Behind the scenes at Buttercliffe Farm: How Pasture grows its own

“Everything you see here used to be just an open field.” 

Buttercliffe Farm was first established in 2019, transforming a blank plot into a rich and productive growing space. It’s now in its sixth year and flourishing with fruit, vegetables, heritage varieties, micro-herbs, edible flowers and even a few beehives. They’ve also recently planted 3,000 vines to produce their own wine in the near future. 

“When I opened Pasture, I wanted to put a big focus on growing as much as we can,” says Sam, walking us through the beds. “You can’t get any fresher than that: harvesting salad in the morning and delivering it straight to the restaurant. It’s beautiful.” 

Sam points to a row of Mammoth Red Rock cabbages: “These are my favourites. They’re absolutely beautiful cabbages. Aren’t they huge? They’re only just beginning to heart up as well, so they’re going to be absolutely massive by the time they’re done. But you can’t get any fresher than that.” 

Connecting kitchen and farm 

“The farm is hugely influential on our menus and creativity,” Sam says. “We grow everything: fruit, flowers, herbs, microgreens. We’ve got four beehives. From a creative perspective, it helps us home in on fresh ingredients and what’s available. We’ve got a great relationship with the farm team here and we can really plan ahead on harvesting what’s best, what’s freshest and most sustainable for the restaurants. 

“We invite the team up here every month. We have big farm days. We’ve got a huge amount of staff now: 20 employees at once from all over the restaurant. They come here, we get them involved, they meet the farm team, we have a good walk around, they harvest the veg, they’ve got a great understanding of what we do here — and it’s finished with me cooking them a great lunch. 

“On the back of the menus, we really shout about sustainability, and we have a map explaining where we’re procuring all of our ingredients, with a big focus on the farm. When we invite our staff here, they have such a magical time seeing the produce that then directly relates into the restaurants when they tell the story to our guests.” 

What does success look like? 

“Success to me is measured from a couple of things,” says Sam. “Firstly, it’s measured by the produce: the success of the produce that we’re growing. Growing fruit and vegetables in this climate is challenging, especially with the pressures of global warming. Every year is different to the last one. There’s a commercial stance of success through having amazing produce. And of course, certain vegetables, certain years will not be so successful. So having a good harvest is really important. 

“And also, success is measured through the happiness of the team that works here. I think it’s really, really important. It’s a tough gig. But being in these surroundings, come rain or shine, if they can remain fulfilled and valued and happy — that’s a great measure of success to me.” 

From front-of-house to farm manager 

Tom didn’t start his career in agriculture; he was originally a server at Pasture. 

“I started working in the restaurant as a waiter. At the time, I had an allotment that I looked after with my partner. We had a surplus of vegetables that we were taking into the restaurant. And Sam obviously loved the vegetables that were coming in and said, ‘I’ve got some land out the back of my house. Would you like to come and set up a farm with me?’” 

“Yeah. Front-of-house, directly to the fields. A bit of a change. I love that.” 

His approach to growing focuses on soil health and low-impact techniques. “We basically try to do everything organically. And we also employ a principle of no-dig, so we’re basically adding a layer of compost to the soil every year before we plant in it. Rather than traditionally turning over the soil, we’re just planting into the top layer.” 

“We’ve got a rainwater harvesting setup here so we can harvest 7,000 litres of water. And we try to be as efficient with that as possible.” 

Looking ahead 

Tom’s goal is to “inspire creativity with what we can grow in this country year-round, rather than importing stuff from other places.” He finds it “really interesting to pickle, preserve, ferment — that sort of thing — in order to have less reliance on importing goods.” 

He’s also keeping an eye on innovations. “We use AI apps so we can identify different pests, diseases, different wildlife that’s coming in here.” They’ve even got a shipping container on-site where they grow micro-herbs — like a mini vertical farm. As Tom says, “Trying to expand on that and be able to grow things year-round is really interesting.” 

A farm that feeds the whole operation 

Buttercliffe Farm is more than a source of produce. It’s part of a bigger story about transparency, quality, seasonality and reconnecting the kitchen with the land. It's a living example of what’s possible when chefs and growers work side by side, literally. 

As Sam puts it, “It’s hard work. But when you see a crop thriving or a team member talking about the farm to a guest with real pride — nothing beats it.” 

Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel and learn more about Pasture at pasturerestaurant.com.

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