The Story of our Olive Grove
In 2003, we planted the first seedlings for the olive grove that now produces an abundance of extra virgin olive oil, table olives and gorgeous olive oil body products that nourish family and friends. The varieties of olives that we grow are frantoio, leccino, picual, manzanilla and kalamata, each labelled with coloured tags that are the same ones that were written by Sue’s grandfather, Cyril, when the olive grove was planted all those years ago.
When the olive trees were planted, our son, Sam, was three and our daughter, Sophie, was one and a half, and those exact trees will still be around 500 years from now! Some olive trees can even survive for 1,500 years given the right conditions. For centuries olive trees have provided food and shelter for thousands of different species, with whole ecosystems coming and going around these ancient, unchanging trees.
Culinary Uses for Olives
Our frantoio, leccino and picual olives are cold pressed to create extra virgin olive oil which we use in our grazing style food and wine and our range of natural body products. We use the traditional salt and water method to process the manzanilla and kalamata varieties onsite to create table olives. We also make olive tapenade which we serve on both our olives dishes and Farm Platter and sell jarred in our Farm Store. Our olive tapenade is one of our most popular products! We harvest all of the olives in late May, depending on the season and the ripening of the fruit. Olive trees are very hardy and can grow in many different climactic conditions but they dislike having wet feet and are prone to diseases like Black Scale when insufficient light gets through to the trees.
Our Olive Products
Shop our range of products made using our farm grown, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil:
