We’re delighted to announce that we have won the Dorset Magazine Food and Farming 2020 Business Collaboration Award with Furleigh Estates for the Bacchus and Asparagus Gift Pack.

With the originally planned Bacchus and Asparagus Evening, scheduled for St George’s Day which is traditionally the start of the asparagus season, cancelled due to Covid 19 restrictions, discussions took place as to how something could be done to promote these two wonderful Dorset products.

The idea of a Gift Pack incorporating both wine and asparagus was suggested and much organising took place to set the wheels in motion. With the picking, sorting and delivery of the asparagus to Furleigh undertaken by us, and the order taking, packing, admin and shipping organised by Rebecca at Furleigh, twice a week for 7 weeks these two award winning products were shipped throughout the UK, to asparagus and wine lovers- a real treat during Lockdown 1.

We’re therefore delighted that the teams’ efforts have been rewarded with this award.

After a very long lay off, due to Hungry Gap starting earlier than usual for us, we’re pleased to say that vegetables are now being harvested once again.

It’s not been a very easy time, with a prolonged dry spell which has resulted in significant losses, particularly of the summer purple sprouting and the spring cabbages. It hasn’t been helped by an invasion of pigeons who have devestated the sugar snap peas, but everything else is now coming along nicely, all be it some crops haven’t produced as much as we’d hoped.

However, the French Beans, which we are growing in the tunnel, are cropping very well and we’ve had excellent pickings of broad beans. The lettuce and salad leaves are looking good and fresh and the tomatoes, which are in the tunnels, are also just starting to ripen.

Carrots look and taste excellent and even though we’ve not had as much rain as we would have liked, the potatoes are looking good – the salad ones in particular are excellent and the main crop varieties are also starting to produce good yields.

We’re just hoping that the rain will come along again soon and help the remaining vegetables on their way.

30 May 2020: Asparagus harvesting at Bothen Hill has now officially finished for the season. We’ve been picking for a full 8 weeks now, starting earlier than usual this year, so as a result we’ve also stopped earlier than usual.

We’d like to thank everyone who has supported us during this somewhat difficult season by purchasing directly from us, either via our Asparagus Station here at the farm or directly on a Friday morning or by purchasing and requesting deliveries and also from the other local outlets we have been supplying, Washingpool Farm, Modbury Farm Burton, Fruits of the Earth, Fruit N 2 Veg Beaminster, the Brace of Butchers at Poundbury and Millers at Kilmington. Also for supporting the very popular Bacchus and Asparagus On Line Gift Boxes provided by Furleigh Estate.

We just need to reassure all our lovely customers that we’re still open for Farm Gate Sales on Friday mornings until noon. We are conscious of the issues that the Coronavirus is bringing and are moving our trading outside to ensure that everyone has plenty of space and taking all possible measures with hygene and cleanliness. We will continue to supply our vegetables in this way – please do come and buy direct from us.

It’s Official – Our Asparagus is The Best!!

On Wednesday 26th June we went to The Oval in Bethnal Green for the finals of the Soil Association’s Best of Organic Markets awards. Our asparagus was short listed in the vegetable sub category of the main class – Organic Fresh Produce – and was up against carrots and mushrooms from very large growers. We were announced as winners of this category and then were against the winner of the Salad section which was The Isle of Wight Tomato Company. It was extremely exciting and we were delighted when it was announced that Bothen Hill was the overall winner. Full details can be found at https://www.soilassociation.org/organic-living/boom-award

Great excitement here at Bothen Hill as tomorrow, Wednesday 26th June we’re off to London to the Soil Association’s Best of Organic Markets (BOOM) Awards. Our Asparagus has qualified as one of the final three products in the Fresh Produce, Vegetables, section of the awards. Up against Organic Mushrooms from Aldi and Organic Carrots from R B Produce, the competition is stiff, but we think we’ve done amazingly well to get this far! We’ll post the results as soon as they are known on Twitter and Facebook, and in due course on the web site, but thank you to everyone who has supported us and for your good wishes.

Meanwhile of course there’s lots going on back at the farm! The recent rain has ensured that our transplanting schedule for calabrese, cabbage, sprouts, summer and winter PSB and leeks has been kept well up to date, such a contrast to last year. The tunnels are now full, and producing a good crop of French beans and courgettes. The tomatoes are growing well and bearing numerous fruits as are the cucumbers. In addition both the apricot and peach trees are extremely laden and we’re just hoping for some sunshine to ripen the fruits, it looks as if we are going to be fortunate in this respect.

Out in the fields the broad beans have cropped well, as have sugar snap peas. The rhubarb is still going, although not quite as red as we would like. Sweetcorn is looking good, the farmer’s expression of it being “Knee high by the 4th July” will be met, so with a good sized patch this year we’re hoping for great yields.

Beetroot and carrots are finally starting to yield well, and we’ve had good germination with parsnips and also the sown leeks; those which were transplanted are looking good.

All in all we’re looking forward to a good harvest and hope that you’ll enjoy the produce during the summer as well.

Yes, it’s all been happening here at Bothen Hill, whilst ‘Hungry Gap’ has been upon us, and longer than usual, the asparagus has certainly been keeping us very occupied! Long days, short nights and aching legs, but it’s all been very worthwhile and we’ve had a good harvest.

We were fortunate to be approached by our insurers, Cornish Mutual, to take part in their Food Heros campaign, see www.cornishmutual.co.uk/real-food-heroes/real-food-heroes/bothen-hill-west-dorset and as a result have also appeared in various newspapers and periodicals throughout the south-west, so hopefully Bothen Hill has managed to raise its profile somewhat!

Of course, farming still goes on, and we’ve been pretty busy with our routine work. As a result we’re delighted to say that as from Friday 14th June we’ll be back on our weekly box deliveries, and the list of what’s available will be updated shortly before – leaving it until the last minute to ensure everything we’ve got available is incorporated.

New potatoes have grown well and are absolutely delicious, as are all the new vegetables – we’re currently harvesting new carrots, courgettes from the tunnel, sugar snap peas, broad beans, lettuce, beetroot, calabrese and tender stem broccoli, so if you can’t wait until the 14th do call up on a Friday morning for a selection of lovely fresh vegetables for the weekend. Asparagus is still coming and we have plenty here, as do the local farm shops, Modbury Farm Shop, Washingpool Farm Shop, Millers Farm Shop and also Fruits of the Earth in Bridport.

We are now picking asparagus on a daily basis, with the lovely sunny weather yields should soon increase. Tomorrow, Saturday 20th April, we’ll be at Bridport Street Market at the junction of East and West Street with a limited amount so do arrive early!

Regrettably we have been forced to suspend deliveries for the time being due to shortage of vegetables! This is mainly caused by the exceptionally hot summer last year which resulted in a significant number of crop failures and also restricted our ability to transplant so that the crops from many of our brassicas have been much lighter than usual.

Regrettably we have been forced to suspend deliveries for the time being due to shortage of vegetables! This is mainly caused by the exceptionally hot summer last year which resulted in a significant number of crop failures and also restricted our ability to transplant so that the crops from many of our brassicas have been much lighter than usual.

At the moment we’re not able to give a start date, likely to be mid June, but the good news is that the asparagus is just about arriving! We’ll also be open for sales at the Farm Gate (7 Green Lane DT6 4ED) as usual on Friday mornings until noon when we’ll have a good selection of our remaining produce, parsnips, beetroot, spinach, kales, leeks, squash and chard available, in addition to the asparagus.  If you can’t get to us and want to place an order to be collected on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning please get in touch;  in addition we’ll have our asparagus at Bridport Street Market (junction of East and West Street, outside Steptoes) on Saturday mornings and will also have it here with an honesty box. 

We look forward to seeing you on a Friday and will be back just as soon as we’ve got sufficient produce to service everyone!

We’re gearing up now for a bumper summer, as long as the weather permits! Planting here at Bothen Hill started back in January when early cabbages and calabrese were sown in modules – these have now been planted out and are fleeced to keep them warm and, hopefully, protected from pigeons!

We also planted leeks, onions, garlic, carrots and even the new potatoes. Many of these are growing well, although we’ve yet to see the potatoes emerge.

The broad beans, which were planted before Christmas, are well up and nearly in flower, so we’re hoping that these will be early. The first rhubarb is also very tasty and hopefully there should be a good supply of this soon.

Meantime, we’re continuing to plant in the tunnel, which is very full, and hopefully the main crop potatoes will soon be in the ground.

All in all, things are looking good!