STING SETS UP FRUIT AND VEGETABLE STALL

Sting has put his successful music career on hold to go into the organic fruit and vegetable business it seems. He is now supplying a local Wiltshire village store with produce from his organic garden in his country estate in Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England and uses 60 acres of his land to grow a wide range of chemical-free vegetables, including tomatoes, onions, potatoes, runner beans, cucumbers and aubergines. Place to be is The Old Forge Farm Shop in Berwick St James (Old Forge Farm Shop, Muddy Lane, Berwick St. James, Salisbury, SP3 4TN, Tel. 01722 790940, Opening times: Monday – Saturday 10a.m. – 5.30 p.m.). The lane is muddy sometimes but it is not long and it is well worth any effort getting to the shop! It is run by Liz Crossley, and is a traditionally run family business whose fame has spread. They sell excellent meat, over 20 farmhouse cheeses, cream and butter, cakes and puddings, cooked dishes such as game casserole, salmon fish pie and Moroccan lamb. The shop will be very useful if you are self-catering in this delightful area away from the tourist trail.
Source: StingUs & Wiltshire Tourism

His film-producer wife TRUDIE says,”We decided we wanted to take things into our own hands and make sure that we had food that was safe for our children. We enjoy sitting down and eating what we’ve produced. “I feel very angry that consumers just aren’t informed of the poisonous pesticides that are put into the soil.”
Based on article from CONTACTMUSIC.COM and The Sun.

Funny detail: The Lake House estate also used to prepare its own produce at one time, selling the goods to locals through the home market buildings in Upper Woodford.

Now, if we all had such large property, we would do the same, no? At the last count, Sting owned seven properties: a mansion (Lake House, 14 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms, is a grade I-listed 41 room Jacobean stately home, Sting is said to write some of his songs in the Captain’s Room, which is a big panelled drawing room with a stone fireplace) with 800 acres in the Wiltshire countryside, 600 acres in Tuscany -producing its very own olive oil-, a $6 million Malibu beach house, a New York apartment, a house in the Lake District and a couple of places in London – an apartment on the Mall and a grand 18th century terrace house in Highgate whose elegant, acre-long garden backs on to Hampstead Heath.
Source: StingUs and The Daily Telegraph Magazine.

In addition also following article that appeared in the SouthCoast Today. Mrs. Sting has organic sensibility, by Samantha Critchell, Associated Press writer

Trudie Styler is the lady of Lake House, a role that has the ring of royalty to it. But in practice, she is closer to being a farmhand. Lake House is an estate in rural England (near the small village of Wiltshire) that Styler shares with husband Sting and their four children. The house has a heritage going back more than four centuries and architecture reminiscent of a fairy tale castle.
Eight years ago, Styler was looking for a house in the country that the family could use on the weekends. She fell in love with the romance and charm of the stone manor that has survived two major fires. King Alfonso XIII of Spain was among its many guests. “On that clear, cold, late-autumn day when I first saw Lake House, I was captivated by the romance of it all,” Styler writes in “The Lake House Cookbook,” published by Clarkson Potter.
Her husband was on tour when she first saw the house. “I must have been very persuasive when I spoke to Sting that day, or maybe he could sense my certainty. But whatever it was that convinced him, with a tremendous leap of faith he agreed, and our lives were changed forever.”
After moving from London, the couple made a conscious decision to turn the property into a self-sustaining organic farm. They now have more than 60 acres of fruits and vegetables, four types of livestock and facilities for making honey and cheese.
“Way back eight years ago, we decided we wanted to take things into our own hands and make sure we had food that was safe for our children,” said Styler, who is an actress, film producer, director and co-founder of the Rainforest Foundation.
“The Lake House Cookbook,” which she wrote with family chef Joseph Sponzo, is filled with more than 150 recipes and 300 photographs of Lake House, its surrounding farm and gardens.
“We enjoy sitting down with people and eating what we’ve produced,” she said. “It is most satisfying.” Styler was interviewed at the family’s Manhattan apartment, where she spends a few months a year.
1. Why do you feel so strongly about organic food?
Styler: I feel very angry that consumers just aren’t informed of the poisonous pesticides that are put into our soil that don’t only have a negative effect on the animals and environment but also on our children.
2. What is your favorite meal?
Styler: I could eat Spaghetti al Aglio e Olio (spaghetti with garlic and oil) until it comes out of my ears.
3. Are you partial to any of the animals on the farm?
Styler: I don’t become partial to the ones that are going to market or will eventually end up on the table. I’m very real about that — we are running a farm. I do like to eat meat and so do the children, so I make sure that those animals are extremely well cared for, but we don’t go around naming them. That would be too difficult. But the kids, as I do, have lots of pets, and the milking cows stay a long time, and the goat herd is female, so they all have names.
4. You grew up in a rural town but lived in the city for many years. Do you consider yourself a city or country person?
Styler: I left for the city when I was 17, but by nature I’m a country girl. But, you know, you go through that stage when you become a teen-ager where you want to fly and spread your wings. … Find stuff out. But I think eventually the pattern of life is that you start to return to your roots. You start to think backward.
5. Lake House is 83 miles from London. What is the hardest thing about living away from the city?
Styler: There’s no Gucci store.