Crafts, Training, Workshops

THE STORY OF PADDOCK FARM

ON MONDAY FEBRUARY 2 ND FEBRUARY. AT BRAILES VILLAGE HALL.

STARTING AT 7-30 PM.
( SUBJECT ) FROM PADDOCK TO PLATE – YOUR LOCAL BUTCHER STORY.

BY PADDOCK FARM . PLEASE COME AND HEAR THIS LOCAL BUSINESS BASED IN BRAILES.

ALL WELCOME * ( NOTE ) 7-30 PM. START.

REGARDS STUART.

THE TALE OF THE COTSWOLDS DISTILLERY BY FOUNDER AND C.E.O. MR. DAN SZOR.

After 30 years of city trading, New Yorker Dan was looking for a new direction. He decided to have his own distillery. His Cotswold Distillery is now producing malt whisky and signature gins.

Towards the end of his city trading, Dan and his wife bought a home near Traitors Ford. They liked the Cotswold atmosphere, so they made it their home. He carried out an extensive search for a suitable site and in the end bought a 4-acre derelict site in Stourton, 3 miles from his home. This site had planning permission for commercial development. There was a three year interval between site purchase and opening with the doors of the distillery opening in 2014.

Malt whisky contains only three ingredients: water, barley and yeast. The barley is grown in the Cotswolds. It is malted in Warminster where the traditional open floor method gets used. Barley grains are soaked in water, they germinate and are then dried and ground into grist

The copper vessels for distillation are hand made in Scotland. The final stage of whisky making is maturation. The pre-used oak barrels come from either sherry or wine making. It is these sources which gives the final product its distinctive flavour

Gin production starts with a neutral spirit and botanicals are added. These could be berries, herbs or spices. The mixture is re-distilled and then diluted to around 40% alcohol content. It is then bottled. Gin has the attraction of being ready for sale more quickly. Hence the ‘waiting for whisky’ in the title of the talk. The distillery now sells more gin than whisky.

Dan is very keen to involve the community in their activities. He recruits locally when he can. The visitor centre and cafe are open to all. Music evenings are held once a month. The site has been extended to over 10 acres. It has been landscaped and planted, and there is ample car parking.

Overall 40 people are now employed. Marketing is an important part of the business. There are two shops in the Cotswolds and more overseas markets are being investigated. The distillery is in the process of gaining Geographical Identification. This award is given to products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities due to this origin.
 
Katie Haycock thanked Dan for his very interesting talk. The meeting concluded with samples of whisky and gin being tasted. 

Our next meeting is on Monday 2nd February when Paddock’s Farm talk is ‘From Paddock to Plate – your local butcher’s story’. We meet at 7:30pm in the Village Hall. New members and guests are welcome.

https://www.cotswoldsdistillery.com/

Our final meeting of 2025 was on 1 December, when we had our Buffet Supper and Christmas Raffle. We started the evening singing carols to Helen Porter’s accompaniment on the piano.

Thirty members enjoyed a very sociable evening. Many thanks go to our members who bought and prepared the food, and also prepared the hall. In particular, Stuart Cummings, Julia Webster, Sarah Day and Glenda Woods.

As we did last year, sheets of carols were distributed and each table was asked to choose one.
Many thanks to Helen for getting us into the Christmas spirit.

We followed the carols with an excellent buffet. Members provided their own drinks.

The raffle lived up to its reputation as a special Christmas occasion.

Thanks go to Katie Haycock for preparing a   varied programme for 2026. Programmes were handed out during the evening. We start next year with ‘Waiting for Whisky’, a talk given by a speaker from the Cotswold Distillery in Stourton.

The January meeting is on the 5^th at 7 30 pm in the Village Hall.

Eric Darvell 

The Power of Purple with Epwell’s Ridge and Furrow Lavender

In November, Peter & Carolyn Koch de Gooreynd came to talk about their family business growing and distilling lavender

The meeting opened with two minutes silence for David Willatts. David was an anaesthetist in Banbury and in the past he has given us a very interesting talk on the history of anaesthetics. He travelled widely with his wife Alison, and we had several very good presentations about their travels.

Peter and Carolyn live on the edge of Epwell, where the long distance d’Arcy Dalton Way climbs out of the village towards Shennington. About 15 years ago they started to convert the field next to them into a lavender farm. Currently the rows of lavender plants occupy an area of about 200 yards by 50 yards. With occasional help from their son they do all the work themselves. They had no previous experience of large scale lavender growing and therefore there was a lot of trial error. Peter summarised their business as: Plants to planting, Drying to distilling, and Products to sell.

Every part of the plant is used. They produce body oil; lavender hydrosol, a milder product than the oil; soap; lavender bags and firelighters, made from the dried stalks. They sell on-line, and in one year they attended 200 local markets. They are pleased to have been accepted at Clarkson’s Farm where they have a pop-up shop.

Their plants need to keep there colour, and the plant type has to be a good producer of oil. Their chosen colour is purple. They have around 5 types, including Maillette from Provence. They visited a grower there and came back with 400 plants. Their motto is: Dream it, Build it, Grow it.  

Lavender does not like to be in water, nor does it like temperatures below about 7 degrees centigrade. They have created their own ridges. Initially they had to strip 2 kilometres of turf. Drainage trenches are also needed. A strong ground membrane is laid and a 4 inch diameter hole is pierced for each plant.  Although the membrane suppresses weeds, they still have problems with them. The plants have a life of around 7 years, so it is necessary to keep introducing replacements. 

Distillation is done in a 40 litre copper vessel and this means the plants are processed in relatively small batches. The harvesting period is 3-4 weeks. Lavender is used for its calming and anti-inflammatory properties, offering benefits to sleep, anxiety, skin health, and pain relief. It can also be used for aromatherapy.

After the meeting their products were for sale. Peter and Carolyn were thanked for an informative and entertaining talk.

Our next meeting is on Monday 1^st December when we have our Christmas Party which includes a buffet supper and Christmas raffle. We meet in the Village Hall at 7 30 pm.

Eric Darvell 

46^th Annual General Meeting

Annual General Meetings provide the opportunity to review the previous 12 months and look forward to the year ahead. Over the past 12 months the Society held 11 interesting meetings.  Attendances averaged 41.

The meeting opened with two minutes silence for Ken Minor. He died suddenly in September and he will be remembered as an energetic member of the Brailes community. He will be missed.

Ian Haycock chaired the meeting. His daughter-in-law Katie is our meeting secretary and her varied programme is a major factor for the Society’s continued success. To give a few examples: we started 2025 with Dr Thorogood talking about his career in General Practice; later in the year, Sheldon Banks talked about the modern uses of steam; and then Richard Gray talked about butterflies and moths. All  three speakers are closely connected to Brailes. Katie has almost completed next year’s programme. We are very grateful for what she does for us.

Thanks also go to founder-members Michael and Stuart Cummings. Michael does the raffle at each meeting. Stuart is the Treasurer. He reported that our finances are in good order.

Eric Darvell continues as Secretary. The remaining committee members are John and Theresa Wakeham.

In September 2025 we had 70 paid members. Our subscriptions are £5. Guests are welcome at all meetings, and no charge is made.

We appreciate the excellent facilities provided by the Village Hall Committee and we work closely with them.

Our evening concluded with tea and biscuits followed by the raffle.

Our next meeting is on Monday 3^rd November at 7:30 in the Village Hall. Ridge and Furrow Lavender are coming from Epwell to talk on The Power of Purple.

Eric Darvell
Secretary

Ken Minor on The Apollo Story – the Voyage to the Moon

The USA’s six Apollo flights are the only crewed landings on the Moon to date.
 Apollo 11 was the first in July 1969, and it was followed by 12, 14, 15, 16, 17. Number 13 was aborted. The crew successfully returned to earth. The programme ended in 1972 after Apollo17. Our member Ken Minor gave a fascinating talk describing the start of space travel after the Second World War.

 Ken’s interest in space travel started in his early childhood. In 1957 the Russians launched the first satellite to circle the world. They called it Sputnik and although it was only 2 feet in diameter it caused a sensation. His father asked him to get a paper with the news of this achievement. By the time Ken got to the shop the only paper available was the Daily Mirror. He brought along his treasured copy. 

In 1960 a monkey survived a journey into space. The Americans decided to respond to the  Sputnik launch and in 1961 President Kennedy announced that they would have a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. At the programme’s peak 440,000 people were working on Apollo. Their rocket was 360 feet high, three times the height of Brailes church tower. It weighed nearly 3000 tons when fully fuelled. The fuel was a petroleum product.

There were a number of landmark events. In December 1968, Apollo 8 was the first crewed flight to  circle the Moon. Several lunar orbits were made. In March1969 Apollo 9 demonstrated life support systems, and in May Apollo 10 went  within 15 kilometres of the moon’s surface.

This was followed by Apollo 11’s crew landing on the Moon in July. The low gravity on the Moon reduced the weight of their 80 kilogram space suits, which, being so heavy, were difficult to walk in on earth. The temperature on the Moon is 120 degrees centigrade on its sunny side and minus 240 degrees on the dark side. The Moon doesn’t rotate.

The remaining Apollo missions explored different areas of the Moon, with later flights using the Moon Rover wheeled vehicle. In total, the programme brought back about three quarters of a ton of rock.

This was a high cost, high risk programme. The 3 man crew of the first Apollo all died on the launch pad. Apollo 12 was struck by lightning on re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere and the crew  landed safely without computer control.

Ken brought along a one metre high Lego model of Apollo 11. To commemorate 1969 it is built with 1969 pieces. He split the model up to show the sizes of the various rocket stages.
                                                              
Vic Lee thanked Ken for his excellent talk.


Our next meeting is on Monday 6^th October when we have our AGM followed by a video.
We meet at 7 30pm and all are welcome.