Top farming award for Killerton Estate

Eleven South West products (27 nationally) were bestowed with one of the food and farming industry’s highest honours, a National Trust Fine Farm Produce Award, at BBC Countryfile Live yesterday, with Tregullas Farm, the most southerly farm on mainland Britain, winning the National Trust’s first-ever ‘Farming with Nature’ award.

Winner of the Overall Drinks Award, the Killerton Estate near Exeter is one of the largest estates looked after by the National Trust, and one of Devon’s most innovative producers.

As pure as can be, its moreish sweet-sharp apple juice is pressed using traditional West Country dessert apples grown in the Acland family’s orchards at Killerton. No chemicals are used and the orchards are a real haven for wildlife. Straight after harvesting, the juice is locally made for sale on the estate.

“Harvesting the apples by hand is a real team effort,” said Fiona Hailstone, Killerton’s Produce Ranger. “Everyone from volunteers, National Trust staff and locals get involved.

“All the products we make, including our cider, honey and charcoal, are born from a passion to manage the countryside in a sustainable way,” explains Fiona. “Any profits from sales go straight back into conservation work on the orchards.”

The annual National Trust Fine Farm Produce Awards [2] celebrate the very best produce from the National Trust’s 1,500 tenant farmers and estates.

Rob Macklin, Head of Food and Farming added: “Now in its 11th year, our Fine Farm Produce Awards are setting an increasingly high standard for sustainable food production.”

Products not only have to excel in the obligatory taste test, but entrants also have to pass a checklist of environmental standards to guarantee the quality and origin of ingredients alongside high standards of production.

For more information about the awards and to find out more about this year’s award winning products and producers, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fine-farm-produce-awards