Island Life Magazine Ltd June/July 2009 | Page 115

FOOD & DRINK got three chefs now,” says Chris Griffin, manager of the café. They have been open just six weeks and are already having to react to the sheer demand. “Cyclists are coming in for breakfast, and walkers are doing detours just to get to us,” she says. Served from 9.30 to 11.30 there is a whole menu just for breakfast, ranging from eggs and bacon in pitta bread to the Bluebell Breakfast, made from local bacon with lovely free range eggs, local tomatoes, locally made sausages and field mushrooms. Light lunches or main meals are equally imaginative. Local Gallybagger cheese makes a fabulous red onion tart, and a fisherman comes in twice a week with his wares, resulting in crab salads and other fishy dishes. And Chris has good news for all coffee addicts – Briddlesford has invested in a proper espresso maker. The milk sold is Briddlesford’s own, as is the butter “when I can get round to making it,” says Chris. Because it has to be said, she and all at Briddlesford are inordinately busy. Adjacent to the café is an education room, which ex-teacher Chris incorporated in order to teach children and local groups and guilds about food and farming. (It even has an interactive smart board, making it a lovely venue for small business seminars.) But there’s no time for that in the summer season, besides the additional space is very likely to be needed for more café seating. “A lot of our shop customers have become café customers,” says Chris, who is anxious to let people know that the baby calves so many love to see are still there, next to the barn. King’s Manor Farm, Copse Lane, Freshwater, Isle of Wight PO40 9TL.Tel: [phone]. [email protected] Bluebells Café at Briddlesford Lodge Farm, Briddlesford Road, Wootton, Isle of Wight. Tel [phone] www.briddlesfordlodgefarm.co.uk Kings Manor to be producing meat that was special and different and sending it off to abattoir to be sold on the mainland,” says Susie. “The café concept came from using all the meat we produce in a variety of ways.” With help from the Wight Economic Partnership they converted a disused dairy – they gave up dairy farming in favour of beef rearing a while ago – and now as well as their café, they have a simple but well-stocked shop, featuring as much local produce as possible. “We try to keep a stock of basics – milk, eggs, cheese, meat, bread,” says Susie. “We’re working closely with the Carders at the Wight Aberdeen Angus farm shop, and with Briddlesford Lodge farm shop and café, because as far as we’re concerned, the more farm shops there are the better people will be convinced they don’t need to shop at supermarkets.” The Bluebells Café at Briddlesford Lodge Farm, which has grown out of the well established shop, is on a much larger scale, seating up to 100 inside and out, and shows what you can do with the ethos of taking the best local food and cooking it well. “We’ve life The Island's most loved magazine 115