Barrington Court prides itself in serving menus featuring locally sourced produce.
With a varied and enchanting garden dating from the early 1920s, the magnificent walled kitchen garden has espaliered fruit trees trained along high stone walls, as well as a large variety of vegetables and herbs, all of which are used in the restaurant.
© National Trust
The kitchen garden
The kitchen garden fruit and vegetables used in the restaurant’s dishes at different times of year include beetroot, spinach, squash, leek, potatoe, rhubarb, parsnip, herbs, asparagus, gooseberry and lots more. Produce not used in the restaurant’s dishes often find its way into chutneys, ciders and jellies. Over half of the produce of the kitchen garden goes into the restaurant and the remainder goes for sale in the plant shop in the garden.
Local produce
Local suppliers’ produce and meat are used in many dishes including Somerset pork, Somerset beef, Smokey Wiltshire ham and Blue Vinney cheese. The local suppliers work closely with Barrington to provide produce for the seasonally changing menu.
The Trust began making cider and apple juice from the fruit trees in the orchards last year, reinstating a historic tradition at the property. Sample 100BC at the restaurant with your meal and enjoy Barrington’s voyage of discovery into cider making. The apples were milled and pressed on 200-year old cider presses and fermented in old oak barrels.
The local primary school even has its own area of the kitchen garden, where the children plant, tend and harvest their own produce under the tutelage of the Trust’s garden staff. The children follow the growing season and create their own dishes in Barrington’s kitchen with their own produce.
© National Trust
On the menu this spring
Somerset Pork Casserole (Serves 4)
Ingredients
- 675g (1lb 8oz) of diced pork shoulder
- ½ onion, chopped
- 10g (2 tsp) tomato puree
- 10ml (2 tsp) vegetable oil
- sage
- 250ml (½ pint) pork or vegetable stock
- 200g (7oz) mushrooms, sliced
- 2 – 3 sticks of celery
- 20g (1 tbsp) cornflour
- medium cider
- seasoning to taste
Method
Heat oil in a casserole dish. Add onion and cook until transparent.
Add diced pork and seal meat.
Add tomato puree and sage. Mix well.
Add enough stock to cover meat and let simmer, covered with a lid, for 1½ hours approximately or until meat is tender.
Add mushrooms and celery and continue to simmer for a further 30 minutes.
In a separate bowl, mix cornflour with cider to form a thin paste. Add to casserole and stir until sauce thickens. Add more cider to thin sauce if necessary.
© National Trust
A Sample Menu
This menu is a sample menu, and will change with the season. Please contact the property beforehand to avoid disappointment.
Starters
Kitchen Garden Leek & Potato Soup
Somerset Rarebit served with Wholemeal Toast
Prawn & Roasted Red Pepper Cocktail
Main courses
Roast Somerset Pork with Barrington’s Cider Apple Jelly
Somerset Beef Steak cooked in Exmoor Ale
Pan-fried Pollock served with Smokey Wiltshire Bacon
Kitchen Garden Spinach & Squash Pearl Barley Bake
Desserts
Rich Chocolate Pudding with Chocolate Sauce
Pear & Almond Tart
Barrington’s Cider Syllabub
Cheese and Biscuits with Barrington’s Beetroot Chutney
Whenever possible produce has been used from the kitchen garden.
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