Gorgeous handmade quality gifts, cards and home ware. If you can’t think what to buy for your dear mum on mothers day, then come along to our special mother day event, where you can browse through the beautiful array of stalls in our exhibition barn, where you are sure to find something very special!

As always, parking is free!

2 courses for £15.95
3 courses for £19.95
Children under 10 – main course & dessert for £8.95

Price includes a small gift for mums!

Starters

• Tempura battered king prawns, mixed baby leaves and a sweet chilli dip
• Breaded brie served with a redcurrant and port jelly
• Homemade duck liver pate with melba style toast and apricot & ginger chutney

Mains

• Roast sirloin of Suffolk beef and homemade Yorkshire pudding
• Tender slices of Suffolk chicken breast in a champagne and mushroom sauce
• Homemade spinach, mushroom and ricotta lasagne

Desserts

• Choice of La Hogue’s sumptuous homemade desserts
• “Best of British” cheese platter (£2.95 supplement)

Drinks

• Selected house wines from £12.95/botte or from £2.75/glass

I’d realised that astonishingly we had never been in the 10 years of being in the area, had heard various reports ranging from brilliant to not so good and really ought to see what all the fuss was about.

Accompanied by my cantankerous 82 year old farmer father and slightly fussy 70 something mother off we bravely set into the Cambridgeshire Fens on a cold Tuesday evening.

We were greeted by a slightly shy but personable chap, a roaring wood burner and cleverly set out dining areas with tables presented to perfection. It felt sophisticated yet relaxed and homely, which was a good start, although I feared my father might become too comfortable and fall asleep as he hadn’t had his afternoon kip that day.

The slightly shy personable chap turned out to be Adrian Smith (left in the above) the chef/proprietor, who had taken a leap of faith 10 years ago and purchased the Merry Monk.

Adrian presented us with a fine looking à la carte menu that on paper would grace any aspiring Michelin Star restaurant. Through experience I didn’t let myself run away with excitement as I’ve seen pie & chips described as some unfathomable delicacy!

Dad blindly plumped for a starter of warmed Thai pork balls with lemon grass, ginger, chilli, coconut and peanut curry. Mum and wife opted for steamed Shetland mussels with a Thai spiced cream (£5.95) and my eyes were drawn to king scallops with sweet corn puree, chorizo and apple jam (£9.50).

Whilst waiting, a delightful waitress (with plenty to match my cantankerous Dad) delivered a small surprise of sweet carrot & parsnip soup with dill pollen. Dad looked at me as if to say “What the bloody hell is that?!“. However, once consumed declared rather too loudly, “bugger that was good!”.

Our starters were sublime… The subtlety of the Thai spiced cream with the taste vulnerable mussels was genius, and the balance of my beautifully cooked scallops with the mild chorizo burst, filled me with pleasure.

For main we plumped for:

• 12 hour slow roast dingley dell pork on mashed potato with braised red cabbage, crackling and suffolk cider jus – £14.95
• Pan fried sea bass with king scallops – £22.95
• Slow roast breast of duckling with duck leg hash with an orange, honey & red pepper sauce – £16.95
• A side dish of “agria” hand cut chips and mixed vegetables – reasonably priced at £1.50 each

This prompted a debate on variety of potatoes between myself & Adrian as it turns out we use the same Fenland Potato producer (Jonathan Walters) but different varieties. I still think Maris Pipers make the best roasties and chips but the flavour of the Agria’s was superb.

People who know me would tell you I don’t blow sunshine up people’s bottoms for no good reason, but my slow cooked duck breast (which was still pink) was as good as it gets and certainly as good as I’d got.

All was fabulous, and the care and attention to detail belonged on a particularly strong edition of Professional Masterchef.

All of us were too plentified to be tempted by the honey trap dessert menu (a frequent criticism of modern food is leaving hungry) but this was traditional-modern using the finest local ingredients with richly filling accompaniments.

The acid test for any food business is when the bosses are away is everything as it should be. Adrian had hurt his back so wasn’t our chef but the food presented & cooked (admittedly under Adrian’s beady eye) was first class and all involved should have been very proud.

Proud (and that overused word passionate) is what I believe Adrian is, however I got the sense that as he is not flamboyant (otherwise known as cocky) as many top class Chefs, he’s possibly become somewhat of an unsung hero.

On busy nights there are up to 5 accomplished chefs hopefully ensuring the consistency. Consistency is the key for any restaurant and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Merry Monk has been there under Adrian Smith for 10 years. If he and his talented band of Chefs keep producing food like we experienced, he’ll be there for another 10.

It certainly won’t be 10 years before we visit again!

To celebrate national farmhouse breakfast week (22nd – 28th January 2012) we’re running serveral exciting promotions in both the farm shop and cafe.

National farmhouse breakfast week is a promotion to encourage us all to eat what many consider to be the most important meal of the day. To celebrate this, we’re joining in with some amazing offers and special promotions in both the farm shop and farm cafe from Tuesday 24th – Sunday 28th January (inclusive).

In the farm shop

• 25% off all our Suffolk dry cure & streaky bacon all week
• 25% off our free range chicken and duck eggs
• Special breakfast packs from our butchery

In the farm cafe

Farmhouse breakfast week

All day giant La Hogue breakfast (9:00am – 3:00pm Tuesday to Saturday and 10:00am – 11:30am Sunday) including the following:

• 2 Suffolk dry cure back bacon
• 2 homemade free range breakfast sausages
• Local free range egg
• Black pudding
• Tomato
• Mushrooms
• Baked beans
• Fried bread
• Hash browns
• Free pot of loose leaf tea or cup of filter coffee

All for only £7.99!

Special La Hogue Welsh Rarebit

Homemade bread topped with melted farmhouse cheddar accompanied by fried or poached free range eggs with drycure bacon or black pudding.

All for only £5.49!

Ho ho ho!

There’s nothing more magical for children and adults alike than the visit of Father Christmas.

This year Santa’s visiting us in his special grotto in our Christmas Barn (situated behind the Farm Shop & Cafe). Each child will get individual dedicated time to discuss their Christmas Lists and they’ll also be able to post their letter to Santa in our special post box!

Father christmas will be visiting on Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th December from 10:30am – 12:30pm and 1:30pm – 3:30pm on both days.

Price is £2.50 including a small present.

It’s our biggest tasting of the year, giving you the opportunity to taste for free the different breeds of free range Christmas turkeys, geese, cockerels, local hams, homemade Christmas sausages, homemade and Coles’s Christmas puddings, stuffings, bread sauce and lots more at our Christmas Fayre.

Also on Saturday ^5th November- Grand opening of this year’s Magical Christmas Barn — a whole new range of exciting Christmas decorations, gifts, wreaths and festive paraphernalia.

La Hogue Christmas Barn opens every day – except Mondays – right up to Christmas Eve!

Don’t forget to visit our Farm Cafe and taste the free range Bltyheburgh Farm hog roast on both days.

Why not check out last years pictures on Facebook?

Visit our Facebook page

When we announced that Tim would be headlining our Regional & British Producer Fayre on the 17th & 18th September 2011, one of our customers came to me and said, “Is that the tall jolly one off Masterchef?”.

Indeed, when getting to the final of MasterChef in 2010 I think Tim endeared himself to the whole nation as the thoroughly nice Children’s Doctor who made it to the last 3 contestants. You could see he was continually self doubting but had an inner strength (and an extraordinary cooking ability!) that had to be necessary to get to the final of one of the toughest competitions on T.V.

Tim grew up in Oxford and Norwich. He studied medicine at Birmingham University and then went onto a career in Paediatrics becoming a consultant in Norwich aged only 33. Tim’s expertise was the management of Children and young people with development and behavioural problems. Another glimpse of that inner strength, and a good deal of compassion.

Tim met his wife Rachel, who’s a G P in Norfolk, at medical school and they have two children Abi and Noah. Tim’s love of food was evident at a young age as he taught himself to cook from his mum’s Good Housekeeping cook book for children. He loves the detail & complexity of fine patisserie that would drive many of us amateur cooks to distraction!

Following his roller coaster ride on Masterchef, so it was that he took the leap of faith and set up his own patisserie business in Norfolk called Macarons & More(@macaronsandmore). The business has flourished, and Tim has rapidly built up a reputation as the Macaron Master.

Tim always appears bemused by the attention he’s received since MasterChef. Claire (@breckland) told me she was with him at a food show once and people were clambering to speak to him. He turned to Claire and said, “Why do all these people want to talk to me? I don’t understand?”.

There’s also a fantastic interview with Tim by the brilliant food blogger @meemalee that demonstrated his sense of humour, and is well worth a look – it made me chortle!

So all in all we’re pleased that Dr Tim is headlining our Regional & British Producer Fayre next week and if you’re a foodie of any kind do say “Hi!” to him, and also don’t walk away without his Macarons – they’re stonkingly good!

La Hogue farm is holding its 6th annual Producer Fayre on Saturday 17^th and Sunday 18th of September 2011, which has now grown into one of the largest food festivals in East Anglia.

Over 60 producers, including many from Suffolk, will be offering free tastings of their products together with information on how they are produced. The producers include local meat and game farms, bee-keepers, fishermen, quail producers, cheese producers and their cows!

The fayre takes place between 10:00am & 4:00pm both days and entry is FREE.

Farm shops, markets and direct farm gate sales in the U.K total approximately £2.5 billion per annum (source Farm & Markets Retail Association). Not all of that hard earned money is from the yuppy London fraternity. Indeed the large majority cannot afford to be elitist and expensive as they simply would not survive, as some in these financially suffocated times, have found to their cost.

In our own case we attract over 2,500 customers a week from Lords to dustmen. They’re searching for good quality, locally produced, seasonal fare at competitive prices and will not, and in some cases, cannot, pay over the odds for the prestige factor. The fact is, that many modern upto date Farm Shops, Markets and direct sellers are highly competitive even compared to inferior Supermarket equivalents.

Our butchery counter (and many others like it) for instance is stacked with free range, local & traditionally reared animals and in is many cases 25 – 50% less expensive than Waitrose. Our Free Range Pork from nearby @blytheburghpork has been known to be up to half the price of some leading supermarkets and I would suggest twice the quality.

Our truly free range chickens from a family small holding in Norfolk cost £8 – £12, even cheaper direct from them at Farmer’s markets. Not £17 as Mr Rayner quoted in London for a bird no better in quality than a Waitrose Special.

Fenland potatoes, carrots & parsnips have also been known to be up to half the price of many Supermarkets.

It is true in some cases that “you get what you pay for”. For instance our locally handmade jams up to £1 more expensive than a pot of Robertsons – but then how can you compare them?

The supply and purchasing to farm shops, delicatessens and butchers is now fiercely competitive. Producers, no matter how good their product is, have to accurately calculate costs and margins to the nearest penny in order to win the orders.

The real problem farm shops, markets & direct farm gate sales face is getting the above factual message across to the wider public combined with getting them out of their brain washed habit of always using a supermarket.

So if you do use your farm shop, markets and direct farm gate sales you will make a difference as what you are maintaining is your right to choose. Without them there will be no choice. So come on Jay, come on a little tour with me outside London and I’ll show you the true picture!

A brief history

Both being farmer’s son and daughter (we met drunk at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester) Jo and I had a huge interest in traditional food production and loved the excitement of sourcing and eating good local and seasonal food.

At the time, I was an agricultural land agent in Somerset (and a semi professional rugby referee in the Premiership & European Cup). Foot & Mouth was rearing its ugly head and I was valuing on behalf of DEFRA the devastated farmer’s ill fated animals. We’d always wanted our own business and felt a change was needed – and a change it certainly was!

We sold our cottage which mostly funded the development of a 2500 sq ft redundant piggery on Jo’s family farm near Newmarket and opened in October 2002.

My biggest fear wasn’t whether the business would succeed but the fact that Jo and I would be working together as business partners as well as being husband and wife. A potential recipe for disaster and a speedy divorce. We are completely different characters but in the end this proved to be good as we’ve pigeon holed ourselves into our various strengths and weaknesses and try not to talk to each other too much.

In reality hopefully we balance each other out to make semi rationale decisions.

The business exploded beyond our wildest dreams. Having started with 2 full time and 2 part time staff, within 3 or 4 years we were employing 18!

We made plenty of mistakes along the way (some more costly than others!) but recovered from each one, hopefully learning from painful lessons. All was well, and we were continually expanding in particular the butchery and our commercial farm kitchen.

The lightening bolt

In 2007 the economy had slowed significantly but although we weren’t recession proof we were fairing better than most businesses as we had an established loyal customer base and people still had to buy food.

Then in October 2007 a lightening bolt came out of the sky. Whilst attending a trade show I had a stroke which left me temporarily speechless and confused. At the age of 36, and thinking I was immortal, it was a bit of a blow.

Ten weeks later we had our little lad Jack. Although I was back at work within a week or so the doctors were being grumpy about my long term prognosis and Jo was naturally out of the business looking after Jack. We were as they say in a bit of a pickle.

After heartfelt discussions and despite having fantastic staff we decided we had to sell the business we had built up. Within 2 days of the decision a large Garden Centre and Farm Shop made us the offer to buy the shop at well above the asking price.

Three months of tenancy and contractual negotiations etc went on and our staff were invited over to their “soon” to be employers business.

Two days to go to exchange the buyer pulled out. All sorts of excuses poured out but I suspect economy, financing and a little bit of cowardice were the main issues.

In the mean time after numerous tests the doctors had found that I’d been born with a hole in the heart which had allowed a clot through to the brain. So off to Papworth with me and 2 keyhole heart ops.

After a fairly difficult year the doctors were thankfully being far more positive and the uncertainty of our future was killing Jo & I.

No looking back!

We then decided “blow everything” and we would continue to run the business we loved and had worked hard to build over 7 or so years come hell or high water. To this end we committed ourselves to developing a 70+ cover café/restaurant onto the farm shop last September which thankfully has had a really good start and been amazingly well received. Since then we haven’t looked back.

We’re proud to support over 100 local farmers and food producers along with the farm here at La Hogue, attract over 2000 customers a week and employ nearly 30 local people.

I feel incredibly lucky that the wonderful NHS gave me brilliant attention and Jo & I are able to continue to build what is the business we literally stuck our house on!