'A Taste Of Kent In Westminster'
24/05/2013
When I popped over to my Mum's house in Sutton Valence last week, I met one of Kent's younger entrepreneurs. A local school girl was on the doorstep with a small delivery of pretty hen's eggs, freshly laid. White, brown, pastel pink and blue, the half-dozen box was a picture; so much more eye catching than the standard supermarket fayre.
This enterprising young lady's pet hens have given her a taste for business and who knows what the future may hold for her. I know she is surrounded by like-minded people with a penchant for purveying perfect produce, having engaged with many rural businesses in the constituency and in the wider Kent area over the last 5 years.
Last week, the Garden of England created a home from home in the Palace of Westminster and brought some of its wares to tantalise the taste buds of our nation's representatives. Everything for the waist-line wary to worry about was there to sample: sausage, beer, cheese, wine, ice cream, fancy flavoured vodka, all of it irresistible and all available on our doorsteps in Kent.
'A Taste of Kent' was organised by 'Produced in Kent' – an organisation dedicated to championing local food, drink, products and services in Kent. Their excellent website www.producedinkent.co.uk tells all. You can search for a product or producer, see dates and locations for farmer's markets across the region, and check out the 'What's On' pages for special events.
There's also a great section on how to start a rural business and in that regard I refer interested readers back to my column of 10th May about government funding opportunities; www.helengrant.org/km-columns/
One exhibitor at Westminster from our own constituency was Debbie Carter who is developing a model rural enterprise 'Linton Chocolates' www.linton-chocolates.co.uk (site under construction). I can personally recommend her gooey salted caramels, dangerously available on my own doorstep at the Marden Farm Shop - another great place for local produce: www.mardenfarmshop.co.uk.
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Helen's column is published in The Kent Messenger and on this website each Friday.
Recently published columns can be found under the 'KM Columns' tab above, or by clicking here.
