• Contact us
  • About us
  • Digital edition
  • Online archive
Monday, July 7, 2025
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald
  • News
    Man arrested after assault in Penrith town centre

    Man arrested after assault in Penrith town centre

    Changes to lease accounting – how will this impact your financial statements?

    Changes to lease accounting – how will this impact your financial statements?

    Man fined £100 for using cashpoint in car park

    Man fined £100 for using cashpoint in car park

    Honour for man who devoted his life to Greystoke

    Honour for man who devoted his life to Greystoke

    Sheep breeder’s successful debut at Royal Highland Show

    Sheep breeder’s successful debut at Royal Highland Show

    Global engineering firm Babcock supports Eden charity

    Global engineering firm Babcock supports Eden charity

    Penrith Lions mark 50 years of serving community

    Penrith Lions mark 50 years of serving community

    £8,000 for two new nature reserve projects

    £8,000 for two new nature reserve projects

    Fun day in Penrith to celebrate community spirit

    Fun day in Penrith to celebrate community spirit

  • Sport
    Penrith skipper Nicky Burns calls on team to keep winning

    Penrith skipper Nicky Burns calls on team to keep winning

    £100,000 target for new changing rooms extension

    £100,000 target for new changing rooms extension

    Medal success for Upper Eden tug-of-war team

    Medal success for Upper Eden tug-of-war team

    Eden man competes in Hyrox World Games

    Eden man competes in Hyrox World Games

    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

    Patterdale’s Eden Eagles make history

    Patterdale’s Eden Eagles make history

    Penrith teen crowned British vault champion

    Penrith teen crowned British vault champion

    Penrith gymnasts represent North of England in finals

    Penrith gymnasts represent North of England in finals

    New boss revealed for Penrith AFC

    New boss revealed for Penrith AFC

  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Online archive
  • Buy Photos
  • Buy your paper
  • North Lakes Living
No Result
View All Result
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald
  • News
    Man arrested after assault in Penrith town centre

    Man arrested after assault in Penrith town centre

    Changes to lease accounting – how will this impact your financial statements?

    Changes to lease accounting – how will this impact your financial statements?

    Man fined £100 for using cashpoint in car park

    Man fined £100 for using cashpoint in car park

    Honour for man who devoted his life to Greystoke

    Honour for man who devoted his life to Greystoke

    Sheep breeder’s successful debut at Royal Highland Show

    Sheep breeder’s successful debut at Royal Highland Show

    Global engineering firm Babcock supports Eden charity

    Global engineering firm Babcock supports Eden charity

    Penrith Lions mark 50 years of serving community

    Penrith Lions mark 50 years of serving community

    £8,000 for two new nature reserve projects

    £8,000 for two new nature reserve projects

    Fun day in Penrith to celebrate community spirit

    Fun day in Penrith to celebrate community spirit

  • Sport
    Penrith skipper Nicky Burns calls on team to keep winning

    Penrith skipper Nicky Burns calls on team to keep winning

    £100,000 target for new changing rooms extension

    £100,000 target for new changing rooms extension

    Medal success for Upper Eden tug-of-war team

    Medal success for Upper Eden tug-of-war team

    Eden man competes in Hyrox World Games

    Eden man competes in Hyrox World Games

    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

    Patterdale’s Eden Eagles make history

    Patterdale’s Eden Eagles make history

    Penrith teen crowned British vault champion

    Penrith teen crowned British vault champion

    Penrith gymnasts represent North of England in finals

    Penrith gymnasts represent North of England in finals

    New boss revealed for Penrith AFC

    New boss revealed for Penrith AFC

  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Online archive
  • Buy Photos
  • Buy your paper
  • North Lakes Living
No Result
View All Result
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald
No Result
View All Result
Home Food and Drink

‘The Drunken Gardener’ shares tips on growing your own tipples with Lake District club

by CWH
21 March 2023
in Food and Drink, Latest
A A
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Members and guests attending the Caldbeck and District Gardening Club’s meeting on March 8 were enthralled by the talk presented by Doug Stewart. 

Doug is a professional horticulturist, whose career includes being professional associate tutor with the RHS, a BBC radio presenter, and formerly head of horticulture at Bishop Burton College in Beverley, East Riding.

His talk was entitled The Drunken Gardener. We are assured that this is not a self-description but a way for the gardeners, who like a tipple, to consider a re-design their gardens or allotments.

He suggested we harvest the young shoots of nettles before they flower and don’t sting, to make nettle beer. 

He suggested that we take a fresh look at our flower borders and think of them more as “cocktail” borders. 

Plant juniper, coriander, bay, lemon bush, in the conservatory, roses, cucumber and so on as botanicals, for a little home-distilled gin. 

Try cultivating a Cinchona tree – why? In the mid-1600s a noblewoman, living in Peru is said to have fallen ill with a fever and was advised to drink a concoction of the bark of the Cinchona tree to alleviate the fever. It is a natural source of quinine and was known as the fever tree – an excellent tonic for your gin! 

Doug also suggested that our re-designed gardens and allotments could be turned over to producing Agave, native of Mexico. 

The fermented sap of the Agave has been used as an alcoholic drink, known as pulque, for over 2,000 years and increasingly so since the Spanish invaded the Aztec Empire in the 1500s. A specific cultivar has the Latin name Agave tequilana – sound familiar?

Many other possibilities were mentioned by Doug, including apples (cider, Calvados, perhaps?) and pears (perry) fermented as an alcoholic drink since the Romans. 

His final suggestion, and perhaps the least favourite of the evening, was the seed pods of the Monkey Puzzle Tree, said to be the oldest plant to be used to make an alcoholic beverage. A particularly unpleasant past production method has been suggested as chewing the pods and spitting out the residue! 

A word of warning, however, the seeds are a virulent laxative. No home-made muesli there, then. 

Doug’s talk went down exceptionally well, so we confidently felt there was little risk of hangovers, simply pleasant memories of a fun evening.

Related Posts

Man arrested after assault in Penrith town centre
Latest

Man arrested after assault in Penrith town centre

6 July 2025
£8,000 for two new nature reserve projects
Latest

£8,000 for two new nature reserve projects

3 July 2025
Fun day in Penrith to celebrate community spirit
Latest

Fun day in Penrith to celebrate community spirit

3 July 2025
Arrests after shoplifting incidents in Penrith
Latest

Arrests after shoplifting incidents in Penrith

2 July 2025
Plans for 100-caravan holiday park revealed
Latest

Plans for 100-caravan holiday park revealed

27 June 2025
MP asks for Government help over plans to replace M6 bridges
Latest

MP asks for Government help over plans to replace M6 bridges

20 June 2025
No Result
View All Result

Stay connected

Facebook Twitter Instagram

Most popular

Anti-social residents move out after threatened with police order

Anti-social residents move out after threatened with police order

3 July 2025
Changes to lease accounting – how will this impact your financial statements?

Changes to lease accounting – how will this impact your financial statements?

6 July 2025
Man fined £100 for using cashpoint in car park

Man fined £100 for using cashpoint in car park

4 July 2025
Honour for man who devoted his life to Greystoke

Honour for man who devoted his life to Greystoke

4 July 2025
Fun day in Penrith to celebrate community spirit

Fun day in Penrith to celebrate community spirit

3 July 2025
Arrests after shoplifting incidents in Penrith

Arrests after shoplifting incidents in Penrith

2 July 2025
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald Logo

33 Middlegate
Penrith
Cumbria
CA11 7SY

Phone: 01768 862313
Email: news@cwherald.com

Registered in England as Barrnon Media Limited. No: 12475190
VAT registration number: 343486488

Explore

  • News
  • Sport
  • Farming
  • Property
  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Your view

Useful links

  • Contact us
  • Photosales
  • Online archive
  • Buy your paper
  • Digital edition
  • North Lakes Living
  • Advertise
  • About us

Follow us on

© Barrnon Media Limited 2025

Terms & Conditions / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy

This website and its associated newspaper are members of the Independent Press Standards Organisation
Review Your Cart
0
Discount
Add Coupon Code
Subtotal
Total Installment Payments
Bundle Discount
Checkout

 
0
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Online archive
  • more
    • North Lakes Living
    • Buy Photos
    • Buy your paper
    • About us
    • Contact us

© 2020 Cumberland & Westmorland Herald