Collection Magazine - Issue 1 - Autumn/Winter 22/23 - Magazine - Page 69
O U R F R I E N D S I N T H E N O RT H —
67
Meet the Producers
Lizzie Billington
Nicola Green
Graham Kirkham
What inspired you to start up the
distillery in Bowland? “My family
are fourth generation farmers in
the area and I suppose I’ve always
been the black sheep! We’ve
always considered gin to be the
‘after milking’ drink and we just got
bored with all these mediocre new
fashionable gins that required all
kinds of flavoured tonics. We just
wanted to make a gin that could be
poured with plain tonic for people in
a hurry. After 47 different attempts,
we made something we loved in
2019 and it’s all been a journey
from there!”
What inspired you to make goat’s
milk ice cream in Bowland? “My
daughter, called Rosy, is one year old
and we found out soon after she was
born that she’s lactose intolerant. My
husband Matt and I are dairy farmers
but we started keeping goats too a
few years back. We decided to try
and use the milk to make some ice
cream for Rosy to eat and it was a
huge hit with my other kids too!”
Mrs. Kirkham’s cheese has been
around since 1978 — what changes
have you seen in the Bowland
region since then? “The food scene
in Britain was pretty dull back then
but the producers in Lancashire have
always been here. I think the change
has come through farmers’ markets
and cookery TV shows becoming a
big deal in the 1990s. It got everyone
interested in where their food comes
from and the stories behind it.”
Wild Fox Gin Distillery
What makes the Forest of Bowland
so special as a food producing
hotspot? “I think it’s just an innate
passion that people in this area
have. We’re so lucky to have such an
abundance of produce and incredible
land in the Forest of Bowland.
We’ve always been makers and
doers up here and I think there’s
a real emphasis on quality over
quantity. The land is so versatile
too. For example, juniper berries
generally prefer sandy soil but we’ve
just managed to get our own juniper
bushes into shape and they’ll be
introduced into our gins soon.”
Rosy Goat Ice Cream
What makes the Forest of Bowland
so special as a food producing
hotspot? “It’s the support network,
I think. When one of the producers
here wins an award or gets
recognition, it’s like we all win. And
nobody treads on each other’s
toes. There must be about five
cheesemakers within a few miles
of where I live but we’re all doing
something slightly different and it all
does feel very collaborative.”
Apart from your own, what’s
your favourite Bowland based
product and why? “There’s a
cheesemaker in Garstang called
Dewlay who make absolutely brilliant
traditional Lancashire cheese and
lots of cheddars, too.
facebook.com/rosygoaticecream
Apart from your own, what’s your
favourite Bowland based product
and why? “I have to say Rosy Goat
Ice Cream. My kids literally never
touched another ice cream brand
again after trying it for the first
time! And I love the Blacksticks
Blue cheese made by Butler’s.
We’re totally separate enterprises
but I love that the cheese they create
comes from milk made by the cows
on our farm!”
wildfoxdistillery.co.uk
Mrs. Kirkham’s Cheese
What makes the Forest of Bowland
so special as a food producing
hotspot? “It’s not too commercial
in the way that other rural counties
like Somerset have become, I think.
And there’s such a rich history here
to the producers. My grandmother
made cheese her whole life and
passed down the skills to my
mother who started Kirkham’s 44
years ago. Once there were over
200 unpasteurised cheese makers
in Lancashire but when rationing
came in, most either closed down
or switched to cheddar as semi-soft
cheese wasn’t considered suitable
for travel. So, we’re now the last raw
milk cheese maker in the whole
of Lancashire. It’s stories like that
which really get people intrigued
and passionate, I think.”
Apart from your own, what’s
your favourite Bowland based
product and why? I absolutely
love Goosnargh; it’s a really
distinctive gin that’s made in
Bowland that has such a fresh, clear
taste. I think we have the best vine
tomatoes which I love to have on a
toasted slice of sourdough that I buy
from a bakers called Lovingly Artisan.
For my money, they make the very
best sourdough bread that you will
ever eat anywhere in Britain.”
mrskirkhamscheese.co.uk
