Sarah Lyon takes a look at what’s in season and delicious locally

Healthy Blueberries
Grown by Nick Makey at Rutland Water Fruit Farm. Slow to ripen, by mid-July plants are heavily laden with fruit ripe for picking. High in nutrients and low in calories. Lodge Farm, Edith Weston, Rutland

Let them eat cake……Deliciously Different Cakes are homemade.
Fresh Blueberry Cake from the Fine Food Store (St Mary’s Street, Stamford). Lynne Fitzpartrick’s dense but moist creation with blueberries everywhere.

Blueberries for the store cupboard
Dried blueberries are a delicious snack for picnics and lunch boxes. Find them at Silver Lane Foods, Stamford. Using biodegradable cellophane packaging.

A feast of fields bursting forth with fresh fruits for picking
Table top Strawberry picking starts the fruit picking season off. Followed by raspberries, tayberries, black, red and white currants. Seldom Seen Farm nr Billesdon, Leics. PYO fruits, Hill Farm, Chesterton, Tel: 01733 233270

Cookery Demonstration with Gary Magnani at the Horse and Trumpet Restaurant, Medbourne. July 10, £42 inclusive of lunch. Tel: 01858 565000 Melon & cucumber soup, grilled lobster, strawberries & cream ice cream

Ice Cream, locally produced Gopsall Fresh Farmhouse ice cream handcrafted on the Crown’s Gopsall Estate, Leicestershire by the Thorp family using milk from their own herd of dairy cows. Ice cream made from Farndon Fields home grown strawberries. Farndon Fields Farm Shop, Market Harborough.

Gelato, handmade by Squ!sito in time with the season with local Lubcloud dairy organic milk and cream using rare breed chicken eggs. Tayberry, raspberry ripple, strawberry ripple in summer (Market Harborough Farmers’ Market, Oakham Farmer’s Market, July & August)

Ice Lollies, from Benson Juices. Made from natural juices, no sugar added, colour or preservatives (Oundle Farmers’ Market). Great for the kids!

For a summer, al-fresco lunch, a walk in the woods or a day’s fishing, The Olive Branch Pub Hampers, a smashing assembly of pies, pâtés, bread and pickles, seasonal soups, terrines and salads presented in a nice wicker hamper. Tel: 01780 410355

Quiche, for a summer’s picnic. Roasted vegetables or Colston Bassett Stilton celery and leek with a walnut pastry. The Fine Food Store, Stamford Tel: 01780 754222

Perfect for Picnics – Pipers Parsnip or Potato Crisps
Parsnip crisps seasoned with Biggleswade sweet chilli grown by Sicilian Filippo Genovese. Stamford Farmers’ Market.

BBQ Marinades and dipping sauces. TukTuk Foods, Chilli Sauce made from a summer harvest of chillis and Green chilli and Coriander dipping sauce. Marinade for tofu, meat or as a dressing for a couscous salad. Find at the Country Market, Stamford Arts Centre, Friday mornings.

Tempting! Fill freshly baked organic bread rolls from Paul’s (Organic Bakers) with Brockleby’s superb Boerewors, a South African word for farmer’s sausage. A recipe of Quenby Organic Long Horn Beef and South African aromatic spices. Find on Oakham Farmers’ Market (3rd Saturday in the month).

Corn on the Cob, the sweetest of corn – organically grown from Vine House Farm and Farm Shop, Deeping St Nicholas.

Perfect Parsley and Walnut Pesto
Exclusive to Squ!sito. Pesto made using locally grown parsley, Welland Valley Rapeseed Oil (from Nelsons Butchers, Stamford and Oundle and Market Harborough Farmers Markets) and Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese.

Leafy Greens
Summer is about salads. Delicious salad greens appear in my weekly vegetable box from Woodlands Organic Farm, Wash Road, Algarkirk, Boston. Farm Open Day, Sunday July 16th, www.woodlandsfarm.co.uk

Welland Valley Vineyard – Slow Food Rutland and Lincolnshire farm tour Marston Trussell, Market Harborough, www.welland-vineyard.com Enjoy learning about the history of English winemaking, and how David Bates came to plant a vineyard and the winemaking process. A wine tasting and opportunity to purchase wines at the finish of the tour. Interested! Contact sarah.food@googlemail.com for further details. Cost: £6 members, £10 non-members

For a summer degustation of locally produced wines from Welland Valley Vineyard visit Farndon Fields Farm Shop, Market Harborough.

Cooling summer drinks to have on hand!
Summer Berries Cordial produced by Belvoir fruit farms in the Vale of Belvoir ~ 50cl makes 8 pints of cordial from pressed strawberries and raspberries. Find at Emerson & West, Market Harborough and The Fine Food Store, Stamford.

Home Baked Bread for Summer
There is nothing like home baked bread to accompany summer salads or as part of your picnic or BBQ. If you would like to extend your baking repertoire, join Pete Murray for an Artisan baking course using a traditional wood fired oven. Sunday, August 17 @ £70 Little Bytham, nr Grantham,
Tel. 01780 410078, www.pm-images.co.uk