THE SALT BOX

In this series, we feature pop-up eateries that promote seasonal British produce. This month, we head to a bluebell wood in the Surrey Hills

In this series, we profile pop-up eateries that celebrate British seasonal fare. This month: a business that connects local producers and encourages communal dining in the open air

In a NUTSHELL

THE LOCATION

A secluded bluebell wood in the Surrey Hills, accessible only by foot

THE ETHOS

Founders Beckie Wingrove and Christian Armstrong create a sense of community by connecting local producers and diners, all with a love of seasonal food and the outdoors

THE KEY INGREDIENTS Duck and lamb from neighbouring Etherley Farm; watercress from nearby village Abinger Hammer; rhubarb from the couple’s allotment near Reigate

here’s power in the collective. One lone bluebell might get lost in the undergrowth, but here thousands form a vibrant violet carpet across the forest floor. Beckie Wingrove and Christian Armstrong, founders of The Salt Box and hosts of tonight’s supper club, understand there is strength in numbers. They set up their company at the end of 2017, with the aim of building a community of producers and diners with a love of seasonal food and the outdoors. Since then, they have worked with 40 suppliers from Surrey and Sussex, and last year alone welcomed 3,000 diners.

INTO THE WOODS

The Salt Box might have a wide reach, but each event is intimate, with a maximum of 30 people. All evenings are hosted outdoors, at a variety of venues across the county. Tonight’s is in a secluded woodland – accessible only by foot. Diners have been given directions to Etherley Farm and are asked to arrive at 6pm on the dot. From there, Beckie leads them across lush pastures and down a dirt track lined with ferns, until they reach a clearing. This is The Green Escape, a woodland tucked away in the Surrey Hills. Paper lanterns dangle from the trees, while a long wooden table is adorned with wild flowers. It feels enchanted.

EAT THE SEASONS

Guests sip rhubarb and ginger cocktails, and mingle between tree trunks. Beckie tops up glasses and offers roasted asparagus wrapped in duck, garnished with freshly whipped sorrel mayonnaise. Christian prepares a leg of lamb, which he will later roast. All the food tonight, from the Jersey Royals to the wild garlic and purple sprouting broccoli, will be cooked over an open fire, and each ingredient has been painstakingly sourced – right down to the wood, provided by Surrey Wildlife Trust. “We try to support as many local producers as we can,” Christian says. “Many have become good friends.” The duck and lamb on the menu both come from Etherley Farm, while the botanical gin was crafted by Distillers of Surrey in nearby Ripley.

“For us, sourcing seasonal ingredients from local people just makes sense,” continues Christian, who grew up on Leith Hill, just a

Guests sip rhubarb and ginger cocktails and tuck into lamb roasted over an open fire

stone’s throw from where he is now. “They’re fresher, haven’t had to travel far and our money remains in the local economy.”

This isn’t, however, how Christian was raised – he grew up on a diet of turkey dinosaurs from the freezer. “As a child, I thought all meat came frozen from a box,” he laughs. When he became a teenager, however, he helped out in the kitchen of a local pub during game season. “I had to pluck, gut and butcher everything from pigeons to deer,” he says. “It was the best way to learn.” Hungry for more, he became a chef at The Parrot pub in Forest Green, a hamlet in Surrey. “It was close to a farm, with a bakery and butcher, and we cured all our own meat. The menu changed depending on the animal we needed to use at the time. It was a complete education.”

Beckie, who was raised in Lake Maggiore, an hour north of Milan, has always eaten fresh, local food. “In Italy, it wasn’t a trendy thing – it was just how it was,” she says. “You couldn’t get everything all year round and we didn’t have ready meals.” For her, food offers an opportunity to connect with people: “In Italy, rural communities eat together a lot, whereas in the UK, meals are less of an event. People often dine alone or in front of the TV.” This is why, at The Salt Box supper clubs, the couple seat everyone together at the same table.

SEEDS OF CHANGE

Beckie always wanted to work with food, but started as a corporate events planner, reading cookbooks before she went to bed. “With no formal training, I didn’t know how to break into the industry,” she says. In 2017, however, she went to a networking breakfast for local chefs and farmers at The Dorking Butchery, and met Christian. They soon began dating. “Our interests aligned,” she says. “We shared a similar dream of working outdoors and serving seasonal food with a community focus.”

Over the next six months, the couple balanced their full-time jobs with starting The Salt Box. They tracked down producers, and held monthly pop-ups at suppliers’ barns, vineyards and breweries. Their new HQ, the Priory Farm Estate in Nutfield, is a hub for beekeepers, cheesemakers and bakers, who often supply ingredients for their pop-ups.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

The pair now host three to six events a week. While evening feasts are only for adults, there

are plenty of family-friendly meals and workshops, from outdoor Sunday lunches to pasta-making courses. Christian’s nine-year-old son Fred, their CEO (child executive officer), often attends, too, and the line between work and play is often blurred. “Most of the time, we don’t notice that we’re working, until we look at our step count and realise we’ve walked about ten miles in a day,” Beckie says, laughing. “We average two days off a month, but being in a natural environment helps to keep our mental health in check.”

Tickets, which sell out fast, are first offered through The Salt Box’s email and then over social media. But while the business continues to grow, lots of people come back again and again. “We have very supportive customers who have been with us since the beginning,” Beckie says. “Many bring neighbours, relatives or friends.” In future months, The Salt Box will be putting on butchery courses, brunches and cooking-over-fire workshops, alongside their popular supper clubs. They won’t, however, be opening a restaurant. “We don’t want to be confined by the four walls of a conventional kitchen and dining room,” Christian says. “Our focus is to bring people together in a natural environment, getting them away from everyday life.”