From farms to fork: a food-lover's cycle tour of Herefordshire

"On the horizon, the Malvern Hills ripple towards the Black Mountains; in front of me is a selection of local produce: cheeses from Monkland Dairy, 6 miles away, salad leaves from Lane Cottage (8 miles), charcuterie from Trealy Farm (39 miles), cherries from Moorcourt Farm (3 miles), broccoli quiche (2 miles) and glasses of sparkling wine, cassis and apple juice made just footsteps away."

"Before eating, our small group pedalled along a two-hour route so pastorally pretty it would make Old MacDonald sigh. Skirting purple-hued borage fields, we've zipped in and out of woodland, down rows of apple trees and over patches of camomile, and learned how poo from White Heron's chickens is burnt in biomass boilers to generate heat. Providing habitats for wildlife is important, but we need to produce food as well, says our guide Jo Hilditch, who swapped a career in PR for farming when she inherited the family estate 30 years ago."

"Pausing in the estate's blackcurrant fields, Jo pulls bottles of chilled Ribena from a basket for us to drink (White Heron produces 5% of Ribena's blackcurrant supply) and encourages us to taste the fruit: fat and sweet, the berries are a whole different entity to the wincingly sharp little beads growing in my own garden. As if by arrangement, bells start ringing from the church's stand-alone belfry as I cycle by."

An off-grid farm-to-fork meal overlooks vineyards and the Malvern Hills and features cheeses, salad leaves, charcuterie, cherries, quiche, and estate-produced sparkling wine, cassis and apple juice. Guests pedal a two-hour ebike route through borage fields, woodland, rows of apple trees and chamomile, stopping for tastings and learning that chicken manure is burned in biomass boilers to generate heat. Jo Hilditch manages the estate and emphasizes balancing wildlife habitats with food production after inheriting the land and switching from a PR career to farming. White Heron supplies a notable share of Ribena's blackcurrant crop and provides fresh produce to visitors.

Read at www.theguardian.com