SCAFELL - PORTRAIT OF A MOUNTAIN by Bill Birkett.
BOOK REVIEW
Printed in
China .
ISBN 978 0 7112 2724 8.
Size 257 x
313 mm (101/8”x 123/8”).
176 pages, 198
mainly colour photos (56 of these full page
size or nearly so).
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Limited, London.
£20.00.
On sale locally at Langdale Co-op, Chapel
Stile, Touchstone, Skelwith Bridge, Fred
Holdsworth Books, Central Buildings, Ambleside,
Wearings Bookshop, Lake Rd., Ambleside,
and Sam Read, Broadgate, Grasmere.
This large size lavishly illustrated book by local author Bill Birkett is a must for walkers and mountaineers who have ventured on “the Pikes of Scafell” (early name) especially if they didn’t quite make it to the top! It deals in detail with the five principal ways of approaching this ultimate challenge (for many of us, me included), arguably England’s finest as well as highest peak.
Bill Birkett’s background makes this book important; born and living locally, as well as being an established author and an accomplished photographer and climber, he deals adequately with expert photography and text through the seasons, as well as showing his keen interest in the history, topography, geology and flora and fauna of central Lakeland . He recognises where walkers could have difficulties by his careful description of routes; the many individual maps are very helpful.
Anecdotes abound; from the acute observations of Will Ritson, founder of the Wasdale Head Inn from 1856, through tales of climbing accidents and survival, of Coleridge’s remarkable descent of the walker’s dilemma: Broad Stand, and of the many outstanding individuals who have played a part in the area. Above all, a book to be cherished when instead of walking the fells, you are kept inside, and have the luxury of letting your thoughts run riot on what you might have achieved, had you tried that little bit harder in your prime! DW
A NEW LANGDALE COMPANY!
The Cumbrian Way Food Company began its trading life last summer but had been at least two years previous to that in the making. So that the company is true to its name, suitable kitchen premises had to be found on or near the ‘Cumbrian Way’ in Langdale.
A barn, owned by Mark and Hugh Parker which was superfluous to requirements as well as being located actually on the Cumbrian Way was identified and the task of conversion to a commercial kitchen commenced after a long drawn out process of applying for the various consents in accordance with Planning, Trading Standards, Health & Safety and food hygiene regulations. The exterior of the barn was to remain as it was, but the interior, Tardis - like, was to be transformed into a state of the art, high specification, commercial kitchen together with an office.
Responsible for this miraculous conversion were Mike and Jason Spedding who managed to triumph over a number of difficult and unforeseen problems of the sort which always seem to arise in any building project.
On one occasion, it looked as if the whole edifice might collapse as an interior wall was found to have no foundations and began to lean alarmingly! More than a few grey hairs and a good dollop of blood, sweat and tears later, the problem was solved by the genius of Mike and his ‘I’m not going to let this beat me’ approach.
He and Jason needed a very stiff drink at the end of that particular day! As they said ‘Its not hard hats you need for this job, it’s a pair of running shoes!’
The aim of setting up the company was two fold. Being very much inspired by the number and variety of high quality small producers and growers in the north west (which frequent forays into ‘The Taste of Cumbria’ marquees at the various local shows had highlighted) and a growing awareness of the need to reduce ‘food miles’, we were convinced it was more than possible to produce good wholesome frozen dishes using mainly Cumbrian produce and produce from the north west.
There were to be no additives or preservatives and no fancy frills. While items such as vanilla pods needed for the baked vanilla cheesecake really strained the food miles ethos, as far as humanly possible, the produce used is sourced in Cumbria or the north west of England-another reason for the name being The Cumbrian Way Food Company!
The company has been incredibly lucky in having as its chef Jason Spedding (yes, the very same Jason who helped convert the barn and install the kitchen—at least he could call the shots on the type of kitchen he wanted!) Jason, as many will know, is a highly talented qualified chef (building being among his many other skills) whose food is without doubt among the best we’ve ever tasted. At the outset, there was a fairly steep learning curve since his career as chef in a number of well known Lake District hotels had not required him to produce batches of food purely for freezing. Getting to grips with deciding on portion size, how the food was to be presented in the packaging trays and the ins and outs of freezing the different dishes had to be learned rather quickly. An intensive period of experimentation and trying out recipes on family and friends in Chapel Stile went on—also on the staff at Wheelwrights who all volunteered enthusiastically to test the various dishes. The results of these tastings were scored and resulted in the arrival of the first menu.
In the meantime, we needed some excellent packaging which would catch the eye, so we turned to Kim and Daniel Bennett, a very talented local husband and wife team in the design and printing business who have produced excellent work for the Hawkshead Relish Company as well as for Wheelwrights. There was much debate over size and type of trays, how best to fit the ‘sleeves’ around the trays and how to design the sleeves so that the labelling would fit properly. Here Trading Standards officers provided excellent assistance in guiding us through the mass of information which nowadays has to be stated on all food labels—it’s an awful lot and takes up an inordinate amount of room! This particular minefield was negotiated with skill and hard work by Sarah Schofield who worked out all the %ages and proportions of ingredients to each dish and put together the information for the labels. Between Trading Standards, Sarah’s ability to calculate and make sense of the software used in producing the labels and Kim’s creative expertise, we believe we’ve reached a very satisfactory outcome.
So at last we had the kitchen, we had the chef, we had the packaging—now we had to try and identify our market and the best way to reach it. Given that there are so many visitors to Langdale staying in self-catering properties, we were lucky initially in being able to tap into this market via Wheelwrights cottages.
However, the local market is vitally important and helping us reach this has been Jeremy at the Langdale Co-op in Chapel Stile and Liz and Steve Flower at Maple Tree Corner in Elterwater. Our goal now is to reach the wider Cumbrian market place comprising locals and visitors alike. To that end we are now concentrating our efforts on marketing the meals to the many delicatessens, specialist food and farm shops (such as Low Sizergh Barn) within the county and westward into parts of Yorkshire as well as to some of the other self-catering cottage companies and those caravan parks which have their own shops on site.
It’s early days yet but hopefully Jason’s undoubted skill in producing delicious frozen meals which reflect the variety, quality and excellence of Cumbrian produce will play a small but significant part in putting Langdale on the food map of north west England. So, make room Lucy’s of Ambleside, Munx bakery of Staveley, Plumgarths of Kendal et al; the Cumbrian Way Food Company of Langdale would like to join you in letting people know that Cumbria is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to food!
To contact The Cumbrian Way Food Company please call Jason Spedding, LouIse Bowness or Sue Lewindowski on 015394 37463 or email: food@cumbrianwayfood.co.uk. Address: The Barn at Thrang Farm Chapel Stile Ambleside Cumbria LA22 9JJ Viv Bass
