Foodie Farms: Green Cow restaurant goes for bold expansion
Melt-in-the-mouth braised beef with parsley mash and crispy bacon at Green Cow Kitchens © David Jones/RBI Nestled in rolling countryside on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border, the Green Cow is a true hidden gem serving up farm-fresh dishes to treat your tastebuds.
Owned and run by Joe and Keely Evans on the Whitbourne Hall Estate, some 10 miles west of Worcester, the family farm’s former pig shed was reborn as an intimately proportioned restaurant in 2012.
Seven years on, estate manager Joe has ambitious plans for his foodie venture, borrowing £3m against the farm’s assets to build Crumplebury – a new luxury venue to cater for weddings, celebrations and other events.
Foodie Farms – the best of British farm food
Farmers Weekly’s food fanatics hit the road to sample the culinary delights of farmer-run eateries where home-grown produce is always the order of the day.
Find out more about the mission to celebrate the array of fantastic food produced in the UK on our Foodie Farms page.
Part 1: Foodie farms in southern England
Joe Evans © David Jones/RBI
“Green Cow Kitchens was an accidental love child that came out of me taking on the estate shoot,” explains Joe, who is the fifth generation to farm here.
“I knew that hospitality was an important part of a day’s shooting, so we started doing food using the farm’s produce.”
As the shooting season drew to a close, Joe wanted to keep the farm food catering going, so he started a private dining club in the old pig shed.
Farm facts
- 200ha organic farm
- 160 head of pedigree Saler and Beef Shorthorn cattle
- 400 Lleyn ewes, lambing outdoors
- About eight lambs and one steer supply the restaurant each month
- 140ha shoot, supplying pheasant, partridge and rabbit to the restaurant
Michelin-star chef Patrick McDonald, who was a gun at the shoot, liked what the farm was doing with its food and offered his consultancy services to help build a reputation for impeccable food.
Seating up to 30 people, the Green Cow restaurant serves up modern British cuisine, which is perfect for a family celebration and also attracts food fanatics from afar.
The low-key exterior of an old pig shed houses the delightful Green Cow restaurant.
“It’s fine dining but we don’t do spots of emulsion or dabs of foam here,” adds Joe.
“We let the ingredients speak for themselves.”
Wednesday and Thursday nights ooze a cosy, gastropub vibe, with comfort dishes such as a pulled pork burger and braised beef and mash featuring on the brasserie menu.
Friday and Saturday evenings are when things kick up a notch or two with a set seven-course tasting menu, which uses whole-carcass cuts from the farm’s pedigree Saler and Beef Shorthorn cattle and Lleyn cross Hampshire Down lambs.
Farm manager Tim Roberts is a big advocate of the easy-calving Salers and says putting a Hampshire Down ram on his ewes produces a cross-bred lamb that grades very well, having been finished on grass.
Farm manager Tim Roberts with his Saler cattle © David Jones/RBI
The farm also produces a small number of pigs, which are fattened as they clear overgrown areas of the estate’s woodland.
Head chef Mickey Provis has worked in the kitchen from day one and butchers the beef and lamb carcasses himself.
He enjoys the challenge of using the entire animal and confesses a real passion for cooking with the game from the estate shoot.
He occasionally shoots rabbits, which feature as menu special.
The range of home-produced lamb, beef and pork and seasonal game from the estate complements the charming dining experience, making the Green Cow a foodies paradise.
© David Jones/RBI
Menu at a glance
The menu changes monthly, with brasserie main courses ranging from about £12 to £17.50, while the seven-course taster menu on fine-dining evenings typically costs about £50 a head.
A tasty pork chop served with morel mushrooms and Madeira sauce at Green Cow Kitchens © David Jones/RBI
Choosing from the brasserie menu, we tucked into the melt-in-the-mouth braised beef with parsley mash and crispy bacon at £14.50, and a wonderfully tasty pork chop served with morel mushrooms, a Madeira sauce and seasonal vegetables, costing £17.50.