This week, the students on KMTV's Year In Television course are looking at the natural businesses that can be found throughout the Garden of England.
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00:00Hello and welcome to Made in Kent live on KMTV. I'm Arthur Navarro-Allen and this week
00:25we're seeing how Kent earns its title as the Garden of England. We're checking out a whole
00:30host of businesses that get their products directly from the ground beneath us. But first
00:36we went to Rochester to ask people there whether they think businesses could do more for the
00:41environment they draw from.
00:43The way the world's going at the minute, you've got to be more conscious about what you do,
00:47especially businesses with like plastics, you know what I mean, like ocean life, turtles
00:52and the like. And the way the business is just throwing and spilling away, it's ridiculous.
00:58Yes, they should be conscious of the environment, what they use and how they go about doing
01:03things like with their products, like with plastics and stuff like that. But on the other
01:08side of it, it's not really, it's everyone's problem, not just theirs, you know what I mean.
01:14I think if they're ethically kind of motivated, then yeah, I would be tempted to kind of shop
01:19with them a bit more and buy their products if I knew that they were offsetting some of
01:23the impacts that the environment might take through the production of their products and
01:27whatnot.
01:28Oh yeah, I do a lot of farm shops and stuff. I would try to go to as many as I can, but
01:32the cost of living, I can't really afford it because they're only paying for what they
01:36could pay. When you get all the big process ones, like Morrisons, Asdors and all that
01:39sort of thing, you've got no choice sometimes but to pay for the cheaper option that doesn't
01:44help the environment.
01:45Yeah, I think there's a, like how much waste there is, it's just a bit crazy. So I'm all
01:52for the charity shops more than anything, so nothing gets wasted.
01:56We're the virus on this planet, you know what I mean, we're the ones that are destroying
02:00it, you know. It's only going to get better if we all pull together and do it amongst
02:06ourselves.
02:07I would hope that they could do more, but we could certainly support them by buying
02:11local, minimising food miles, and hopefully it'll be win-win in the end, but not straight
02:17away.
02:18And it certainly seems that businesses that focus on the environment are popular. So let's
02:24take a deeper dive into places in Kent that work with the natural world. That's the case
02:29at Huckleberry Woods, whose animal farm is sort of everything from pigs to alpacas. Well,
02:35earlier I spoke to Belinda Neal, the general manager at Huckleberry Woods, about how they've
02:40been transforming their business to bring the beauty of the local orchard to the public.
02:45Belinda, thank you so much for joining us here. What inspired the woods to first offer
02:51this experience?
02:52Well, it depends how far back you want to go. We wanted to set up something that offered
03:03people something really, really different in terms of animal experiences. There's a
03:09huge amount of research that shows that spending time in the natural world, and in particular
03:16amongst animals, is really, really beneficial for people's mental and physical health. So
03:23that was kind of where we started from. And we wanted to develop something where animals
03:29were not just to be seen in paddocks waiting for food, if that makes sense. We managed to secure
03:36a beautiful natural orchard with loads and loads of trees and just natural, beautiful sounds.
03:43And added to this orchard, a whole variety of animals that people generally can't get that
03:48close to. And where possible, we let the animals free range around people. So if you come here,
03:57the idea is that you spend time peacefully in nature, surrounded by free ranging animals.
04:03Since the introduction of this orchard, how much has the business grown?
04:08We started on the 18th of March 2018, we opened our doors. And we were quite nervous,
04:16we couldn't believe that anybody would come. And we were quite nervous about people coming. And
04:22I think we offered people free cakes to come. So there was a huge incentive. And it kind of grew
04:28from there. So I think the first time somebody came was somebody I'd met dog walking, and I
04:33mentioned what we were doing. And they kind of arrived on day one. And an awful lot of, you know,
04:41how the word spreads about us is word of mouth. So without social media, I think we'd be in a very
04:47different place, we were very lucky to have, in particular, Facebook has done wonders for us,
04:52because people share their content, and pictures of the animals wandering around and feeding the
04:58animals. Why do you think it's so important for people to connect with nature in the modern day,
05:03people who have their teenage formative years during COVID, understandably, they have,
05:09you know, more anxiety than perhaps we've had in previous generations. But for everybody,
05:15it's really, really important to spend time in nature. It kind of puts things in perspective a
05:20little bit, if you're actually grounded, and just sort of contemplating what goes on. I mean,
05:27the orchard's been here for centuries and centuries, it started life as a cherry orchard.
05:32And it will be here for centuries to come, in some form or another. So it's just very grounding for
05:38people. So nature, just sitting around looking at the robins, they come and feed out of your hand,
05:44we've got chaffinches, all sorts of different birds here. But also having an alpaca come up and
05:50give you a kiss on the cheek, sheep wandering around, donkeys coming up,
05:56it's something that's really unique. And animals themselves are very grounding, just spending time
06:04calmly, at peace with animals that are choosing to come to you to interact with you, rather than
06:12merely waiting by a fence, waiting for food, is actually an amazing feeling.
06:18Right, thank you so much for your time today, Belinda.
06:22You're very welcome. It's been great to talk to you.
06:26Now that we've learned the importance of spaces that connect people to nature,
06:30let's go down to the countryside and visit one ourselves. Alga Lodge Farm in Deel boasts a range
06:36of products, all sourced directly from local farms in Kent. Azaria Gale has more.
06:42I went to meet with Richard and Rose, who work at Alga Lodge Farm, a popular farmer's market
06:48featuring a cafe, butchery and bakery, to find out how important sustainability is to the business's
06:54core values. We try and put in as much locally where possible, which isn't always doable,
06:59depends on the seasons. So that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to give a high quality
07:04local product and produce to our customers. And everything from the shop we try to reuse,
07:13you know, like vegetables and sweets and any part that goes before the expiry date.
07:19Sustainability is important to Alga Lodge. It's something we take quite seriously. As you can see
07:24from around, we are quite sustainable here, as in the soda farm over there, which obviously is ours
07:30and we use that, we pump back into the grid. We have our own water supplies, we have our own
07:36spring water, which we use. So we try and stay as sustainable as possible from that point of view,
07:41and also from the products that we're buying. We're buying from producers that are sustainable
07:45as well, just to help along with the system and eco environment as well. But what is unique
07:50about Alga Lodge Farm that separates them from other local farm shops? So I think for us every
07:55week is like a challenge, isn't it? It's like we provide everything from scratch. Like for example,
08:02for this week we have the pancake week, so we decide to come up with different flavours so the
08:08customer could enjoy, you know, for the pancake day. But every single week we provide something
08:14different that it can go for every single customer, as they start from gluten-free, vegans or normal.
08:22We try and be local where possible. It isn't always possible to do that. Things are seasonal,
08:28but people in this day and age, they want it all year round. From my point of view in the butchery,
08:33I want everything to be as ethical as possible in the farming, and it has to be farmed correctly.
08:38And if that means I need to go further afield, we go further afield. But the bottom
08:44line is it has to be quality. We can't have anything that's not of a good quality.
08:50And I think that's basically the foundations of this whole business. Everything has to be
08:57good quality. Azaria Gayle for KMTB.
09:01Now, Kent has a long and storied history of producing cider with the apples from our many
09:07orchards. And here to talk with me more on this topic is Jake Turner, who has been looking into
09:12some of our more notable cider companies. Jake, thank you for joining me. Yeah, so obviously,
09:16being the Garden of England, Kent is home to many different fruit orchards that produce cider
09:23with an industry that goes back even as far as the Romans. We have a lot of innovative modern
09:29family businesses and historical family farms that really have that kind of dedication to being both
09:36natural and sustainable. And what are some examples of cider companies here in Kent?
09:41Yeah, so we've got the Kentish Pip, which is based at Waltham Farm near Canterbury.
09:47It was founded in 2012, sorry, and has been growing apples for 100 years across four
09:54generations. Originally growing fruit and veg, has now turned into a mixed crop farm
10:01and a drinks business as well. And they even have a small vineyard to produce wine on top of all
10:09that. Mark Mountain, the founder, milled and piped the apples by hand in his garden before
10:14starting the business. And alongside his wife Rosie, he began to develop other homemade
10:19produce like hedgegrow jelly and elderflower cordial. They only use fresh apples and pears
10:27made from concentrate. They don't add any artificial sugars. They don't, you know,
10:34add any of these stuff. And can you give us another example of a family business here in
10:38Kent that you've been looking at? Yeah, so we've also got Canterbury Cider,
10:42which has been operated since 2015 by the Malan family. And basically it started with Robert
10:50Malan and his father, Peter, decided to produce cider in old sherry barrels before the Sunken
10:56Farmyard at Bilting Grange. They're currently looking at old recipes that he used in order
11:02to produce cider wine in a similar way. Robert followed in his father's footsteps and worked on
11:10the farm initially as a shepherd at the age of 16. And he started it as a hobby and now runs
11:16Canterbury Cider with his wife Catherine and eldest son George, who has returned to the farm
11:22from university to work alongside his parents. The apples are sourced from local fruit farms in
11:28the North Downs of Kent. Thank you for that. That was very interesting. But unfortunately,
11:34that's all we've got time for here in Made in Kent, live on KMTV. From me, from everyone on
11:40this show, we wish you a very pleasant evening and we'll see you soon.
11:58Bye.