Meet Andrea - one of June's Prize Draw Winners and find out more about her soft fruit PYO business and nearby Thornton Abbey...
Andrea from The Abbots Garden receiving
her prize. Andrea lives very close to the ruins of Thornton Abbey and told us all about The Abbots Garden - her very own organic soft fruit PYO business. Carlina and I recently visited Andrea to award her June's prize of a £50.00 voucher for a meal in any restaurant of her choice. It 's Andrea's wedding aniversary at the end of August and Andrea is planning to use her voucher to celebrate. Whilst we were there Andrea kindly offered us a cup of tea and told us all about Thornton Abbey and her PYO business. You will find more information and photos about our visit below... |
Introduction Andrea is a friendly lady and owns "The Abbots Garden" , her business that markets the soft fruits, vegetables and fresh organic lamb from Abbey Farm. The Abbots Garden is located next to Thornton Abbey which can be found between the villages of Thornton Curtis and East Halton, near Goxhill in North Lincolnshire. Carlina and I enjoyed a very pleasant Sunday morning meeting Andrea and discovering the ruins of nearby Thornton Abbey. It never ceases to amaze me what you can find on your own doorstep if you only take the time and trouble to look. The Abbots Garden is the marketing organisation of J.G. Farrow & Co. which was created to market the soft fruits, vegetables and lamb produced at Abbey Farm, Thornton Abbey.
Andrea receiving her prize of a £50.00 restaurant voucher. The Pick Your Own business started in 1989 with mainly strawberries, but also a few raspberries, and has developed significantly from its early days. The complete list of produce includes a seasonal range of potatoes, asparagus, sweetcorn, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants, home produced honey, home made jams and new this year to compliment our fresh organic lamb sales is a range of lamb based ready meals.
Andrea and her team on their market stall.
Pick Your Own The pick your own business began in 1989 with a crop of strawberries primarily, and a few raspberries. As demand grew, the area under cultivation expanded and a greater variety of fruits were offered, by the introduction of gooseberries, blackberries, tayberries, black and red currants. Last year, responding to new technology and the different varieties of strawberries now available, a whole new area was developed under plastic with controlled irrigation and improved strawing.
Pick Your Own in full swing with Thornton Abbey ruins in the background. Customers were delighted with both the lengthened growing season and the improved size and flavour of the new fruit. Honeoye, Symphony and Florence have been especially popular. In 2005 the business expanded once the strawberry beds once again and established over 10,000 new strawberry plants. The Abbots Garden PYO is open from June to August every day from 9.00AM to 6.00PM.
Thornton Abbey Organic Lamb For many years Abbey Farm has specialised in providing high quality lamb mainly from Welsh mountain ewes, crossed with Texel tups. As the sheep have had nothing but the best home produced organic feed, grass and clover, the texture and flavour of the meat is excellent and has been widely acclaimed.
Abbey Farm Organic Lamb The meat is prepared on the farm by our own butcher and is sold mostly through local farmers markets. We regularly visit Brigg (which is on the fourth Saturday of each month) and "Taste of Lincolnshire" events also on occasion we go further afield as opportunity allows. Abbots Garden can supply whole or half lambs, which are delivered locally or they can be supplied by mail order.
The Maize Maze In July 2003 The Abbots Garden was featured on BBC'c Look North television program because of their imaginative maize maze.
The Abbot Garden's maize maze. The Abbots Garden are currently letting the land recover from maize growing so are not operating the maze this year unfortunately.
Andrew Farrow standing in the Abbot Garden's maize maze.
Would You Like To Know More About The Abbots Garden? If anyone would like to contact Andrea and find out more about The Abbots Garden PYO or their wonderful organic lamb, you can visit their website at or telephone Andrea on 07092 003456 or email |
Whilst we were there, several families with young children were enjoying a picnic in the grounds of the ruins. Thornton Abbey is an English Heritage site and entrance is free. It would make a great day out if you are on a budget, and you could tie it in with a visit to Andrea's PYO too...
The Magnificent Medievil Thornton Abbey Gatehouse Thornton Abbey was founded in 1139. Most of the Abbey is now a ruin, but the most spectacular feature to survive is the three storey gatehouse. Built in the years following the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, it may also have served to protect the abbey's treasures, as well as providing lodgings for the abbot and his guests.
Close Up of Thornton Abbey Gatehouse The enormous and ornate fortified gatehouse of Thornton Abbey, an early example of brick building, proclaimed the prosperity of one of the wealthiest English Augustinian monasteries.
Three Figures on the Thornton Abbey Gatehouse The gatehouse is one the largest and most splendid ever built. The rooms on the upper floors are grand enough for the abbots to have lived in. The abbots probably used them as formal reception rooms, as there are obvious kitchens or other domestic offices.
Looking back towards the Gatehouse from the Abbey Ruins Thornton Abbey was founded as a Priory in 1139 and was raised to the status of abbey in 1148. Thornton was a house of ‘Canons Regular of St. Augustine’, otherwise known as ‘black canons’ because of their black robes.
Plan of Thornton Abbey Grounds The order was introduced into England about 1100 and became very widespread during the 12th century. Members of this strict order usually became parish priests.
Plan of Thornton Abbey with the octagonal Chapter House The present abbey dates from between 1264 and the early 14th century. Nothing remains of the original 1139 foundations. The elaborate decoration of the abbey church made it one of the finest and richest in the country. Little of this now remains above ground level.
A view of the Abbey Ruins
A view of the Abbey Ruins Henry VIII dissolved all the monasteries in the 1530’s. Thornton was suppressed in 1539, but was refounded by the king as a college of ‘secular canons’ in 1541. These priests were not monks, but moved freely in the community.
Part of a remaining ceiling in the Abbey Ruins
A view of the Abbey Ruins Henry’s idea of converting Thornton Abbey into a cathedral or a theological college had a brief life, and the college of the cannons was suppressed in the first years of Edward VI’s reign in 1548.
Remains of the Chapter House in the Abbey Ruins The octagonal Chapter House was begun in 1282 and completed in the early 14th century. It is 43 feet across and is a survival from some thirty of this type.
Close up of the tracey in the Chapter House of the Abbey Ruins
Close up of the 'blind' window in the Chapter House of the Abbey Ruins The Chapter House was used to discuss the business of the abbey. Only two sides are standing but the Early English style ‘blind’ (filled in) window tracery remains to show its former beauty.
Opening Hours If you would like to visit Thornton Abbey please visit the English Heritage website for up to date information. |
 Berries
on a straw? There is a legend that strawberries were named in the
nineteenth-century by English children who picked the fruit, strung them
on grass straws and sold them as "Straws of berries". Another theory
is the name was derived from the nineteenth-century practice (ands still
today, although most farms use raised beds, enclosed in plastic) of placing
straw around the growing berry plants to protect the ripening fruit.
Fragrant -
The strawberry belongs to the genus Fragraria in the rose family, along
with apples and plums. The name of the scientific classification was derived
from the Old Latin word for fragrant. The modern Italian word for strawberry
is still "Fragola".
Native
American Indians called strawberries "heart-seed berries" and pounded
them into their traditional corn-meal bread. Discovering the great taste
of the Native Americans bread, colonists decided to create their own version,
which became an American favourite - Strawberry Shortcake.
Seedy
Characters - on the average, there are 200 tiny seeds in every
strawberry. Each seed is genetically different from its neighbour. Good
For You - 150g of strawberries contain only about 45 calories, so those
who indulge don't bulge.
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