If you follow me on Instagram you already know everything about this exciting day in Scotland! Or maybe you missed it, that’s why I’m finally writing this blog post, one reason is to share everything with you lovely people and the other is to store all these lovely memories in one place so they don’t get lost over time.
I was so honoured, and can you even imagine how excited I was to get the invite from the HRH The Prince of Wales himself as one of the few UK bloggers (Alpha Foodie, The Happy Pear, The Boy Who Bakes, Melissa Hemsley) to join the 25 years of Waitrose Duchy Organic celebrations at Dumfries House near Glasgow. If you ever find yourself in Glasgow make sure to visit this amazing estate!
If you shop your groceries at Waitrose I’m sure you know all about Duchy Organic brand but for the rest of you, this is what it’s all about. The brand was created by The Prince Charles himself to champion organic farming, following a groundbreaking partnership established between Duchy Organic and Waitrose in 2009.
The brand has come a long way in 25 years since the first product, the ever-popular oaten biscuit, went on sale. Waitrose Duchy Organic is now the UK’s largest own-label organic brand and the second largest UK organic brand overall.
During our visit to Dumfries Estate near Glasgow we got the chance to walk around the farm, meet the farmers, see the rare British breeds of pigs, cows, chickens… the fun part was to see Valentin’s farm designed to complement horticulture and food lessons already in place on the Estate, the new facility aims to give children a genuine farm-to-fork experience, while also focussing on native livestock conservation.
After we finished the tour of this magnificent estate and had our afternoon tea we got the chance to join the Chefs in the professional kitchen on the Estate. This was an exciting part for us bloggers since we all really love to cook, plus it was great to see what’s going on in the kitchen when a team of chefs prepares a special 3-course dinner for 60 people. We wanted to stay and get involved with cooking but it was time to get ready for a very special dinner! No phones, no cameras and no distractions. Many thanks to the security team for this, it was a relief to put down the camera for a couple of hours, simply enjoy the great company, delicious food and pretend we are royals for at least one evening :D
I would just like to say a big thank you to the entire Waitrose team for organising this special trip and inviting me to come along, it was truly one of the best experiences of my blogger’s life and I’m so honoured to have been a part of it all <3
steak & merlot 