/">News From The CountryMan Inn

Foraging for wild food at The Countryman

Foraging is the latest craze. And we at The Countryman – country pub and restaurant in West Sussex – are up there on the culinary catwalk, ensuring you dine on the best food around. Our new forager, Deborah Woods,  brings our edible landscape to you, our customers – this nutient packed food is now yours!

Is interest in foraging growing?

Yes! A quick blog search on ‘foraging food’ came up with 165 hits over the past week, as compared to 83 hits over the same week last year. The Countryman in Shipley now has a dedicated forager who has a wealth of experience in foraging for wild foods that we are able to feature on our menu all year. Deborah Woods has been an avid forager for many, many years and grew her passion for wild foods from her early days of blackberrying with her mum in the Sussex countryside. Deborah now keeps us supplied with freshly picked wild mushrooms, including porcini, yellow chanterelles and girolles to name just a few. Other wild foods include all types of berry, many varieties of herb such as wild garlic and Wild Thyme and various seaweeds including samphire and sea kale.

These foods are great for your internal organs such as your liver and kidney, so as well as looking and tasting great, they are great to prepare your body ahead of the festive season! Talking of which, do take a look at our Christmas menu and New Years Eve menu which are now on the website.

So call us on 01403 741383 if you would like to be a trend-setter in fashionable cuisine! We look forward to welcoming you soon!

The Countryman country pub and restaurant, Shipley, West Sussex

The Countryman‘s allotment has produced a bumper crop of vegetables and salad produce throughout the summer months and is now being prepared for winter planting. In order to continue our growing season throughout the cold months we have installed a massive 40ft x 20ft Poly tunnel, and through Hugh Fernley Whittingstalls Land Share Scheme, we have partnered up with other growers in the area to operate a share and swap project. This will enable us to ensure a full and varied selection of produce throughout the year and helps our community at the same time.

You know when you eat at The Countryman Inn – country pub and restaurant in the heart of West Sussex – that you are eating the freshest home grown vegetables. Phone 01403 741383 to reserve your table today. You can also buy our vegetables at The Countryman Farm Shop.

Countryman Alliance Award 2010

Yippee! We have been nominated for the Countryside Alliance Traditional Business and Food Awards and now we need your support and votes to move us on to the next round of judging. You can vote form us and leave your comments on www.countrysideallianceawards.co.uk. CLOSING DATE FOR REGISTERING YOUR VOTE/NOMINATION IS FRIDAY 22ND OCTOBER 2010.

The Traditional Business and Food awards is sponsored by Philip Johnston who is The Daily Telegraph‘s Assistant Editor for Home News. Philip writes about the broad issues facing the UK, including crime and policing. His interest in rural life has seen him to tackle topical subjects such as food waste, road pricing and fly tipping. Philip represents the Daily Telegraph on the judging panel; the newspaper supports the Traditional Business category which applauds those keeping rural heritage and skills alive. Past winners of this title have included a butcher, a gentleman’s outfitters, a carriage maker and a community-owned pub.

So just to remind you, please vote for us by using the vote form us and leave your comments on www.countrysideallianceawards.co.uk. CLOSING DATE FOR REGISTERING YOUR VOTE/NOMINATION IS FRIDAY 22ND OCTOBER 2010.

To help refresh your mind, it may be an idea to come down and sample our fine cuisine! To reserve a table at The Countryman, pub and restaurant in Shipley, West Sussex. Call us on 01403 741383. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Celebrate Mid Summers Day at The Countryman pub and restaurant in West Sussex

Come down to The Countryman pub and restaurant in West Sussex on Thursday 24th June to Midsummers Day!

Enjoy the:

• ‘Bluegrass’ band in the garden: Bluegrass music is an American Folk style with Fiddles, Mandolin, Banjos & Bass… Just think of The Beverly Hillbillies!
• BBQ all evening
• Guided walk around the Knepp Estate starting from the Countryman at 5.30pm, and finishing back at the pub.
• Only £10 per person

More about Mid Summers Day, courtesy of Mysterious England: The festival is primarily a Celtic fire festival, representing the middle of summer, and the shortening of the days on their gradual march to winter. Midsummer is traditionally celebrated on either the 23rd or 24th of June, although the longest day actually falls on the 21st of June. The importance of the day to our ancestors can be traced back many thousands of years, and many stone circles and other ancient monuments are aligned to the sunrise on Midsummer’s Day. Probably the most famous alignment is that at Stonehenge, where the sun rises over the heel stone, framed by the giant trilithons on Midsummer morning.

Find out more about Blue Grass Music by clicking here.

So what are you waiting for? Call 01403 741383 to book your ticket.

Magog Morris Dance at Christs Hospital – Come and see them at The Countryman on Tuesday 25th May at 6.30pm

Believe it or not, another bank holiday (31st May) is just round the corner, and to celebrate the May Festival we are holding a special event. Yippee!

Come to The Countryman pub and restaurant in West Sussex and celebrate May festival of dance on Tuesday 25th May at 6.30pm in our famous garden. We will get the garden party going with Pimms, a hog roast, real ales and a giant Paella! OK, we know that Paella isn’t actually a traditional English dish. Think of this as a cosmopolitan evening at a traditional country pub!

Did you know?

A morris dance is an English choreographed folk dance accompanied by music. The morris dancers use props including bells, sticks, swords, handkerchiefs and tobacco pipes.

Morris dancing dates back to the 15th century, and has been popular to day in both the UK plus other countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, Cyprus, France and New Zealand. There is even the Artic Morris Group in Helskinki and Stockholm.

It is refreshing to know that English tradition is still popular abroad.

We look forward to seeing you at The Countryman very soon!

The Countryman Allotment

As you know, all the food we serve is grown locally. You can’t get much closer than The Countryman allotment.

So far we have planted swiss chard, beetroot and courgettes. Unfortunately, we had to replant our carrots as the frost got them before. You see, things like this happen to landlords too!

So keep an eye out on our menu for our allotment offerings.

The Countryman Pub and Restaurant, Shipley, West Sussex

St. George’s Day – Friday 23rd April 2010

Come and celebrate St. George’s day at The Countryman pub in Shipley, West Sussex.

We will be joined by the Sompting Village Morris Dancing Men from 7pm followed by BBQ (weather permitting) http://s-v-m.moonfruit.com/

Take Away Food at The Countryman

The Countryman restaurant and pub located in West Sussex are pleased to announce that they have recently launched a new take away menu.We listened to what our customers told us. We found out that you want to enjoy the fresh, homecooked country food, but sometimes you don’t have time to spend the whole evening relaxing – you need to get on with work or you want to stay in and catch the latest episode of EastEnders. So our takeaway service is serving the heart of Shipley, Southwater, Dial Post and Partridge Green communities! Don’t delay, give us a call and enjoy a scrumptious burger or pizza. Yum!

The moral of this story is that we take your feedback seriously, so if there is anything else you want to tell us, do please contact us via email or phone 01403 824229.

CHIPS £1.50

GARLIC BREAD £1.50

CHEESY GARLIC BREAD £2.00

MIXED VEGETABLE SELECTION £2.00

CHEFS SALAD £2.00

COUNTRYMAN FISHCAKES & CHIPS £5.00

SCAMPI & CHIPS £6.00

BATTERED FISH AND CHIPS £6.50
(Cod or plaice)

COUNTRYMAN CHEESEBURGER & CHIPS £5.50

BBQ BACK RIBS £6.50

CUMBERLAND SAUSAGE (2) & CHIPS £4.50

BATTERED SAUSAGE (2) & CHIPS £4.50

STEAK AND ALE PIE & MASH £7.00

ROAST BELLY OF PORK WITH BUBBLE & SQUEAK £7.00

CHICKEN CURRY & RICE (mild or spicy) £6.50

SPICY MEATBALLS & PASTA £6.50

PASTA WITH FRESH TOMATO SAUCE £5.50

HOMEMADE PIZZA 9” £6.00
(Tomato sauce & Cheese)

EXTRA TOPPINGS £1.00 each
Ham, Chicken, Sweet corn, Tuna, Chorizo, Peppers, Anchovies
Olives, Feta, Jalapenos, Fresh tomato, Extra Cheese

All this delicious food served straight from the kitchens of The Countryman Pub and Restaurant, Shipley, West Sussex.

Brookland White chickens served at The Countryman

We are pleased to announce that we are working with a new supplier called Brookland White Artisan Poulterers who are based in South Godstone.

Brookland White hold old fashioned values of high animal welfare, traditional outdoor rearing and low food miles. They raise and process all their birds (capons, ducks, chickens and turkeys) so you know exactly where the chickens have come from, and that they have had a good life. Brookland White chickens are not the normal ‘Free Range’ chickens that are being mass produced on large units. Instead, the chickens return to past times where traditional methods and home milled feed are used. All the food is GM free including wheat, peas, barley, oats and triticale are home grown on the farm, along with GM free soya, minerals, vitamins and spices to balance the ration. Unlike many other free range chicken producers, Brookland White do not routinely use antibiotics, instead they rely upon helping the birds to develop a healthy immune system.

Birds are naturally shy and if they have food and drink inside will often never venture out of the hut. To overcome this, the feeders and drinkers are outside to ensure that the birds spend as much time in the field as possible. In fact, the chickens have 24 hour access to the field and they are often grazing or sleeping in the moonlight. It almost sounds romantic!

When the birds are ready around about 12 weeks old (shed birds are killed at about 6 weeks) they are killed, plucked, dressed and wrapped on the farm. The birds are hung in the chiller for at least 3 days.

So when you eat chicken at The Countryman, you know that your chicken had the best life a chicken could have.

Call 01403 741383 to reserve your table, or you can click here to book a table through this website.

Catch the last glimpses of autumn with our delicious Autumn crumble cake. Did you go a bit mad and pick too many blackberries this autumn? Are they hogging space in your freezer? If so, our autumn crumble cake is an excellent excuse to use up your frozen blackberries! If you don’t have blackberries, simply use up whatever frozen fruits you may have kicking around in your freezer.

At the Countryman, we LOVE FOOD and HATE WASTE. Have you seen the website called www.lovefoodhatewaste.com? This is an excellent website which is loaded with recipes to use up your left overs plus any odds and ends which may have gone a bit manky in your fridge.

If you simply can’t be bothered to cook, or you fancy treating yourself to a night out,  then why not phone 01403 741383 and book a table so you can sample the chef’s version of our Countryman Autumn Crumble Cake.

Ingredients:

175g unsalted butter
160g golden caster sugar
4 eating apples, (Cox’s or Braeburn) peeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges

OR…
4 pears (conference or Williams) Peeled and cut into wedges
3 large free range eggs, beaten
200g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g crème fraîche
150g blackberries
3-4 tbsp clear local honey
Double cream to serve
FOR THE CRUMBLE TOPPING
50g unsalted butter
50g soft brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
75g plain flour
50g blanched hazelnuts toasted and roughly chopped
METHOD

1. Heat the oven to 180C (fan 160C) or gas 4. Butter and line a 20cm springform tin with baking parchment.
2. To make the crumble topping, melt the butter, then mix in the soft brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and chopped hazelnuts.
3. Heat 25g of butter in a large frying pan. Add 1 tbsp caster sugar and the apple/pear wedges. Cook for about 10 minutes until the apples/pears are tender and golden. Cool.
4. Beat together the remaining butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in the eggs. Using a large metal spoon, fold in the flour and baking powder. Add the crème fraîche and mix until smooth.
5. Spoon roughly two-thirds of the cake mixture into the tin, spread level and scatter over one-third of the crumble and the blackberries . Top with the remaining cake mixture and level again. Scatter on another third of the crumble and arrange the apple/pear wedges on top. Finally top with the remaining crumble.
6. Bake for about 90 mins. Loosely cover the top of the cake with a sheet of baking parchment or foil halfway through the cooking time if it is browning too quickly.
7. Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes and then transfer to a serving plate. Warm the honey and drizzle over the cake. Serve warm with double cream.

How can you not resist!

Farmer trades manure for Countryman Inn restaurant tickets

Way back in July, we told you about about our voluntary scheme and how you could earn some Countryman food vouchers. Click here to read the full story

We are pleased to tell you that a local farmer called Charlie Liverton donated 12 tons of farm manure for our garden composting. And guess what? We swapped him for a romantic meal for two, for him and his girlfriend.  We made sure he showered first though!

Manure – what does it conjure up in your mind? Upon researching the subject of manure, we came across this interesting article which we found on www.stressbuster1.com

We welcome your comments – do you think it is true?

Once upon a time, way back in the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship, including manure, as commercial fertiliser had not yet been invented. The story goes …

Manure was shipped dry, because in dry form, manure weighed a lot less than when it was wet. However, once the ship was at sea, the fertiliser became damp and it not only became heavier, but the process of fermentation began again – of which a by-product is methane gas. As the manure was stored below decks in bundles, it is obvious what happened!

Methane began would build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern – BOOOOM!

Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined just what was happening.

After the discovery, the bundles of manure were stamped with the term ‘Ship High In Transit’ on them. This meant that sailors could stow the manure high enough off the lower decks so that any water that entered into the hold, would not touch the manure and start the production of methane!

Thus evolved the term ‘S.H.I.T ‘ , (Ship High In Transport) which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.

You probably did not know the true history of this word. Neither did we!

This story is courtesy of Stressbuster1.