A north Northumberland farm in the Till Valley, eight miles west of Berwick and three miles from the Scottish Border, is Britain’s ’Most Beautiful Farm’.
Tiptoe Farm, run by husband-and-wife Anthony and Lucy Carroll, who specialise in growing gourmet heritage potatoes, is outright winner of a competition organised by Bayer Crop Science and Farm Life magazine.
Tiptoe’s success was due not only to the farm’s setting in the lovely Till Valley but to the environmental measures practised by the Carrolls to encourage wildlife, flowers and bird life, as well as the success of the heritage potato business. The judges said beauty and efficiency go hand-in-hand at Tiptoe.
The Carroll family have farmed at Tiptoe since the 1930’s but it was only in 2002 that Anthony and Lucy decided to experiment with six varieties of heritage potatoes on a five-acre plot on the farm which, until then, had grown more modern types of spuds, mainly for supermarkets.
"The problem was the big stores were looking for potatoes that were uniform in size and shape and many perfectly good ones were rejected because they were misshapen or ugly, in their opinion," said Anthony.
Such has been the success of Carroll’s Heritage Potatoes that today they are in much demand by chefs in top restaurants in England and Scotland and feature in recipes in glossy publications on both sides of the Border. The Carrolls were also listed as one of celebrity chef Rick Stein’s Food Heroes.
This year some 20 varieties of heritage potatoes are being farmed on 50 acres at Tiptoe.
Some species go back to the 19th century. Included in the farm’s main crop are Pink Fir Apple (1850), Ratte (1872), Red Duke of York (1942), British Queen (1894), Dunbar Rover (1936), Shetland Black (1923), Highland Burgundy Red (1936) and Arran Victory (1918).
Although some of the crops might not qualify as beauties, according to Anthony they are top for flavour, interesting colours, odd shapes and unique cooking qualities. " They also give customers a taste of history, " he says.
Carroll’s heritage potatoes are sold directly to the public at farmers’ markets in Edinburgh and Glasgow. They are also distributed to chefs and retail outlets, via the company’s website, www.heritage-potatoes.co.uk. The company also supplies Booth Food Stores in the North West of England as well as many small fine food outlets.
Tiptoe Farm has been awarded LEAF (Linking the Environment and Farming) accreditation which is the backbone of its farming practices, says Anthony. Some examples of this are the six-metre grass strips in the fields, with herbs and flower mixtures to encourage bees and birds.
