8:30am Monday 8th February 2010
By Claire Marshall
A FORMER chartered surveyor with a passion for good food has got out of the rat race and launched a catering company using homegrown produce.
Nicola Perry’s life has undergone big changes over the last few months.
Working on a quiet farm, looking out over the Severn Vale, is worlds apart from her former job in a busy office in Bristol.
She says she finally feels like she can breathe and although she is working round the clock on the new venture, Berry Blue Creative Food, she is loving every minute.
"It is just fantastic working on the farm, I’ve really started to get interested in growing the vegetables and fruit, it is very different to what I did before, but I really love it."
Nicola, 30, had planned to take redundancy at work and go travelling for a year, but after a conversation with a work colleague who owned a farm in Cam she changed her mind.
Louise Brown and her husband renovated an Elizabethan farm house in Upthorpe, Cam, and despite working full-time as a lawyer Louise spends much of her spare time tending to her large vegetable garden and orchard.
She shared Nicola’s passion for food and offered her the opportunity to run a catering company from her home, using produce from her garden.
Berry Blue has been trading for several months now and despite no advertising Nicola has provided food at events for a range of big companies and has catered for weddings, funerals and parties.
The company’s ethos is fresh, local, seasonal food that is sustainable, environmentally friendly and most importantly tasty.
Any food that doesn’t come from the farm is sourced from as close to home as possible, with Nicola using as many different independent companies as possible.
"We would really like to hear from local producers because we might like to use their products in our food," added Nicola.
The food grown on the farm is free from pesticides and there is also a herb garden, with plants from organic supplier Jekka McVicar, and a flock of chickens.
If you are interested in booking Berry Blue for an event or you are a local food producer contact info@berry-blue.co.uk or see the website www.berry-blue.co.uk for more details.
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