1. fresh outlook
LAKE HOUSE
The
Good LifeTrudie Styler, Sting and their devoted team have
created an idyll in the heart of the Wiltshire
countryside. Nikki Haynes takes an envious peek . . .
D
RIVING through the weren’t going to eat stuff contaminated
picturesque hamlet of with pesticides or antibiotics . . . becoming a
Wilsford-Cum-Lake in parent 23 years ago I became very conscious
Wiltshire you’ll be struck of this.” In 1990 the Lake House applied for
by its quaint, traditional, conversion to organic status with the Soil
villagey feel; but with rock royalty such Association. Conversion takes two years so
as Sting,Trudie Styler, Madonna and Guy from 1992 onwards everything produced on
Ritchie living around the corner – there is the estate was officially 100 per cent organic
much more going on in this pretty English – something that Trudie is very proud of.
county than you might think. Sting and This 100 per cent organic status includes all
Trudie have had their Lake House estate since of their gardens, pastures and meadows as
1990; originally built in 1590, it was restored well as the farm itself. The farm is certainly
to its present state by the celebrated architect busy: livestock include sheep, pigs, chickens,
Detmar Blow. It is built in grey stone and goats, ducks, guinea fowl, turkeys and beef
flint and boasts around 198 acres of land and dairy cattle. Along with the obligatory
sloping down to the River Avon. Despite hay and cereal crops to feed the animals, they
being a large Jacobean stone house, it exudes grow vegetables and fruit (which vary all
a warm, family feel once you step inside the the time – being organic they’re very reliant
distinguished exterior, with glowing fires on the weather), herbs and even organic cut
and plenty of dogs and cats roaming about. flowers. Trudie is a huge advocate of organic
The Lake House is just one of many retreats something she inherited from her upbringing;
that the couple own around the world. “my dad was a farmer during World War
Another of these is Il Palagio in Italy, a 16th II, they didn’t call it organic farming then - if you consistently give them organic food
century Tuscan estate. Here they have been - it was called extensive farming - and only they eventually develop a taste for that sort
successfully producing acclaimed honey, after the Second World War did we have of food.” Some deem organic produce to be
olive oil and classic Tuscan foods for a few intensive farming and then the agro business too pricey but Trudie argues that this is not
years - goods that they have been creating by took off by using a lot of chemicals . . . but it without good cause, “it’s labour intensive,
combining modern organic growing methods was in the name of having to grow food in a which is why it is more expensive than non-
with century-old Tuscan farming traditions. diminished country. In my dad’s time there organic food, but you do know that you’ve
Back in England they have turned their land would be farmers with small plots of land had that amount of care that’s gone into the
into an organic farm and recently launched like the one that I have now, and you’d grow land and put into the food, and you have a
the estate’s first range of products, which your own and grow enough to sell into the better sense of what that food is. I think the
they hope will hit the shelves with the same community with no chemicals. When my dad body asks for simplicity, it doesn’t want a
success that they have had at Il Palagio. got a job in the factory we’d still grow our lot of complicated food; it works better with
own veg in the garden and he wouldn’t have nutritious, nourishing, very fresh food.”
The story of Lake House dreamed of putting any chemicals on them.”
When Sting and Trudie first moved onto Having grown up with organic food it was The fat of the land
the estate it was Trudie’s dream to become only natural for Trudie to encourage her kids Trudie Styler is the self-confessed ideas
self-sufficient and live off the land. Trudie into these habits; “My two eldest are now person behind the farm, but with travelling
says, “We’re self sufficient now for three in their early twenties, naturally they went the world and being a working mum she
months of the year, so through the summer through the stage when they were teenagers can’t always be on hand to help: “Sting’s
months we don’t have to buy anything of wanting to go to fast food places and I’ve doing this big Police tour that will finish in
and that’s a very satisfying feeling. I think always been like, well go and check it out, but August and I’m in London with my little boy
the idea really grew ‘organically’ in a way, they pretty much got tired of it very quickly so much. It’s not like I really get stuck in at
we wanted the best for the kids; that they Now they’ve got a palate for organic food the weekend, I’m either ready to collapse or I
84 fresh www.fresh-magazine.co.uk www.fresh-magazine.co.uk fresh 85

2. want to get on my horse and ride through the visits they also aim to expand these visits to
fields. Instead I go through the garden then I secondary school children.
go round the farm with Paul (Dovey), Gordon
(Baillie) and Ian (Hume) and see what’s A very big house in the
happening, what we can do to make stuff country
better, more bio-diverse and what we can do Apart from tasting delicious, the products
to improve on living as sustainably as we can, also come in fabulous packaging making
so I’m sort of the ideas person really. I’m sure them ideal gifts. The Lake House logo, a roe
if life was a little less hectic I’d be there on deer, was inspired by the surroundings; “We
the tractor, I’ve got my dad’s old tractor there have so many around the estate, when I go
and I keep threatening to get on it and ride walking in the woods I see them a lot, then
through the fields.” The farm itself is a full the minute they see you they go running
time job so Trudie has a solid team behind her off in this wonderful way, leaping into the
who keep it going in her absence, including air – I love the energy in the way that they
Paul Dovey - the farm development manager, take a great leaps, I kind of like that idea
Gordon Baillie - the head gardener, Nicki of food and energy and freedom that they
Jacques - the Lake House chef and Ian Hume represent.” Calling the Lake House an idyll is
- head of maintenance. They’re all incredibly no exaggeration – it is a beautiful house full
passionate about their work and proud of of warmth in a truly spectacular setting, not
what they’ve achieved. As well as these key only for the family and the employees but
personnel the estate has lots of employees also for the livestock who are treated very
who keep it running like clockwork. well. They have created a flourishing world
within the estate where they are self-sufficient
Green fingers for a few months of the year, with some
The first batch of products that were launched commendable green policies that include
over Christmas included raspberry jam, black fitting solar panels on the barn and dairy to
currant jam, beetroot chutney, gooseberry, heat water. All rainwater is reused to water
sage and mint jelly, Christmas cakes and the gardens, fallen trees on the estate are used
Christmas coins. Very proud of what her to make furniture, repairs or fuel, electric
team have produced she says, “I love our solar panels used to run electric fencing and
black currant jam – it’s my favourite, and of all sewerage treated in a bio-dynamic reed
course I’m really thrilled with the Christmas bed system – and that’s just to name a few!
cake with because it came out of a dietary Not all of us have the money to create such an
need (she was wheat intolerant), I think it’s environment, but we can do our bit whilst we
now a cake that can do well with people who look on at the Sting and Trudie Styler Lake
have dietary restrictions but who also just House in awe . . .
love moist, rich fruit cake...even the icing is Lake House products are available in delis
organic.” The Lake House also offer vegetable including Selfridges Food Hall.
and meat boxes and fresh eggs to their local
community, which have been so popular
that they now have 50 regular clients within
a 10 mile radius of the estate. They also sell
produce at local markets, farmers’ markets
and the weekly local W1 market. Having
organic produce they can’t guarantee what
they’ll have to sell every year: “What we grow
is all down to the elements, it’s not like I’m
importing the fruit and veg, it’s home grown,
so we’re very reliant on the weather systems
and as you know it changes on a daily basis
so we never know. My strawberries were
completely knocked out this year, I usually
have delicious strawberries but they were
totally wiped out.” This year the farm will
also begin a new scheme of educational visits
for primary school children in the area with
the intention of teaching kids about where
their food comes from. Working closely
with the Soil Association guidelines for farm
86 fresh www.fresh-magazine.co.uk