Hetty's Farmhouse Bakery

by Cathy Bramley

  I thought my heart would burst with pride as everyone clapped. I cleared my throat.

  ‘Thank you, everyone, for your support,’ I said, hoping that no one else could hear the tremor in my voice. ‘Hetty’s Farmhouse Bakery represents the very best of Cumbrian life – hard work, wonderful ingredients and, most of all, love – and I’m thrilled that you could be here to share this special day with me. Thank you!’

  I raised my glass and Joe shouted, ‘To Hetty’s Farmhouse Bakery!’ and everyone chorused back with a loud, ‘Cheers!’

  All my favourite people were here, I thought, looking around as my guests filtered into my kitchen. All except one. I swallowed back the lump in my throat, reminding myself that it was my idea to hold the official opening while Dan was still away. And he was having a ball in Borneo, he’d already been there for a month and had settled into his temporary home at the sanctuary, although he did admit to missing us all badly.

  Anna and Joe picked up trays of pie samples and milled around, handing them out to everyone. Viv and my mum, who hadn’t stopped swapping gossip since Mum’s plane had landed yesterday; Naomi and Tim, Oscar and Otis; Edwin – they were all here. Edwin had been promoted to shop manager to give Naomi more days off now that Tim had made a snap decision to take early retirement. Tess had come too, of course. She didn’t mind a bit about Edwin’s promotion, she’d set herself up as a gardening consultant and was looking to reduce her time at the farm shop and build her client list. We shared a common interest there, because her favourite client was my biggest customer: Gareth Brookbanks. I’d encouraged him to talk to Tess about his garden, which had got overgrown since his wife died, and she’d been happy to make a few suggestions. And now they seemed to have the perfect friendship: he cooked her dinner in return for a spot of weeding. I didn’t know if it would lead anywhere but the last time I was in the farm shop, Tess did admit that she’d deleted her Tinder account, so fingers crossed …

  ‘Congratulations, Hetty,’ said Gareth. He raised his champagne glass. ‘I look forward to our next delivery of pies at Country Comestibles.’

  I chinked my glass of sparkling water against his. ‘Thank you for coming and thanks for everything. If you hadn’t given me that advice, I don’t think any of this would have happened.’

  ‘Someone said it to me a month after my wife died when I felt like I couldn’t carry on. “What happens next is up to you.” It made me realize that we can’t control everything, but we do have a choice over our own actions. I’ve never looked back.’

  ‘Daddy,’ said a little voice, ‘come and see the sheep!’

  Gareth grinned at me with a mixture of apology and pride as his daughter tugged his arm.

  ‘In a minute, Ella.’ He blushed a little and leaned closer. ‘By the way, thank you for sending Tess to me; Ella loves her and it’s lovely to have someone to feed again.’

  I watched them go and looked over to the wall where Freya and Lizzie from Appleby Farm were showing Freya’s son Artie and baby Tilly the sheep. Next to them, Poppy and Bart sat on the wall, laughing at something on Bart’s phone.

  I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned. It was Poppy’s teacher, Miss Compton.

  ‘Well done on your Britain’s Best Bites award, Mrs Greengrass,’ she beamed.

  ‘Call me Hetty, please.’

  ‘I was just wondering …’ She gave me a breathy smile. ‘We’re having an enterprise day at school next term and I wondered if you’d come in and give a talk about how you set your business up? It’s always so inspirational to have successful parents come in and talk to the students.’

  ‘Me?’ I laughed, flattered. ‘I’d love to.’

  ‘Hello, Miss Compton,’ said Poppy, joining us. ‘Why are you here?’

  I shot Poppy a warning look for being so blunt but if the teacher picked up on Poppy’s tone she didn’t mention it. ‘My sister has a corner shop in Holmthwaite; she was invited today but couldn’t come so as I’m a lady of leisure during the six weeks’ holiday, your mum said I could attend in her place.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ Poppy said. Then she straightened. ‘Do you think your sister would like organic eggs for her shop?’

  Miss Compton laughed. ‘Possibly. And I think she’s going to be taking pies too. You must be very proud of your mum, Poppy.’

  ‘Hell yeah,’ said Poppy.

  ‘Setting up her own business like that,’ the teacher continued.

  Poppy flopped her arm around my shoulders.

  ‘I’m proud of my mum for way more than that.’ She gave me a knowing look. ‘Way more.’

  I blinked back tears. ‘Oh, Popsicle.’

  ‘Excellent.’ Miss Compton downed the rest of her fizz. ‘I’ll be in touch about that enterprise day.’

  We said our goodbyes and Poppy blinked. ‘Are you giving a talk on enterprise day?’

  I nodded.

  She whistled under her breath. ‘You are such a cool mum.’

  I smiled and felt my eyes brim. ‘My work here is done.’

  ‘You all right?’

  I nodded. ‘I’m fine. Just, you know, missing Dad.’

  She took my hand. ‘Come on, I’ve got something to show you.’

  She dragged me over to where Bart was still sitting on the wall holding his phone in one hand and his iPad in the other. He handed me the iPad and Poppy swiped at the screen.

  ‘There,’ she said, wriggling beside me in excitement. ‘Surprise!’

  I peered at the screen, trying to make out what I was looking at. I cocked my head to one side. ‘Is it … fur?’

  ‘Yes!’ Poppy jumped up and down on the spot. ‘A red Border collie pup. Three days old. Jake’s daughter. Your new dog.’

  I gasped. ‘Mine?’

  Poppy nodded, giggling. ‘She comes home in October.’

  My heart leapt in my chest and I clamped a hand over my mouth. I looked at the picture on the screen again. ‘Did Dad organize this?’

  ‘Yep,’ said Bart, grinning. ‘He’s not a bad bloke, I suppose.’

  I looked up at him and realized he was filming me.

  ‘Don’t!’ I laughed, ‘I must look a mess.’

  ‘You look beautiful, Mrs Greengrass,’ said a faraway voice.

  I froze.

  Bart held out the phone. ‘Someone else wants to talk to you.’

  Dan’s tanned face beamed out from the screen. He held a bottle of water up. ‘Congratulations, my love, well done, I’m so proud of you. Sorry I can’t be there.’

  I looked at the man with whom I’d built this wonderful life and my heart wanted to burst with love for him.

  ‘But you are,’ I said softly. ‘Because you’re in here.’

  I touched my hand to my heart. ‘And you always will be.’

  The Thank Yous

  Firstly, a big thank you to Naomi Willcox who bid in the CLIC Sargent eBay auction to have a character named after her. All the money raised in the Get In Character campaign will help support children with cancer. Naomi, I hope you approve of Hetty’s fabulous sister-in-law!

  Over the last fifteen years I have met and have been inspired by many women who have had an idea for a food business and brought that idea to life through hard work, determination and passion for good food. They have started small, often from the kitchen table, fitting in the planning and producing and packaging and marketing amongst all their other everyday jobs. These women include Georgina Howard, Lucy Nicholson, Helen Colley, Mary Berry, Carey Shelton, Jean Johns, Marjorie Toms and Lynne Mallinson. Ladies, your stories have all, in some way, contributed to mine and I thank you very much.

  The biggest thanks for this book must go to the wonderful Ian and Jayne Kirk, who own a sheep farm near to where I live, because I couldn’t have written it without them. They have patiently explained every aspect of sheep farming from birthing right through to market day. I’ve been at the farm for shearing, lambing and even tupping. Mind you, I am still not entirely sure what a mule is …

  Thanks, too, to
Viv Sadler, who keeps rare-breed Soay sheep and who kindly introduced me to possibly the prettiest lambs I’ve ever seen!

  Thank you to Gina MacLachlan, who, as usual, was required to dispense medical advice. And a huge thank you to Kelly Rufus who came to my aid with her specialist knowledge of an intensive care ward and the treatment of specific injuries. I am in awe of you, Kelly. Sarah Williamson answered my Facebook cry for help to name a cat; thank you, Sarah, for coming up with the suggestion of Birdie.

  As ever, thank you to Team Bramley at Transworld: my wonderful editor Francesca Best and assistant editor Molly Crawford for winkling out the best version of Hetty’s story; my lovely publicist Hannah Bright; the fabulous marketing crew, Janine Giovanni, Julia Teece and Candy Ikwuwunna; and the ever-patient Sarah Whittaker who is responsible for my amazing covers. A heartfelt thanks to Hannah Ferguson at Hardman Swainson for your endless support and encouragement.

  Finally, thank you to Tony, Isabel and Phoebe. Love you always.

  Q&A with Cathy Bramley

  What inspired you to write Hetty’s Farmhouse Bakery?

  I’ve met and worked with many women who run their own businesses, including lots of food companies. For a long time I’ve wanted to write a story which pays tribute to the hard work and sacrifice that goes into being a successful businesswoman. Running any sort of enterprise takes dedication and determination as well as passion, and quite often women entrepreneurs are still the ones running the home at the same time. So this book is my way of celebrating their success! This is also a story about being a role model for young people – in Hetty’s case, her daughter Poppy. Not only does Hetty set a good example to her daughter by aiming high and giving her new venture a go, but when the family starts to fall apart, Hetty leads by example, showing Poppy that other things are important too, such as kindness, forgiveness and love. As a parent myself, this is the message I’d like to pass on to my own children.

  Have you ever had your own business? If so, what was it?

  I’ve had two businesses: a fitness company and a marketing and PR agency. The fitness company involved running group exercise classes and working as a personal trainer with individual clients. At one time I was teaching around fifteen classes per week; it was exhausting! I eventually stopped because I wanted to focus on the marketing agency. We worked predominantly in the food and homewares sector and had all sorts of lovely people as clients, from Mary Berry to Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding!

  How do you get in the mood for writing? What always inspires you?

  To get myself in the right frame of mind for writing, I take myself somewhere where I know I’ll be undisturbed for a few hours. I make a huge pot of coffee, I light a scented candle and then I find some gentle background music on Spotify. I start by reading what I last wrote and then make a few notes for the next section. Then I pop my headphones in and off I go. Recently I’ve been listening to sounds of nature which somehow manages to block out the other manmade noises in my house! Music often inspires me. I was listening to a song by Scouting For Girls the other day and the girl they were singing about was exactly the character I had been thinking of for my new book.

  You’ve captured life on a sheep farm so well! Did you do any special research to put yourself in Hetty’s shoes?

  I’m very lucky where I live in that I’m surrounded by farms and when I was researching Appleby Farm I went to meet several of the local farmers. This time I had to travel a bit further afield to visit a sheep farm. I met some orphan lambs, who were lovely, and went back to see the flock being sheared. Sheep are enormous close up – I was quite surprised. I was also very privileged to meet a lady who keeps a small flock of rare breed sheep in the field at the end of her garden. I was very taken with those and could quite happily have taken one home with me!

  When you’re not writing, what kind of books do you like to read?

  I love books about strong or unusual female characters. I like to laugh and cry when I’m reading, and have a bad habit of wanting to read the funny bits out to my husband. I’ve never read a Marian Keyes book I didn’t adore. I also love anything by Veronica Henry, Adriana Trigiani, Jill Mansell, Lucy Diamond and Milly Johnson.

  My Golden Chicken Pie

  I couldn’t write an entire book about pies and not include a recipe, could I?!

  I deliberated long and hard about what sort of recipe to include; Hetty’s flavours are all so sophisticated and I didn’t want to let the side down. But in the end I decided to plump for my favourite. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the queen of pies, my Golden Chicken Pie …

  Mmm, just the thought of breaking through the crispy golden layers of pastry to the unctuous filling below puts a smile on my face. There’s something special about a homemade pie, don’t you think? It’s so comforting and mood-enhancing – a big, warm hug on a plate!

  My first memory of eating pie at home is of my mum’s shortcrust savoury minced beef pie. It was a family favourite and I learned to make shortcrust pastry at an early age. I loved rolling it out and then making pastry shapes with the leftovers. The secret to shortcrust, Mum used to say, was cold hands and a warm heart. Apple and blackberry pie was another regular on the Sunday lunch menu; home-grown apples, and blackberries picked from the golf course at the end of the garden, served straight from the oven with a dollop of cream.

  But my favourite pie has always been – and I realize I’m about to slip in your culinary expectations – a good old chicken and mushroom pie from the chip shop. I was a vegetarian for fourteen years from the age of twenty-three and the one thing I missed was not bacon, like so many other veggies, but takeaway pie and chips. When I finally went back to eating meat to simplify family mealtimes after my eldest daughter started school, my first stop was the chip shop to reacquaint myself with my old favourite!

  Over the years, I’ve made all sorts of versions of chicken pie, with a variety of toppings from mashed potato to puff pastry. I’ve rung the changes with the fillings too, making it more (or less) calorific depending on my mood. This recipe for Golden Chicken Pie is as close to perfect as I think I’ll ever get: it’s got a lightness courtesy of the filo pastry, loads of flavour thanks to all the vegetables, and a lovely creamy sauce to bind it all together.

  It’s fairly straightforward to make so I do hope you’ll give it a go. Serve it with some new potatoes and fresh green vegetables such as asparagus or sugar snap peas and maybe, if the occasion lends itself, a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio …

  You will need …

  Knob of butter

  4 lean rashers of bacon, snipped into small pieces

  1 onion, finely chopped

  1 large leek, washed

  200g button mushrooms

  4 x 200g chicken breasts

  250ml chicken stock

  1 tsp mustard powder

  1 tbsp cornflour

  1 large handful of washed spinach leaves

  Salt and black pepper to taste

  2 tbsp low fat crème fraiche

  4 sheets filo pastry

  Olive oil or melted butter for brushing

  Heat a large frying pan (you’ll need one with a lid) over a medium heat, melt the butter and add the onion and bacon. Lightly fry, taking care not to let it go brown. Meanwhile, cut the leek into quarters lengthwise, chop into 1cm pieces and put them in the pan, stirring to coat them with butter. Quarter the mushrooms and tip into the pan. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.

  When the vegetables are soft – around ten minutes in total – add the chicken to the pan. Pour in the stock and bring up to a simmer. Stir, put the lid on and leave to cook for 5 minutes.

  Mix the cornflour and mustard powder with two tablespoons of water in a cup. Pour into the pan, stirring until it comes to a gentle boil and begins to thicken. Cook uncovered for two more minutes and add the spinach. Once this has wilted, check the seasoning, adding more salt and black pepper to taste. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the crème fraiche.

  Grease the top
part of a pie dish. I use a rectangular one, a bit bigger than an A4 sheet of paper. Decant the pie filling into the dish and have a clean-up while you wait for the filling to cool. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C (fan 170°C), gas mark 5.

  Unroll the filo pastry and lay one sheet over the dish. Then take the remaining sheets and scrumple them up, each covering roughly one third of the pie. If there are any over-hanging edges scrunch them up and then brush the top with olive oil or melted butter. Bake for 20–25 minutes until beautifully golden brown.

  Escape to the seaside with Cathy Bramley’s wonderfully warm novel set on the Devon coast!

  Sometimes you have to play a part to realize who you really are …

  Nina has devoted her life to making it as an actress, although her agent thinks she’s more best friend than leading lady. But with her onscreen character about to be killed off it might be time for a new role (on and off screen).

  Luckily for Nina, life has a way of shoving you in the right direction. A falling-out with her agent and his new star client leaves Nina’s life in tatters and her name in the papers. She is left with no choice but to flee the city, leaving nothing but an empty bottle of hair dye and her tiny bedroom behind.

  Escaping to the West Country, Nina makes herself useful by helping her friend set up his holiday business in beautiful Brightside Cove. Soon Nina is learning there’s more to life than London and more characters in a small village than on the stage. But she won’t be able to avoid the drama for long – Nina’s star is finally rising and it seems everyone wants a piece of her. So, when a beautiful man (and his adorable dog) catch her eye, it’s not long before London and showbiz start to lose their appeal.

  But can Nina really trade the bright lights of the Big Smoke for the calming tides of this Devon seaside village? Especially when, after years of chasing celebrity, it’s finally pursuing her.

  Will Nina choose the bright lights or has she met her match in Brightside Cove?