Submitted by Julian on Mon, 18/05/2009 - 15:46
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On Sunday members of Food Frome and Sustainable Frome, led by Des Harris, visited Simpson's Seeds (www.simpsonsseeds.co.uk) in the old walled garden at Longleat.
Simpson's Seeds are a small family-run nursery, they mainly grow vegetable seeds and plants and specialise in chillis and tomatoes.
Matt Simpson gave us a tour of the nursery and explained some of the history. The walled garden was built in 1756 and continued to produce fruit and vegetables for the Longleat estate until World War II when it was taken over by the Ministry of Food.
Matt showed us round the greenhouses and described some of the perils of seed winnowing chilli and morning glory seeds.
The rain mostly held off for the afternoon and we came away bearing boxes of tomato, squash and chilli plants.
Simpson's have a Chilli Event next weekend (23-25 May) and will be holding tomato and chilli tastings in August and September. There will also be a Wessex Chilli Fiesta at the Cheese and Grain in Frome on 27th September.