The Farmers Mart Jun/Jul 2016 - Issue 46 | Page 10

Brandy Carr Nurseries

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»»ON AN WET AND WINDY
late April morning Ian Wilkinson
headed to West Yorkshire to
meet up with Ben Asquith and
Emma Van Dodeweerd at Brandy
Carr nurseries in Wakefield, right
in the heart of the Yorkshire’s
famous ‘Rhubarb Triangle.’
Rhubarb was the main reason for
Ian’s visit and a fascinating story
it proved to be.
The Asquith family have been
in the area since the 1700s and
have always been involved in
growing rhubarb. Ben is the
latest in a long line of Asquith
rhubarb aficionados; he has been
involved in the business from the
tender age of 10, working both in
the fields and also in the rhubarb
sheds. So Ben certainly knows
his stuff.
Although it has long been
associated with this part of
Yorkshire, in fact rhubarb has
its origins in China and first
cultivated in Britain in Oxfordshire
in the 1700s. It then moving to
Scotland but, we are glad to say,
finally settled in Yorkshire which
proved to have the ideal soil and
climate. Many of the Yorkshire
growers are very territorial

10 Jun/Jul 2016 www.farmers-mart.co.uk

and believe it should stay in
Yorkshire; Ben on the other hand
wants to keep a general bank of
rhubarb available for the world.
Ben surprised me by explaining
that there are some 200 varieties
of rhubarb and they keep around
80 on site at any one time.
Ben’s father, Norman,
affectionately known as NAP,
was a colourful, larger than life
character in the rhubarb world
and during his time became
one of the biggest growers –
infact larger than the Oldroyds.
His business initially started
in Pontefract, but as land was
cheap in the late 60s and 70s
Norman was able to buy land in
Kirkhamgate, East Ardsley and
Wrenthorpe . Norman Asquith
is attributed as one of the real
rhubarb pioneers, of which fact
Ben is immensely proud.
During the 70s and 80s
Norman supplied much of his
production to the supermarkets
and to this day Ben remembers
the stressful times he endured
with the buyers continually
driving margins to virtually
nothing. He often remarked that
the main difference between