The Test Valley has an abundance of marvellous food & drink suppliers – so if your preference is to eat local and support local, here is a list of locally sourced meat, fish & vegetable suppliers that you may want in order to stock up on over the Christmas Period.
M E A T & F I S H:
GREENFIELD PORK
Greenfield Pork, based locally in Anna Valley, supply award winning sausages, bacon and a broad variety of pork joints. They also rear their own lamb & mutton as well as supply locally reared free-range chickens. Cocktail sausages and chipolatas, although available all year round, will be in abundant supply!
**Order and collect from the Anna Valley based shop on Boundary Road, Anna Valley, SP11 7LX, 01264 359 422 next to the Watercress Fields. They will open up to and including Christmas Eve**
RANDALL PARKER FOODS
This really is one of Andover’s best kept secrets…the shop at the back of Appleshaw, just outside Andover (go past the primary school and keep going!). Privately owned and processing its own beef and lamb to be distributed nationwide, Randall Parker is renowned for its quality meat at very good prices and has a brilliant team of butchers who are both experienced and friendly (no visit with children complete without a lollipop!). There is ample parking. Stocking fresh cut Welsh and West Country lamb, Scottish beef, English pork, free range chicken and hand made sausages, no local Test Valley resident can be without this brilliant butcher! For up to date prices, have a look at http://randallparkerfoods.com/shop/
Randall Parker can be found in Appleshaw, Andover SP11 9BB, 01264 774420.
**Deadline to order your Christmas turkey is 12th December for collection during the Christmas week**
THE TRADITIONAL BEEF COMPANY
For those who prefer an alternative to turkey over the festive season, than look no further than The Traditional Beef Company: organically grass fed, hung for 4-6 weeks and expertly butchered beef. Based in Farley, on the Wiltshire/Hampshire border, all the beef is organically reared on the lush green pastures of the family owned farm, run by father of three daughters, David Parsons. Jo the youngest daughter of the Parsons family, with her husband Robin, have set-up The Traditional Beef Company to supply excellent quality, mouth wateringly delicious beef, produced on the family farm direct to consumer. There is no shop to visit, but you can order directly online at http://www.traditional-beef.co.uk
** No deadline to order – available until it runs out…and it will go fast! **
Why not try something completely different and “go-green” this Christmas? Rich and lean Water Buffalo (not to be confused with the ferocious African Buffalo or the prized Native American Bison!) is produced and supplied locally by the Test Valley’s very own Broughton Water Buffalo. Their buffalo are naturally farmed, traceable and 100% grass-fed on the Chalk Downs of Hampshire. Working to also supply other local producer’s meats, they provide Hampshire Turkeys, Geese, Gammon and Pork, so you can order your Christmas meats from one place! Either visit the shop at Manor Farm, Broughton, Stockbridge, Hampshire SO20 8AN (Thursdays & Friday 9-5 and Saturday 10-1) or shop online at http://www.broughtonwaterbuffalo.co.uk
**Deadline to order your Christmas meat is 14th December for collection during the Christmas week**
PARSONAGE FARM CHARCUTERIE
All the charcuterie produced at Parsonage Farm uses Hampshire-reared meat from the farm. The farm is a small scale producer and every stage of the production is completed slowly and with the utmost care. They produce charcuterie and air-dried meat of excellent quality with superb flavour to be enjoyed at home or can be found in some local restaurants and pubs.
Parsonage Farm sources products locally where appropriate, beer from Upham Brewery in Hampshire, Twisted Nose Gin from Winchester, and spice mixes from Anna Valley Chillies. They use natural skins and most products are gluten free.
All products can be sent by post.
This year they are offering salami boards and boxes and next year they will be offering a series of Salami making workshops – both delicious and original Christmas gift ideas!
JAKE’S ARTISAN FOODS: PORK PIES
Jake’s was founded in 2013 with the express intent of making available to everyone its new take on an old classic: the Pork Pie. People often ask him: what’s so hand-cut about your hand-cut pies? The hand-cuttedness of Jake’s hand-cut pork pies refers to the cutting by hand of the free-range pork that goes into the pie. They are absolutely delicious and a perfect addition to any Boxing Day feast! These can be ordered in advance for a Christmas delivery.
**Last orders will be approximately 2 weeks before Christmas**
JOHN ROBINSONS & SONS BUTCHERS, STOCKBRIDGE
“This much-loved, family butcher has been serving the Stockbridge community for 48 years – keeping generations happy with its sought after Stockbridge Sausage. Shop Manager, Luke Lempriere, says: “Our best sausages are the Pork and Sage – they are our traditional Stockbridge Sausage – we’ve being making the same sausages ever since we started. We can’t change them because our customers wouldn’t be happy. They go through the generations – they were given to the kids and they’ll be in their forties now and giving them to their kids!”” (from Hampshire-Life.co.uk). John Robinsons, is obviously available for all those Christmas cocktail sausages needs in the run up to Christmas and around the Turkey, but they also sell an excellent range of all other meats, poultry and game! They also have an excellent supply of handmade, frozen mince pies and yuletide logs for anyone who has run out of time or is not inclined to make their own but would like to pass them off as their own…but you will need to snap these up early on in December!
** Last Turkey orders are mid-December. High St, Stockbridge SO20 6HF, 01264 810609**
FJORDLING SMOKERY
Fjordling Smokehouses Ltd was established in 1982 by Andrew Espir following family traditions established by his great-grandfather and father in Norway. Only the finest quality fish, meat and poultry is used and as much as possible it is sourced locally and all comes from sustainable sources. Trout is sourced from their own farms on Hampshire’s chalkstream rivers, Test and Itchen. No Christmas is complete without a smoked salmon canapé in some form or other!
** You can order online up to two weeks before Christmas in order to guarantee a delivery pre-Christmas. Alternatively, you can collect from them directly in Romsey. However, pre-ordering is essential! Old Salisbury Lane, Romsey, SO51 0GD, 01794 521845 **
RIVER TEST SMOKERY, CHILBOLTON
Set by the banks of the famous River Test, in the heart of the beautiful Test Valley in Hampshire, the River Test Smokery only uses the traditional methods of smoking to achieve the highest quality product. From humble beginnings smoking small numbers of trout caught from near-by riverbanks by fisherman and friends alike, they now have over 10,000 trout and salmon brought to them each year. The Smokery are now also offering a service for smoking pheasant, duck and other game birds during the shooting season. A range of locally sourced smoked fish products are available to purchase, though please do phone your orders through as everything is produced ‘fresh from the kiln’ to ensure optimum taste and freshness. The Watch Estate, Coley Lane, Chilbolton, SO20 6AZ, 01264 860 813
BOXXFRESH
Squeaky greens, brilliantly bright berries and flawlessly fresh fruit…life’s too short for dull, tasteless and lifeless produce. Say goodbye to limp lettuces, soft-spotted strawberries and wilted wassberries….The Boxxfresh philosophy is quite simple: #Allabouttheveg. At a time when nutrition and food choices have never been more examined across the media channels, from fad-diets to food allergies… the latest body-miracle book, endless ‘food-selfies’ in restaurants and confusion over a coherent policy for dealing with the national obesity pandemic; the Boxxfresh philosophy might seem rather simplistic…Just eat more veg!
“Our mission at Boxxfresh is to help people get more fresh produce into their lives, delivered to their front doors on a weekly basis.”
FRESH FISH:
THYME & TIDE, STOCKBRIDGE
Thyme & Tides fish counter is traditionally laid out with an emphasis on freshness, sustainability & seasonality. They only use carefully selected suppliers with the majority coming up from the day boats of Looe in Cornwall. Aside from the fish counter you will also find a great range of smoked salmon, gravadlax & fish pâtés as well as sauces & marinades. Looking for an extra treat this Christmas? They are happy to source lobsters, oysters & whole crabs as well as prepare seafood and dressed salmon platters for you. For any fishy related requests do drop an email to: Oliver@thymeandtidesdeli.co.uk
GASTRO NICKS, COLLINGBOURNE DUCIS
Gastro Nicks are purveyors of British and Mediterranean food and wine providing the very best of hand-picked gourmet delights from across Europe both on-line and from our Wiltshire Delicatessen. They also have Fresh fish available exclusively from the Delicatessen in Collingbourne Ducis. They aim to have a fortnightly delivery of fresh, sustainably caught, seasonal fish from fishing ports along England’s South Coast, Brixham or Newlyn, which generally includes, Crab, Lobster, Prawns, Haddock, Pollock, Brill, Turbot, Dover and Lemon Sole, Monkfish, Smoked Fish, Salmon, Trout.. A fish merchant by trade, Nick is happy to fillet or prep your fresh fish for you if you give him a little notice or are prepared to wait while he does this.
You can place Christmas orders up until 18 December for collection on 22/23 December (subject to weather and availability). Call 01264 852701 or email them at enquiries@gastronicks.co.uk
