointed out the escapees. Sue and her husband have managed to keep them in their field for the past four days without them finding a hole in the hedge, which is a record. Recently they were found on their way down the lane towards the local pub and beyond the road – eek! Sue has grave concerns for the local golf course should the pigs venture further…
As we left, having ordered our Christmas turkey – Trevor (the big daddy turkey) and “his girls” are housed in a barn looking towards the farm shop – Sue was seen disappearing behind the barn with a stick in hand. We have bought all our pork and beef from Little Heath Farm for over a year now, and have never before seen the pigs that their raise and who end up in our sausages. It was a truly special occasion to see the happy pigs that Sue and her family breed, care for, and eventually slaughter.
Little Heath Farm Shop :: Dunham Massey ::
Eat the Earth 
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