Events in the diary at Cross Lanes
Saturday 25th May
'Spring Fair .... Spring Fair .... Spring Fair'
Cross Lanes Organic Farm are pleased to be running their second Spring Fair, this event promises to be a fun day out for all the family building on the success of last year's event where the sun shone down on Cross Lanes. Local food, drink and artisan crafts will be celebrated with the farm shop oozing with local produce and many of the local suppliers of Cross Lanes having market stalls set around the grounds. We now have a great range of stalls confirmed selling everything from delicious hedgerow preserves, cheese and mustards to textiles, photography and wooden toys. In addition, a number of the producers will be demonstrating their crafts showing felt making and wood turning amongst others. The cafe menu will boast dishes made from local, seasonal, organic and wild ingredients, and there will be delicious traditional stone baked pizzas made fresh from the wood fired oven to enjoy. For the kids (and of course adults!) we have a bouncy castle and bungee trampoline which promise to be lots of fun!
Make a real day of it and have something to eat in our cafe, call into our farm shop and browse the market stalls outside to pick up some local goodies! Spread the word and join in on the fun at Cross Lanes on the 25th May.
If you are a producer, artist or craftsperson and would like to take part and have a stall and/or give a demonstration then please see the booking form for further information.
What we've been up to so far:
Sunday 31st March
'Easter Sunday Lunch'
For Easter Sunday we put together a tasty 3 course menu for lunch.
Sunday 10th March
'Mother's Day'
For Mother's Day we put together a 3 course menu for Sunday lunch for all those wishing to treat their Mums. We had a fully booked restaurant and a great day had by all.
20th - 26th January
'Shake Up Your Wake Up', 'Cross Lanes Breakfast Week'
Start your day with a Cross Lanes breakfast. Breakfast week is an annual, national event celebrating the most important meal of the day. Throughout Farmhouse Breakfast week we ran a special breakfast menu with lots of mouth watering dishes from 'Burns Week Brekkie to 'Parisienne Petit Dejeuner' to 'Blueberry Pancakes'. Last year we introduced the 'Cross Lanes Combo' and our famous 'Breakfast Pizza' which by popular demand have stayed on the menu all year around. Our breakfast menu was launched on Sunday 20th January at the start of the Farmhouse Breakfast Week. We ran a competition throughout breakfast week with a Cross Lanes Breakfast Hamper up for grabs, the lucky winner was Mrs Thorpe from Barnard Castle, winning a hamper full of lots of local produce: Cross Lanes's own bacon, sausages, black pudding and bread, Acorn Dairies butter and milk, Harry Hodgson's eggs, Organic Pantry tomatoes and mushrooms, Side Oven muesli, Yeo Valley yoghurt & Just William's marmalade.
Saturday 8th December
'Christmas Fair'
Cross Lanes held a Christmas fair for all to enjoy. The greenhouse was transformed into an indoor market with local food, crafts and artists selling their goods. The farm shop was full of lots of Cross Lanes Christmas goodies and we also had a stall in the greenhouse. Saint Nicholas joined us for the day with Mrs Claus and they were dressed in their traditional green attire and were available in their grotto for the little ones to visit. The Cross Lanes raffle was drawn and the winning tickets went to Gill Breeze (Wakefield) who won the hamper, Doug Anderson (Brignall) who won the voucher and N. Eaves (Teesdale) who won the gingerbread house. We would like to say big thank you to all the stall holders, Malcolm who did the music and our very own Saint Nich with Mrs Claus.
Saturday 3rd November
'Bonfire Night'
We had a fantastic evening on bonfire night. We ran a BBQ with wood fired pizza, homemade soup and toffee apples. We had a bar and hot drinks in the cafe restaurant where people sat, relaxed and caught up with family and friends. The fireworks were watched by all from either outside, from the warmth of the cafe looking up through the glazed atrium or from the greenhouse. We worked with Maude's coaches and provided free shuttle buses on the night from Barnard Castle which worked a treat.
Saturday 27th October
'Our 1st Birthday'
Can you believe its been a year since we opened, the time has flown! We celebrated with a massive birthday cake for all our customers to enjoy.
Saturday 1st September
'Ritual Sound - Music Festival'
Ritual Sound used Cross Lanes as a venue to hold a music festival to launch their new music business. Adam Hatton and Sam Turbitt have joined forces offering professional live sound engineering and PA hire for bands, gigs, venues and conferences around the North East. Local bands from around the region played at the event, with Circle Time headlining. A marquee went up which housed the stage and the greeenhouse was used as a chill out area with bbq, wood fired oved pizzas and a bar stocked with real ale. Follow Ritual Sound's progress on their facebook page.
Wednesday 20th June
'Olympic Torch at Cross Lanes'
On the day the olympic torch relay hit Barnard Castle, the torch called into Cross Lanes, and the team working that day had their photo taken with it which was certainly the highlight of our day! Emily and Brad the Olympic Torch Relay Organisers enjoyed lunch in the sun with us and said "the food was really good, tasty fishcakes! What a brilliant place we came across out of no where, a real little gem"'.
Saturday 26th May
'Cross Lanes Spring Fair'
Cross Lanes Organic Farm held its first Spring Fair on Saturday 26th May in celebration of all local food, drink and artisan crafts. We had a fantastic day and were blessed with glorious sunshine all day. Our team had a busy day serving food in the cafe restaurant, with a suberb selection of homemade cakes on offer, wood fired oven pizzas and a locally sourced menu to choose dishes from. The shop shelves were bursting at the seams full of produce from our local suppliers, the delicatessen was full of cheeses, our own cooked meats & deli products and the butchers counters offered a vast selection of our organic meat products. Outside there were stalls boasting produce from local talented producers alongside live demonstrations of traditional crafts including the thatching of our compost toilet roof, long bow making and stone carving. Northside Falconry brought their birds down for the day for the public to see and Westoe Stables brought a couple of ponies to do pony rides around the field, there was also face painting, a cartoonist and a circus act. Click here to see full pictures of the day.
Thursday 24th May
'Farm Shop Butcher Competition' - Beef Expo, Malvern
We entered Simon Hill one of our butchers into the Farm Shop Butchers Competition which was held at the Beef Expo event at The Three Counties Showground in Malvern. Simon & Debs had a great day at the show talking to the Eblex crew, the judges and the other butchers competing. We didn't get placed in the top three but it was a valuable experience and learning curve, with an opportunity to pick up new ideas.
Wednesday 9th May
'Love Food: Launch event - 'Come dine with me''
Cross Lanes Organic Farm hosted the launch event for the Love Food 'Come Dine with Me' Teesdale Primary School Activity. This was the first event held on our mezzanine floor which overlooks the cafe seating area and retail shop beneath. Initially this space was used as the main office which has now been moved into another area of the building to free the mezzanine area to be used for functions. The Love Food event involved a networking session with all the participants in the education programme including local hotel and restaurant owners & chefs, food producers and teachers. Cross Lanes provided some local tasty treats, Kaylee our head chef put on a fantastic spread of mini yorkshire puddings with Richard Ward's Teesdale rump steak & horseradish mayonnaise dressing, blinis with Winter Tarn cheese & Clervaux Trust chives, Piercebridge pork terrine crostinis with homemade pease pudding, mini homemade Cross Lane's bread with Acorn Dairy butter, and for those with a sweet tooth mini fruit pavlova made with Piercebridge eggs and Cross Lane's homemade chocolates.
Friday 23rd March
'Fine Wine & Organic Fayre'
Adrian Watts from Vintage Roots gave us another very informative evening on organic wines and our chefs Steve and Pauline made some fantastic food to compliment each wine. The evening was started with a sparkling Albeti Noya Cava which was served with anitpasti and flat bread, 2 white wines were tasted; Domaine Pajot Cotes de Gascogne served with Thai fish cakes with dipping sauce, and Jean Bousquet Chardonnay served with chicken wontons. A Nuevo Mundo Carmenere Rose was served with a salmon terrine and then onto the reds, Fiesta Azuly Garanza Temp/Gren served with mini wood fired oven pizzas, Chianti Poggiosecco Anora Riserva served with melt in the mouth lamb kebabs and pesto. To finish Etnico Syrah Cabernet Merlot served with mini yorkshire puds filled with horseradish, roast beef wtih mini roasties.
Sunday 18th March
'Mother's Day'
For Mother's Day we put together a 3 course menu for Sunday lunch for all those wishing to treat their Mums. We had an extremely busy day with breakfasts, lunches and afternoon teas, and it was a lovely sunny warm day.
Monday 6th March
'Staindrop Young Farmers'
Around 30 young farmers visited Cross Lanes on the evening of Monday 6th March, they asked if they could come to have a look around and gain an insight into what we do. So Sandy gave them a short butchery demonstration breaking down a forequarter of beef, Debs talked through the key points of the build showing a slideshow of the main features, hard to believe it was only 12 months ago when we started! Peter made pizzas for everyone to sample, then talked about the business in general including the green features, the organic side and gave the group a tour of the building and behind the scenes.
Saturday 18th February
'St Valentines Meal'
We opened the evening restaurant to celebrate Valentines Day for all those romantics, creating an intimate setting with fairy lights and candles, a free gift was given to every couple and a delicious meal was enjoyed by all.
31st January
'Barclays - Back to business & meet the customer'
Barnaby Davis Managing Director of UK Branch Network for Barclays Bank visited Cross Lanes and spent the day with us as part of his pledge to find out “first hand” about client’s needs and the range of issues facing local rural businesses. The whistle-stop tour consisted of meeting the team and understanding how the business operates and learning about the eco build. Barnaby spent time in the butchers with Simon and had a go at taking the shank off a leg of pork, he spent time in the retail shop with Amberley and gained an understanding of product choices and sales, Timi showed him how to make a cappuccino and then he successfully made a latte. Barnaby then spent time in the main kitchen assisting Kaylee and Stevie with the lunchtime trade, and then the best bit... sampled a wood fired oven pizza. The story featured in the Newcastle Journal.
22nd-28th January
'Shake Up Your Wake Up' with Farmhouse Breakfast Week
For farmhouse breakfast week we have doubled our organic breakfast menu and added some exciting novelty items... Breakfast pizza stonebaked in our wood fired oven, a 'Burns inspired' breakfast with traditional homemade organic haggis. There's authentic milk shakes served in a traditional milk bottle using Acorn Dairy milk and home made stonebaked wood fired muffins with cheese and bacon or cheese and mushroom, as well as our usual extensive organic daily breakfast menu.
Have a look at the website Shake up your wake up for more information on farmhouse breakfast week.
Thursday 1st December
Wine Tasting Evening
Our guests had an educational evening listening to a presentation of certified organic wines by Adrian Watts from Vintage Roots, our organic wine supplier. Sparkling, white and red wines were all sampled along with tasty organic nibbles.
Saturday 5th November
Bonfire Night
After all the hard work we celebrated in style, with fireworks, bar, barbeque and lots of homemade bonfire delights, we pulled in the crowds and had a fantastic night.
Wednesday 26th October
Michelin-starred chef Nigel Haworth & EBLEX's master butcher
Chefs, butchers and farmers attended a supply chain event at Cross Lanes with Eblex and Nigel Haworth, which focused on the demand for locally and regionally produced beef and lamb. The day included presentations from livestock farmers John and Simon Hare, butchery experts and a cookery demonstration by Nigel Haworth.
Opening hours
Mon-Sat 8.30am - 5.00pm
Sun 10am - 5.00pm
Tel: 01833 630619
Spring Fair Saturday 25th May
Vacancy Kitchen Assistant / Porter
Awards - 'Rural Oscar', 'Environmental Farm Retailer of the Year', 'Building of the Year' and many others!
Free WiFi
Free Parking
Coaches, bikers & dogs welcome
