NSA South East Region Brewery Tour Followed by Farm Walk
Date: 20th August 2015
NSA South East Region mixed it up with a brewery tour and farm walk in Kent! The ‘beer’ part of the day was a visit to Shepherd Neame Brewery, while Stewart Wood provided an insight into fruit growing at nearby Teynham Court Farm, as well as showing off his Romney and Suffolk flocks.
Bob Blanden, NSA South East Region Manager, says the facilities at Teynham were phenomenal, with a huge amount of investment and science used to ensure year-round supply of gala, braeburn and bramley apples to (mainly) Sainsburys. Conference pears are also grown on the farm while marshy land, not suitable for orchards, supports more than 800 Romney and Suffolk sheep. The Romneys are one of the few remaining UK flocks with no imported genetics, with efforts being made to improve the breed within these bloodlines. The Suffolks are managed to produce breeding males, with a recent decision made to lamb a little later and sell shearling rams only, rather than requiring additional inputs to push ram lambs for sale.
Bob reports that the day worked very well, with a social element as well as the interesting visits. The brewery had asked for a maximum of 15 people, so although numbers had to be limited, those who attended had an excellent time.
