MICHELIN STAR CHEF TO COOK GOURMET MEAL DOWN ON THE FARM (November 2007)

Steve Smith, the only chef in the UK to win three Michelin stars at different restaurants, is to be the next guest cook at a series of gourmet meals held monthly at a Haltwhistle, Northumberland, farm which provides its own rare breed meat for its farm shop and bistro.

Head chef at award-winning Seaham Hall Hotel’s White Room Restaurant, Steve has agreed to take charge of the superbly-equipped kitchen at Herding Hill Farm bistro on the night of Friday, November 16 to cook a four-course meal using meat from the farm’s own rare breed herds.

Steve already knows a lot about Herding Hill meat because he has included it on the menus at the White Room since he started running the restaurant three years ago. When Debbie Rayson and her husband Charles who run the 80-acre farm near Hadrian’s Wall invited him to cook a gourmet meal for just over 30 guests at the farm’s bistro, Steve was delighted to accept.

The Raysons breed rare Dexter cattle, Berkshire pigs and Shropshire lambs on their small hill farm, just off the Military Road, and just over a year ago they opened their farm shop/café and bistro to sell their own produce.

They have built a growing reputation for the quality of their meat which finds its way into casseroles and other dishes, and they also sell home-made cakes, biscuits and meat pies together with locally-sourced cheeses, jams, bread, pickles and honey.

The couple have also opened up the area around the farm buildings to make it suitable for marquees to be used at weddings, birthday parties and other celebrations.

“We are now able to cater for very large parties,” says Debbie. “We are fully licensed until one o’clock in the morning and have a good wine list which includes Chablis and Champagne.”

The bistro’s Sunday lunches have proved very popular and during the recent schools’ half-term the farm shop and café were packed with families visiting nearby Hadrian’s Wall.

Debbie and Charles have recently bought another 85 acres of land near Brampton with a view to extending the business which has taken several years of hard work and much financial investment to get to the stage they have reached today. “There’s still a lot of work to be done,” says Debbie, “but we feel we are moving in the right direction.”

Tickets are now on sale at £29.95 for Steve Smith’s gourmet dinner evening. Bookings can be made by phoning Herding Hill Farm, Shield Hill, Haltwhistle. Tel:01434 320668.