Ayrshire’s Extendable Farm Business Model

Chicken Pot Pie at Hunter's Head Tavern

Driving through the surroundings of Middleburg, Virginia (Fauquier County) to reach this weekend’s local foodie destination in Upperville,  fox hunting is apparently the sport of choice in the area deemed “Virginia H-U-N-T country”.  The locals’ affinity for English things is also noticed in the red telephone booths typical of London in front of several businesses, including Hunter’s Head Tavern (9048 John S. Mosby Hwy).  As we were parking the car, a wave of British patrons exited the tavern, and I now wondered if these phone booths were actually some sort of Dr. Who travel vessel.  Of course, the fare on the tavern’s menu was also typical British.  While the jaw-dropping surrounding countryside and charming streets and businesses of both Middleburg and Upperville extended the trip into late afternoon, the tavern was our first stop  since I came to explore how it was integrated into an extendable local sustainable farm business model. 

Ayrshire Farm,  located in Upperville at 21846 Trappe Road, is a fully-certified organic, humane and USDA-inspected farm, raising heritage breed livestock.  The farm itself is spectacular and the original plantation house dates back to 1821.  Ayrshire Farm also owns and supplies its farm products to three local retail establishments: Home Farm Store, a traditional Butcher Shop, in what appears to be a former bank building, sells organic, local, and other specialty foods with a loft old-fashioned soda bar, in Middleburg, Virginia, Hunter’s Head Tavern in Upperville, Virginia and Home Farm Catering Company offering catering for private on-farm (a spectacular dreamy site), tavern or off-site events.  Ayrshire Farm products are also available at the Inn of Little Washington and Nora’s Restaurant. 

Hunter’s Head Tavern is a deservedly popular neighborhood spot and an authentic English Pub that serves pub fare, fine dining cuisine, and mouthwatering homemade desserts. At Hunter’s Head Tavern, you can experience organic local farm meats and produce harvested from neighboring Ayrshire Farm.  From burgers and bangers, to roasted chickens, to veal and pork chops, Hunter’s Head Tavern provides a unique opportunity for customers to have confidence that their meals come from a farm dedicated to maintaining the health and well being of its animals.  After almost 100 years as a tenant house, antique shop, and office, current owner Sandy Lerner’s efforts in 1997 to open a restaurant in Upperville were repeatedly blocked, particularly by the monied horsy set. Consequently, fox hunters are not allowed to cross her property, and her disdain for them is reflected in the restaurant’s name: Hunter’s Head.

Wonderful domestic and imported beers are available on tap, along with an excellent wine selection including local and organic wines. Five different dining rooms and extensive outdoor seating during the summer season, provide a dynamic dining experience including family-friendly, romantic, and neighborhood pub-style.  The Tavern also accommodates private parties.

There are some striking original remnants, such as fireplaces, walls and mantles, of the 1750s log cabin built by Scotsman Steven McPherson, known as the Old Carr House for a second-generation Irishman Joseph Carr who bought the farm and cabin and later opened a general store as well as founded Upperville.  The ordering system is true British tavern style. Guests place an order at the bar’s open Dutch door and then take a numbered wooden spoon to be placed in the empty wine bottle sitting on the table; servers look for your number and deliver your order directly to your table in one of the atmospheric tavern rooms or outside on the terrace, in good weather. 

The Tavern continues its British heritage by serving organic Scottish Highland cattle and Gloucestershire Old Spot hogs. It stews its beef in Guinness, makes its Welsh rarebit with English Cheddars, and lays out tea midweek and seasonal custard year-round. My dining partner enjoyed the bangers and potatoes, a very generous portion that I was happy to share since my puff pastry-topped chicken pot pie turned out to be the smallest entree on the menu. Chips here, of course, mean french fries.  It should be pointed out that despite the name, Hunter’s Head is not only carnivore country. Lighter and vegetarian options include salmon and tuna, a variety of salads and seafood Caesars as well as vegetarian versions of either the pot or shepherd’s pie.  I will definitely be back to explore more of the menu!

Open for dinner daily; afternoon tea Tue-Wed-Thu;
Lunch Tues-Sunday; 540-592-9020
Outdoor seating available in good weather.
http://www.huntersheadtavern.com/

The Carriage House Market – bringing natural foods and the art of dining to local tables

I had to sit down and begin this blog entry the morning after visiting the Sheppard Mansion’s recent addition of the all-natural, all local, year-round Carriage House Market in the rear of their property.  I am postponing my morning bike ride while my mouth is still watering from the breakfast of my purchases of their delectable freshly baked bread, goat cheese (from Spriggs Delight Farm), and the most flaky layered sticky bun this Pennsylvania Dutch boy has ever had.  Having read about these sticky buns on Chef Andrew Little’s blog for weeks as he was promoting the opening of the market, and then seeing him personally deliver them from the Sheppard Mansion’s kitchen to the market table, I had to get out of bed early this morning knowing that they were waiting downstairs.

Chef Little’s blogs and posts always exude his passion, humor, creativity in presentation and twists on old favorites,  and dedication to the highest quality ingredients so well that you can almost taste his food; however, the biggest draw for me to the market, that’s a drive 70 miles just over the Maryland border in lieu of the Takoma Park Farmers Market, is Chef Little’s unequaled and award-winning dedication to promoting local farm-to-table, humane and sustainable dining.  Let me tell you, it was well worth the drive and I will be back again soon.  I had the great pleasure of learning that this dedication is shared by the owners of the mansion, sisters Heather Sheppard Lunn and Kathryn Sheppard Hoar, whose great grandparents were the original resident owners of the mansion.  The idea for the market initially evolved from positive feedback from people who were invited to meet local producers at the annual fall Harvest dinner designed to thank the producers.  Heather, the lead managing owner and visionary of The Carriage House Market, was very gracious to give me her time to detail her passionate vision and purpose for the market, despite streams of customers flocking through the doors throughout our conversation.

 Built in 1913, the mansion was totally restored in 1999 to provide a full-service inn featuring 6 guest rooms with sumptuous overnight accommodations.  The elegant Dining Room and Cocktail Lounge opened approximately five years ago and offers ever-changing menus to the local community Wednesday through Saturday nights, and Chef’s Tasting Menus are offered on weekends with optional wine pairings.  Opened on October 29th to an apparently amazing reception, where visitors could actually “meet the meat” still walking on all fours and some of the producers, The Carriage House Market is a broader extension of The Sheppard Mansion’s commitment to connecting people to fresh, natural foods grown and produced on nearby farms.   The carriage house has a history of family members “tinkering and discovering” with special projects, Heather and Kathryn’s father used to repair a collection of antique cars here.  So, naturally, now having two young daughters herself who are experimenting with new foods on a daily basis, Heather wanted the market to be a place for families as well as the ever-growing number of local Foodies, who have compromised the broadest sense of demographics already in the first fourteen days of the market.  In wanting to connect people with their food and learn about the producers, Heather was also very conscious of bringing as many producers of quality products within 100 miles to the market so that customers could lessen their carbon foot print by doing one-stop shopping for local sustainable foods.

 An important element of Heather’s vision is to extend this sense of connection to food bought in the market back to family dinner tables by encouraging people to build stronger personal connections with each other through the meals they share and more regularity in family meals and sharing home-cooked meals with others in the community.  In other words, she intends to bring local food AND families back to the table!  (She believes that the fifteen-thirty minutes at the table can be the most productive and rewarding of the day.)  Heather uniquely demonstrates her vision through an amazingly refined rustic and engaging presentation and design of the market.  After slowly making my way through the primary area of the market, reading about each and every local food producer, I was delighted to discover that the market extended through a door to a smaller room that first appeared to be a very elegant dining room.   A main marketing strategy Heather is employing to accomplish her mission is promoting the concept of “bringing the lost art of dining back to the table” by carefully selecting pieces customers could use to adorn their tables and make the meals that much more special and alluring.  This room does not showcase any food item, but rather Heather has created an artful ambiance through servingware products, French linens (the one exception to the ‘local only’ rule), fresh organic flowers from Windbourne Farms, and other tableware to inspire customers to be more deliberate and whimsical in setting the tables and atmosphere in which they will eat foods from the market.  Some of these great finds include hand-thrown and hand-produced stoneware from Hanover that is normally only sold at craft fairs, kid-safe dishware, wooden crafted spoons and cutting boards by Chester P. Basil, and an eclectic display of antique pieces (“the prettiest form of recycling”) to add “a sense of elegance to the table”.  Additionally, the market offers great host(ess) gifts or stocking stuffers such as ‘Wash Your Mouth Out’ soaps.  Since my visit, I hear you wouldn’t believe the amazing quality and presentation of the fresh holiday wreaths from Windbourne Farms!

 

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Back to the food! -  among many more offerings, at the Carriage House Market you will find milk and butter from Apple Valley Creamery, vinegar and honey from Willow Pond Farm, cider and jams from Latimore Valley Farm, Beevia Farms home-made granola, nitrate and hormone-free natural meats and eggs from Rettland Farm and the full line of Toigo Orchards value-added natural farm products like Bourbon Peaches, ‘Birth of Pain’ Bloody Mary Mix or heirloom tomato sauces & salsas.  Lancaster Fine Foods is apparently a great nearby resource that serves as a certified test and production kitchen for expanding the number of local producers who could extend their season with value-added natural farm products.  Of course, Chef Little is contributing to the mix as well with fresh soups, breads, pretzel rolls and those above-mentioned sticky bun delights – which get sold within minutes of being in the market.  By the way, you can also enjoy fresh coffee with that sticky bun and I hear Christmas cookies are now being sold as well.

I see lots of growth and success for this market.  The enterprising team at Sheppard Mansion is already expanding their niche and offerings by developing their own kitchen garden/farmette and will provide local  beers and regular beer tasting at the market by Christmas, pending the final blessing of their permit. Heather intends to include cookbooks that specialize in grass-fed meat and locally grown produce. 

Look for “The Carriage House Market” on Facebook or visit for yourself at 117 Frederick Street, Hanover, Pennsylvania, in the rear of the Sheppard Mansion,  Wednesdays through Fridays 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. or Saturdays 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.  Telephone (717) 633-7500.  Follow Chef Little’s blog at http://www.chefandrewlittle.blogspot.com/