Capturing the Castle

A couple of weekends ago we went to a food fair in the grounds of Raby Castle: there were fewer stalls than I had expected, but they were good ones, and the gardens were in spectacular bloom, so it all balanced out. I brought home a handful of leaflets, which it's time to clear off my desk:

• I bought some Seville mustard (mustard made with the juice of Seville oranges) from Cumberland Honey Mustard (and tried their mostarda, which I've come across in Italian recipes but never tasted, so I can't say whether mostarda is less interesting than I hoped, or just this version).



• There was cheese from Winter Tarn organic farm (isn't that a great name!), and I bought the two they make themselves, both cows' milk, a nicely nutty Cheddar-style cheese and a very buttery blue.



• We had a lengthy and interesting conversation with someone who wasn't selling food at all, but promoting, if I have this right, the Friends of Stewart Park in Middlesbrough are involved with a project organised by Kew Gardens to encourage the planting and appreciation of wild flowers. It's taken a fair bit of poking around thhe web to find this ("Look us up on FaceBook!" they say; "Hah!" say I. "Find us on Twitter!" they say; but I can't...) but scroll down to the end of this blog post to find what we were told about the project, and the leaflet we picked up about a walk in the park (which also includes the birthplace of Captain Cook, and a museum dedicated to him). The odd thing is that they are claiming to be shortlisted as finalists for the Grow Wild project, and Grow Wild seem to have other ideas. The park looks worth a visit, regardless...

Never mind, have a picture of the castle and gardens:

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