Hordle Lane Nursery - Opposite Hordle Church

[SarahF]

The above nursery is now running again with new young management and they are growing very nice mixed salad leaves and radish etc. cheaper and of course fresher and better than the supermarkets.

They also have young veg. plants and by the end of this month will have a full range of veg. to sell.

They also have strawberries and teas with home made cakes.

[Graham Hayward]

Sorry - missed your open day as I was away sailing. I'll pop along as soon as I get chance. Great to hear about your venture - especially as you're on my doorstep.

[SarahF]

The Open/Fun Day at Hordle Lane Nursery (oppo Hordle Church)
Sat 24th July 12-5pm.

Come and join the fun…
There will be an opening ceremony, children’s activities, community group stalls, a raffle, local music, salad bar and beer tent.

Children’s activities are Free of charge, and we hope to involve as much creativity in these as possible...
The beer tent will be basic, wine/beer/pimms/sangria and possibly cider?
The raffle includes meals out for two at the Restaurants who support local producers.
The event is all about promoting the services that we can all offer each other as a Community, local groups, such as Twinning/Driving Services for those in need/Brownies Guides and WI, possibly the British Red Cross and British Legion.
Food includes salad bar... provided by Gina, along with healthy options sandwiches and ciabatta menu.

[Gina]

My number is 07748 845889. Thank you Stephen for what you have done!

[Stephen Tarling]

Hordle Lane Nurseries update for July

I popped into the Hordle Lane Nurseries on Saturday 26 June, late morning on a flaking hot day. I'm basically a townie moving into the area (stop that hissing at the back please) and I didn't know Gina, Paul or anyone there, but they are clearly working extremely hard and doing an honest job of producing good quality New Forest Food (the clue is in the name). They certainly deserve our support.

I understand that for July we can look forward to plenty of good salad leaves, a steady supply of tomatoes and cucumbers and plenty of bedding and vegetable plants to have a go growing our own. Also looking good for the near future: courgettes not far off, and the aubergine plants looked healthy to me (but what do I know - two hours ago I had no idea what an aubergine plant looks like). I heard talk of the possibility of melons later on - Paul and Gina are growing them for the first time and so far, so good (my fingers are crossed).

I've added a few photos in the All Photos album.

They have more land than they can reclaim and some ramshackle buildings, but they are making a lot of what they have tamed: 3 poly tunnels, a range of netted plots; pigs, turkeys and chicken, an array of vegetables and salad leaves, vegetable and bedding plants, some fruits - all at various stages of readiness. Some baby carrots, spring onions, radish, broad beans and peas - in various quantities. Their strategy is to continually plant so there's no great glut of one item, but a continual choice - however this does mean that there is no guarantee that you'll get what you want (I assume you could ring them first if you want to be sure).
My local native guide tells me the land there is very good - there were nurseries there previously - and the local weeds, from nettles to cow parsley and thistle, are clearly all thriving at the edges of the plot!

They are working hard and encouragingly busy - there was almost a 'supply-on-demand' system - you want salad leaves: we will pick more salad leaves. By 12 noon I was devastated to hear that the last punnet of strawberries had gone - I was consoled only by the lavish application of a home made scone cream tea.

If you get a chance do pop along and see what's available.

[SarahF]

Stephen, Hi, thanks for that. I am not around this weekend, but will check it out afterwards.
many thanks
Sarah

[Stephen Tarling]

Minor update on Hordle Lane Nurseries

I was driving past (24 Jun 2010) and the board outside has the phone number 07748 845889 on it. I've added a photo or two. I can confirm they are absolutely opposite Vicarage Road (on Hordle Lane)

http://www.hotfroguk.co.uk/Companies/Hordle-Lane-Nurseries has the phone number as 01425 615812 (but the marker on the map is much too far south-west down Hordle Lane - the marker should be opposite the end of Vicarage Lane).

[Stephen Tarling]

It's not obvious or particularly easy to find - it is on the outskirts of Hordle.

The Hordle Lane Nursery is, unsurprisingly, in Hordle Lane. I believe the postcode is SO41 0HT and there's a mobile number: 07826 342243 given at
http://www.hotfroguk.co.uk/Companies/The-New-Forest-Herb-Company
which also has a map.

From the centre of Hordle (well I'm not sure where the centre is, but from the roundabout at the crossroads by the garage where Silver Street, Vaggs Lane, Ashley Lane and Everton Road meet) take the Everton Road (down the road where the garage is on your left) for about 1km and at the first minor cross-roads, turn right into Hordle Lane. 100 metres or so down on your right is the Hordle Lane Nursery. The entrance is almost opposite Vicarage Lane. All well marked and shown in Google Maps except that the nursery was obviously not fully operational when the streetview was taken.

It is, as Sarah's title suggests, opposite Hordle Church - so if you are asking locals, ask for the church and/or the school which is next door to the church. There are a couple of small signs along Hordle Lane and a big sign outside. I've passed it a number of times but not called in yet - I'll try this weekend.

[Richard Loader]

I searched for the place yesterday and failed to find it, is there a postcode to help - no one locally seemed to know where it is.......I'll try again next week.

[Gina]

Thank you for visiting Ali, we were a bit unprepared today...mad rush of deliveries! I hope you liked my corner of Hordle and what I plan to do! i would welcome any other local producers who would like to sell their produce with us if you know of any.. it would be great to label a particular veg/jam/pickle etc with a name and sell it on!! I love the idea of community/sustainability.. where we all teach each other how to provide for each other

[Gina]

We are open 10-5 on saturday and sunday 10.30 til 4.30, generally ,if the gate is open then all are welcome and you will find us dotted around the site doing our tasks! We are very much work in progress and loving every bit of it! This weekend we have salad leaves, broad beans, peas, spring onion, baby carrots and courgettes ready for picking! We are also expecting the arrival of our adopted free range turkeys.. who will be trampling the weeds!