Brother and sister combine farming with running Middleton-in-Teesdale chippy (From Darlington and Stockton Times)
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Brother and sister combine farming with running Middleton-in-Teesdale chippy
10:53am Saturday 26th January 2013 in News By Stuart Laundy, Reporter (Barnard Castle & Teesdale)
A COUNTY Durham brother and sister are combining life on the farm with running a rural chippy.
David Amsden and his sister Lydia were brought up on a hill farm in Wensleydale and took over the fish and chip shop in Middleton-in-Teesdale last August.
The shop has been closed for the past three weeks before reopening last Friday following a facelift carried out with help of local builder Mick Collinson.
Mr Amsden, 32, said although a gloomy economic outlook and rising food prices might have put others off setting up in business, it was not as daunting a prospect as people may think and although neither had run a fish and chip shop before, they were both used to cooking and baking in the farmhouse kitchen.
He believes they are well placed in Middleton-in-Teesdale to make a success of the venture attracting trade both locally and from some of the thousands of tourists who head to the dale each year.
In common with most traditional fish and chip shops, David and Lydia offer a varied menu.
Fishcakes are made daily on the premises, while 24-year-old Lydia cooks up a variety of pies using beef reared on the family farm.
“The beef cattle are reared on our upland pastures in an environmentally sensitive area, they grow naturally and slowly so the beef has a fuller flavour,” explained Lydia.
The animals are slaughtered at a small abattoir just three miles from the farm and the beef is hung for three weeks before being cut and packed. David added: “The burgers we are selling are the produce of a pure limousin steer I used to lead round on his halter. At least I know he had a good life and was well treated.
“I’m no Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstall but I like to know what is in my food and what I’m serving to my customers - there’s no mechanically recovered or modified meat in our pies and burgers.”
