Two restaurant owners in Ottery St Mary

“Wonderful support” for new Ottery field kitchen

Sue Cade
Authored by Sue Cade
Posted: Thursday, August 11, 2022 - 14:43

It’s just two months since Coldharbour Farm’s Field Kitchen served its first customers - and it’s already proving to be a phenomenal success with locals and visitors to the area. 

The new venture by Andrea Broadhurst and Beth Ashfield opened in June, building on the success of the temporary field kitchen they created during the pandemic.

With its quirky, welcoming inside dining area and capacious decking with unrivalled views, the field kitchen has garnered an impressive collection of five star reviews. Hugely successful have been the Friday and Saturday ‘Tapas Evenings’ with diners on the decking enjoying the glorious recent summer sunsets.

Beth has enjoyed adapting the lunch menu to accommodate customer requests, including the reintroduction of Coldharbour Farm’s popular loaded nachos. As chief cook she’s been kept busy, while the business is on the hunt for additional team members. Beth says “We’re currently looking for experienced and confident cooks to join the team. We have high standards – while it’s not cordon bleu, ideally we need cooks who love food and bringing happiness to customers as much as we do!”

The field kitchen was built with superb green credentials including solar panels to provide electricity -  which is proving critical as energy prices rise. For the future, Andrea is researching solar powered ovens and the pair are also keen to introduce open fire cooking to the field kitchen. She explains “There’s nothing quite like the taste of meat that’s been cooked over an open fire, and as we have a good supply of home reared, high welfare lamb and pork, we know this is a great opportunity.”

The focus from the start is to offer dishes that use local produce, not just from the farm but from good quality local suppliers in the area. This extends to the drinks offering which showcases brands such as Sandford Orchards cider, Branscombe Brewery ales, artisan locally made spirits including Coldharbour’s own Flaming Barrels gin, and soft drinks from Luscombe Drinks.

One reviewer said: “Stunning setting, lovely friendly staff with delicious food and drink!! Had a family evening get together for drinks and tapas on Last night watching the sun set it was beautiful. We enjoyed it so much we booked a table to return for breakfast this morning, just what we needed!” Another, who had walked to Ottery from Sidmouth to try the field kitchen commented: “The food was amazing, so tasty and menu all sounded yummy can’t wait to come back. Great local ciders too.”

A huge hit with customers has been the welcome for dogs. One happy dog owner said: “We have just had the most wonderful lunch at The Field Kitchen. Huge thanks to the fabulous staff who spoilt my dog rotten with treats and fuss.”

Meanwhile the farm shop, just a short walk away, continues to offer a choice of grocery staples, Coldharbour Farm ready meals, a growing choice of home and giftware – plus the renowned huge range of gins.

Andrea, Beth and the field kitchen team are thrilled with the success of the venture so far. Andrea adds “In these tough times we are thankful for all the wonderful support we’ve been given. It’s hard work but we are absolutely loving it!”

The pair are looking forward to two events next month as part of the Taste East Devon festival: they will be selling food from their adapted horsebox at the Ottery St Mary Food Festival on September 3 and running a ‘Scone Sundae’ special event at the field kitchen on September 11 where they will be serving scones with a twist!

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