Stately home cooking

A STATELY home is not necessarily the first place that springs to mind when you are low on leeks or have a pressing need for a pork chop. But that could all be about to change, thanks to a new development at Castle Howard.

More than two years in the planning, the 18th century stable courtyard has now been transformed into an extensive farm shop offering everything from fruit, veg, meat and fish to beer, wine and own-brand champagne, a separate chocolate shop and a refurbished Courtyard Caf.

"When horses gave way to motor cars, the stable buildings became defunct," said Simon Howard, who shares the ancestral home with his wife Rebecca and their twins Octavia and Merlin. "Apart from a period in the Sixties and Seventies when they were used to show my father's extensive costume collection, they have been mainly used for storage."

Turning the stables into a retail development is an idea that has been under discussion for some time, with work beginning in earnest more than two years ago.

"This has been a long-term project," said Mr Howard, "part of an even longer-term project to drag us kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

"Running a house as large as this has always meant diversification. There are other developments afoot - but I can't reveal all just yet."

Helen Orchison, head of retail at Castle Howard, has been involved with the courtyard scheme from day one. She took up her position three years ago, after escaping a weekly commute to Dusseldorf in her previous role as a ladieswear buyer for C&A.

"I've always loved Castle Howard, so when I saw the job vacancy I jumped at the chance," she said. "Since then it's been my goal to make this a retail destination in its own right.

"We have thousands of visitors every year, but we need local people on board to be really successful. One of our main aims has always been to source produce locally, particularly supporting people who have diversified from farming. I hope local people will now support us in the same way."

The farm shop manager, Andrew Bridgford, has already noticed a few regular faces popping in for a loaf of bread or to stock up on fresh veg in the two weeks since the shop opened (it was officially opened by Look North's Christa Ackroyd on Thursday).

"We already seem to be developing a solid core of regulars," he said. "I think people really appreciate that everything is absolutely fresh. They like to know where their food has come from and, in this case, it has usually come from just down the road."

Andrew and his eight-strong sales team expect to be serving two distinct groups of customers with one thing in common: the desire for quality produce on their doorstep. He believes local people will use the shop to stock up on weekly essentials such as fruit, veg, meat, bread, fish, beer and wine, while visitors will be looking for gift items like jam, biscuits or the new Castle Howard champagne.

"It's obvious to me already that we completely under-estimated how busy the shop was going to be," said Andrew, who was branch manager at Bettys in Harrogate until a couple of months ago. "There's a real sense of ownership about Castle Howard locally. People love the place, and that makes it an exciting place to work."

But the stable courtyard development, which is open all year round and does not have an admission charge, is not just about shopping. The refurbished Courtyard Caf offers the ideal place to drop after you shop, and also provides customers with the opportunity of sampling some of the produce on offer, cooked up with skill and imagination by resident chef Steve Cockburn.

"I like the set up here. It really works in my favour," he said. "Most of the produce is sourced locally, which means it is really fresh and of a very high standard.

"I can just walk over to our butcher's shop (part of the farm shop) and tell him what I need. I've already walked down to see our organic Aberdeen Angus herd with him. It's amazing to be able to pat Daisy on the rump one day and have her on the menu the next!"

The set-up is also advantageous for customers. If you particularly enjoy the relish in your sandwich or the preserve on your muffin, you can nip across to the shop after your meal and buy yourself a jar.

If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you could even recreate your entire meal - complete with a fresh steak from Daisy or one of her bovine chums.

Unlike many chefs, Steve readily admitted he had been nervous in the run-up to the launch but, reverting to type, he claimed he had steadfastly refused to let it show.

"As a chef, you learn not to show your nerves," he said. "If you look as if you are in control, you tend to stay in control."

The stable courtyard complex is not likely to give the powers-that-be at Tesco many sleepless nights, but if the crowds buying armfuls of produce at the launch are anything to go by, it looks likely to be a popular addition to this already popular tourist attraction.

Just don't expect to find any cheap and cheerful tins of bargain basement baked beans on the shelves...

"We cater for the basics, it's just that our basics are all of premium quality," said Helen Orchison.

"We could never get away with being cheap and cheerful - just look at the house."

Updated: 08:33 Saturday, November 13, 2004