It had always been my aim to stock sell and champion local produce and local suppliers, not only from the environmental stand point but also to support local industry, opening a business in a rural location has its benefits but to maintain this style of life money must be invested back into other local businesses. We have established some excellent relationships with a large number of local producers and suppliers of local produce and we are proud of our achievements to date. Knowing not only that the product is the best available to me but also being able to talk to the farmer himself when ordering adds for me a great deal of satisfaction, running a restaurant is very much like holding several dinner parties at the same time in one house and I try to source the very best ingredients for the guests that arrive at The Ducane. As an animal lover and a carnivore I like the idea that the animals raised for my table are at the very least allowed to live a natural life and are free from ill treatment whilst living that life, local suppliers transport their cattle a fraction of the distance to slaughter compared with some larger national suppliers and this I personally feel lessens the build up of stress adding to the well being of the beast and producing tender joints for me to cook.

Free range poultry that you can drive pass on the way to the A12 busy pecking and laying the eggs we use we still comment in the kitchen on the bright yellow colour of real free range eggs.

Anyway we have sourced some excellent producers and suppliers and in recognition of their dedication in producing great products for us to use I have listed below a little where we get what list should you wish to purchase from them for your personal use at home.

These wonderful ingredients are some of the best beef and lamb around reared locally in Braxted on the banks of the Blackwater. Kit sells boxes of jointed beef and lamb from his herd and will conduct organised tours of his farm and show case his relationship between commercial farming and conservation.

Our Sunday Sirloin is a Ducane favourite as well as Steak pies and burgers.

Once hung for the necessary 30 days the beef is fit for any table we purchase ours through a wholesale butcher Direct Meats who also have their own herds raised in the Deben valley.

It is always reassuring to cook a stunning sirloin of beef on a Sunday morning and to then serve it to the farmer who produced it another positive for buying local.

This family run business specialises in all things pig, sensational bacons and gammons from their own pigs, cured on the farm smoked in the traditional way, all manner of sausages, sausage meats and some of the very best pork roasting joints available, we use the pork belly regularly as well as the excellent sausages, when roasting pork on the Sunday we go for a loin and always comment on the crispy crackling so hard to achieve with lesser quality pork.

Apart from the quality of product again the reassurance of driving past the farm and speaking to one of the family as you place your order is all for the better.

The catering trade is all about passion and occasionally you come across a kindred spirit another person passionate about their particular product Warren and Ellie are such a couple they supply us with sublime ice creams using goats milk as their base rather than the usual cows milk, the results are irresistible and new flavour combinations seem to be warrens favourite hobby as we all get to sample these the ice cream man was a very welcome and popular supplier.

All the ice creams are naturally flavoured and coloured and have a slightly lighter texture than cows milk ice creams and for dairy intolerant diners ours are normally tolerable and during regular tasting sessions I can assure all reading this that these ice creams are in my humble opinion to die for, as incidentally does Waitrose who keep on dishing out awards for the quality of the product.

Warrens flock is again free range and based in Abbington where the milking, pasteurising and churning into ice creams is completed, we also purchase prime cuts of goat meat and we have use them  regularly as a feature dish on our lunch and dinner menus a forgotten delicacy and as tasty as spring lamb if cooked well.

Purist may comment that we should really make our own ice creams on site but that would exclude Warren and his flavours from our kitchen life and I prefer to let an expert make them for us.

Warren and Ellie have just launched their own range of goat’s cheeses to the trade and we have been keen to incorporate them in our menus and cheeseboard selection.

Paul Lewis has served me up the very freshest local produce available for some time now and as with all things culinary the fresher the better, Paul collects the majority of his produce direct from the producing farm and distributes it to a few luck customers one of them being The Ducane, we receive seasonal locally grown vegetables hours old, picked that day and delivered daily, we have to do with out exotic varieties of vegetables like French beans, mange tout and baby corn but we feel it nicer to buy local and cook fresh. we are forced to make use of the seasons and where ever possible we buy and serve locally grown vegetables and fruit featuring each as long as we can as the seasons change Asparagus seasons brings on a plethora of dishes featuring this short lived delicacy, berries exclusively supplied by The Tiptree Jam factory Wilkins and sons as well as Little Mountains Farm just up the lane, apples from local orchards and even hybrid varieties grown for the first time in the area.

A recent addition to our shelves but a fantastic non alcoholic juice produced from locally grown apples, pressed and processed in Great Totham. We only stock a few of the many lines that Clare and Nigel produce but we do have sell large family sized bottles behind the bar should you want to take some with. We use the juice in savoury and sweet dishes alike and we all feel that it is nicer than some of the more commercially produced fruit juices both as a drink and as a cooking ingredient.

If you are always left with apples littering the garden collect them up and Hill Holme will press them for your own label apple juice to takeaway and enjoy at home.

Sandra not only delivers our wood for the restaurant but also supplies our free range eggs, excellent colour and flavour we bulk out the chicken’s grain based diet with our kitchen vegetable trimmings. We use the eggs in lots of our recipes and dishes with peace of mind as to the welfare and safety of the chickens.

Baking nightly this small independent bakers with master baker Julia supervising each bake, supplies all our bread, brown, granary and unbleached white all are made the traditional way and baked in the only oil fired bakers oven in Essex.

Locally milled flour and grains no artificial colourings or flavourings raised with yeast and delivered to us daily still warm from the oven.

Producing in summer some of the best soft fruit available, raspberries, Logan berries, currants and strawberries we use lots of these products picked daily and served hours old, in winter the farm turns its attention to free range, bronze turkeys raised and butchered on the farm and fed a grain based diet. We use Little Mountain Farm Turkeys throughout Christmas and occasionally on Sundays

A Mersea based company Colchester Fish Supplies owned by Toby supply’s us with ethically harvested fish and shellfish, with buyers located in all the local markets we purchase daily and set a tight criteria for our fish, whether farmed or wild we are conscious of the danger of over fishing and fish stock decline and try to our little bit by buying right.

Line caught fish is purchased over trawled and hand picked dived shellfish over dredged, DEFRA approved fish farms which are regularly inspected to ensure quality and the high standards of fish rearing is maintained.

We buy with the seasons and avoid fish species when spawning or carrying eggs. We promote new and unusual varieties of fish to our customers to avoid buying endangered or over fished species.

Sea food and shellfish can be ordered in advance give us 24 hours notice and we can source and prepare a selection of local shellfish to nibble on, lobster, oysters, mussels and dressed crabs are all available but we prefer to take delivery and serve on the same day where possible.

Jim Knight has been delivering the very best of meat and poultry for many years and has built up a first class reputation in the catering industry, sourcing the best meat from local markets Jim ensures all our meat is ethically sourced and with traceability from farm to fork.

Harvested from local hives as part of the Essex Beekeeping society co operative we use this wonderful natural product in many of our desserts and puddings, with the numbers of hives falling and bees dying out in large numbers purchasing locally produced honey allows funds to is re invested in research and welfare for the future of British Beekeeping.

Since before Roman times our local coastline has been famous for sea and shellfish .Long established oyster beds have yielded excellent oysters of rare quality and flavour an acquired taste if you’re a fan you cannot buy better, we obtain our crabs lobsters and cockles from Colchester oysters safe in the knowledge that they are landed in traditional baited pots in the traditional way, grade and delivered to us with the scent of the sea. Featuring in our menus seasonally we think you will love the results.

Supplying the leading London restaurants Direct Meats based in Chapel are our interface with local meat producers. Not only wholesale butchers Direct Meats operate and farm their own herds for slaughter and supply perfectly hung lamb, beef and poultry.

Based in Tolleshunt D’Arcy Essex Birds supply the very best local poultry, geese and chickens reared and slaughtered on the farm and reared to the highest freedom foods standards. Reared for over 70 days (supermarket chicken is reared to 28-35 days and with the help of growth hormones and 24 hour feeding produce heavy birds but with little taste) the Essex Birds have a much fuller flavour and taste like chicken used to taste like, Wilf and Jody deliver to us all of our poultry products.

Locally we take delivery of all fresh produce brought to our door, Braxted bullace plums, cooking apples, quince and pears and stunning figs. Keep up the good work Braxted you grow it we cook it simples.