Taste Of The Neuk
If you’re a passionate food-lover, Bowhouse is the place to be
BOWHOUSE FARM is famous among foodies for its weekend markets. They’re why many of Scotland’s leading food and drink producers and thousands of visitors converge on this quiet corner of Fife every month.
But it is also home to an expanding food hub, offering some of the best produce from the region all year round.
It’s a proper homegrown success story and an essential pit stop for anyone hungering after a true taste of Fife.
Bowhouse is the brainchild of Toby Anstruther, a founding director of the Fife Food Network, whose family have farmed the land between St Monans and Elie for centuries.
It was launched with one intention – to put more of the East Neuk’s local produce on to the plates of local people.
Toby hit upon the idea some years ago after speaking to a chef who told him he would love to use more local ingredients, but had to source veg from the Glasgow markets, or even Holland. Something had clearly gone awry.
The East Neuk produces some of the finest food in the whole of the UK. While it’s best known for fishing villages, the lush agricultural land supports farms rearing an abundance of beef, lamb and game, as well as fruit, vegetables and grains.
And yet the bulk of this produce was leaving the East Neuk to be processed and sold in the Central Belt and beyond.
There’s less leakage now that Bowhouse has become the missing link. It’s provided a place to reconnect local suppliers with local people.
Here, seasonal eating and sustainability are key. And at its heart, above all these lofty ideals, it has become a gathering place for people who just really love good food.
The market weekends are a particular highlight – they take place on the second weekend of every month, except January and February, and there’s usually a theme.
Traders flock from across the country to take part. There are special workshops and cooking demonstrations and visitors can fill their boots in the street food area or tuck into their purchases on the outside seating.
May’s market weekend will focus on sustainability, while June’s will celebrate Open Farm weekend – with special activities, such as sheep shearing. July’s market is titled Hello Summer and August’s theme is Meet The Maker.
In addition to the monthly markets, there are now more and more good reasons to visit Bowhouse Farm all year round.
The food hub has provided a permanent base for a growing number of producers, who are normally open from Wednesday to Sunday.
These include the East Neuk Market Garden, which grows more than 50 varieties of vegetables, salads, herbs and fruit without the use of pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilisers.
Bowhouse Butchery is where organic and grass-fed beef, lamb and wild venison – born and bred on the estate – is butchered, hung and aged.
Angry Kulture specialises in fermented vegetables, such as kimchi, while Scotland The Bread mills organic heritage wheat and rye grain, and the Bothy Kitchen makes meals to finish at home.
At the Baern cafe and bakery, Hazel Powell and Giacomo Pesce work with the estate and other Bowhouse producers to offer a seasonal menu.
The Futtle organic brewery has been set up in a former stable block by Lucy Hine and Stephen Marshall to make use of foraged ingredients, local barley and water from an on-site borehole. The tap room also serves natural wines, sherries and ciders, organic cocktails and guest beers.
Bowhouse manager Rosie Jack said the range of traders was expanding as the centre’s reputation grows.
“We have all this amazing produce growing locally and it’s no wonder buyers in Glasgow and down south are so keen to get their hands on it,” she says. “Bowhouse is our way of putting ourselves in the middle and making sure everyone in the East Neuk gets a chance to enjoy their share, too.”