Farm-Fresh Take On Fine Dining
Eight at Gazegill’s delicious mix of sustainable farming, foraging and fine dining is making it the must-visit destination for culinary excellence. Kate Bowyer takes a mouth-watering tour through their seasonal evening tasting menu
If you think you’ve experienced farm to fork, think again. At Eight at Gazegill, set in rolling countryside outside Gisburn, just 20 minutes from Clitheroe, you can literally trace the footsteps bringing each home-grown, picked, foraged and raised element of your meal to the restaurant door. Then watch award-winning chef patron, Doug Crampton, work his culinary magic in the open kitchen, unashamedly willing every tempting dish to your table.
“There are over 80 species of grasses, plants, herbs and wildflowers growing on the farm, giving Doug a far wider and more imaginative palate of flavours than most chefs have access to. Foraging on these makes meat from our organic, outdoor-raised, rare-breed pigs and Shorthorn cattle more tender, with far greater depth of flavour. We use every piece of the animal, too. It’s sustainable, respectful and gives greater scope to be creative,” explains restaurant manager Kimberley Talbot, who worked at Northcote, where she first met Doug during one of the renowned ‘Obsession’ food festivals.
Family friendly with an area of free-ranging animals, raw milk soft-serve ice cream and children’s play area, Gazegill is a popular destination for adults and children alike, but evening offerings are for fine dining and an adult-only environment.
Kim adds: “Friday and Saturday evening service is 6.30pm to 8.30pm, and we’d love for couples to think of this as their weekend haven of adult time, with no kids, no work stress and no worries – your table is yours throughout.
“So, whether you’re a romantic couple, with friends or in a group, you can take your time, luxuriate, taste, drink, chat and catch-up. Pre-booking ensures we source and cook exactly enough – no waste – and we can accommodate dietary requirements. I think Friday nights are becoming increasingly popular because it’s a fantastic way to bookend the working week, unwind and refresh, ready for a great weekend. We’ve deliberately kept these evenings to adults-only for this reason.”
At other times there’s plenty to delight younger customers. From Gazegill’s delicious ice cream and a dedicated children’s menu to free roaming piglets, they’re certainly not missing out.
There’s also the luxurious, seasonally-responsive, five-course Taste of Gazegill exceptional dining experience, giving the entire farming, kitchen and service teams the chance to finesse and extend, with a tempting Sunday lunch or brunch.
So, what has Kim offered me this evening on the adults-only, fine-dining menu?
My signature wood-roasted Gazegill beef, rich in smoky tones, is dressed with woodland mushrooms still fresh from picking. Two-timing with the vegetarian menu, the same roasting produces the most satisfying and moreish cauliflower I have ever eaten, complemented with artichoke barley risotto and charred corn.
This is after I was regretfully parted from starters, which have already become stars in their own right. First is the deceptively innocuous, barbecue carrot, cooked and wood-fire finished in its own juices for an endorphin-hit sweet wallop, which could convert the most committed vegetable-phobe.
Then there’s the home-cured chipolatas, glazed with honey from beehives I could see across the field, accompanied by seasonally foraged surprises. A new taste sensation of wild fennel and hogweed. The menu says they are to share, but not a chance, they’re incredible!
In other dishes, fish and shellfish are sourced from Morecambe Bay, along with samphire and edible seaweed in season. Just as appealing to the eye as the tastebuds, the butter, which I mop to extinction with home-made potato flat bread, is decorated with edible flowers, growing just outside the window. Desserts of home-churned raw milk ice-cream and sheep’s-milk yogurt mousse, combined with local cherries and strawberries, bear a delicate lace mantle of frothy, meadowsweet blossoms. No wonder reservations, repeat bookings and word-of-mouth are multiplying fast.
Furthering the farm’s impressive sustainability credentials, Gazegill is solely (and uniquely in the hospitality sector) powered off-grid by solar and wind energy. Come awards season, I am sure Eight at Gazegill will be demanding space on the mantelpiece to swell prestigious accolades already awarded, including Northern Champion Best Local Food and Drink. I’m certainly giving this gem ten ‘carrots’!
Eight at Gazegill
Lower Gazegill Farm, Dancer Lane
Rimington, Clitheroe BB7 4EE
01200 445519
reservations@eightatgazegill.co.uk
eightatgazegill.co.uk
