At the end of a bumpy farm track, hidden in a gentle, misty Cornish valley lies a melange of old granite farm buildings and preserved wooden barns. An unassumingly atmospheric rural setting that magically plays host to one of the most phenomenal farm food experiences. A meal here is like a step back in time, where guests are treated like valued visiting harvest hands or extended family; fed with impeccable farm-reared and home-grown produce accompanied by the fruits of labour from neighbouring like-minded small, local businesses. The result is a seasonally sublime meal, eaten amid the happy background chatter in and around the heart of this working farm.
Nancarrow has been farmed by nine generations of the same family, firmly linking them to this 100-acre site since 1782; four generations currently live on the farm and run the business today. It is a certified organic farm where traditional farming methods prevail. Native-breed cattle and sheep graze side by side on the clover-rich meadows, while the herd of pigs wanders freely and truffles through windfall apples and kitchen scraps. The animals are allowed to mature slowly, giving a superior meat quality. Nothing chemical is used on the soil and, as a result, wildlife thrives – the hedgerows, fruit orchards and kitchen garden hum to the beat of happy insects while red stags, barn owls, foxes and more make this valley farm their own.
All of this is sustainability and environmentalism at its absolute pinnacle but to make a profit from these principles the family needed to diversify, which is where the kitchen came into play. They have thrown open the doors of this enclave and created a magical place ‘where people gather, feast and stay in the heart of the farm’.
Meals are offered as ticketed events, with a selection of options, from Sunday roasts and farm suppers to the the wonderful community feel of the trestle-tabled seasonal feasts, held in the cobbled farm courtyard. Menus are set and, aside from catering for all dietary requirements, every guest eats the same.
Visiting for a Sunday roast is to experience the very best of weekend food goals. On arrival drinks are served from the open-air bar and sipped slowly among the heady lavender of the outdoor space. Inside the A-frame timber dining barn, the alluring scent of meat slowly roasting wafts out of the open kitchen across the rows of wildflower-laden rustic tables; live folk music drifts unobtrusively behind the chatter of gathering foodie folk; children in hand-knitted jumpers skip around the guests’ feet… OK I’m getting a bit carried away but you get the picture, it is all rather idyllic – and that’s before you even eat.
We were treated to an indescribably good chuck of smoked beef, served with braised onions and garden herbs, while the vegetarians among us had a divine grilled squash served with lentil, cavolo nero and wild mushroom. Both options were partnered with the obligatory roasted Cornish potatoes, grilled hispi cabbage, tendersteam broccoli, glazed carrots, black garlic and rosemary. Truffled greens mixed with aged cheddar, sourdough and chive made for a fabulously rich alternative to the traditional cauliflower cheese, and the rustic Cornish strawberry roly poly was pure perfection to finish. Eating here is to rediscover the simplicity and depth of farm-fresh organic produce; hand grown, reared and produced on the very land you sit on, cooked in a traditional and seasonal manner and eaten among folk who appreciate the labour of love behind every step of producing meals to this standard.
Nancarrow Farm, St Allen, Nr Truro; nancarrowfarm.co.ukÂ
Melanie O’Shea is a freelance travel and lifestyle writer, based in West Cornwall when not wandering the world
