‘Living library’ offers chance to taste a piece of history at Knightshayes’s heritage tomato day

Veg lovers are being invited to ‘taste a piece of history’ at Knightshayes, near Tiverton, at a celebration of all things tomato on Saturday 7 September.

As caretakers of around 150 varieties of heritage tomato seeds, the garden team at the National Trust property have been growing 29 varieties this year. These 29 varieties will be the stars of the show at the ‘Terrific Tomato Day’ in September and the public are invited to see, smell and taste some of the tomatoes grown from the ‘living library’ kept at Knightshayes. 

The 2.5 acre walled garden at Knightshayes is home to the collection of heritage tomatoes, considered one of the biggest in the UK, many with quirky names such as ‘Auntie Madge’s Plum Cherry’, ‘First in the Field’ and ‘Black Sea Man’.

But it’s more than a day out: it’s about celebrating this ‘living library’ and sharing why we think keeping these varieties alive is important. Many seed varieties are at risk of being lost forever, so seed swaps and collections like the one at Knightshayes play an important part in protecting genetic diversity and our food heritage.  

The day will also include seed swaps, tours of the tomato tunnels and seed saving demonstrations. Sam Brown and Beverley Todd from the garden team at Knightshayes will be running the talks and are keen to share their top tips for tomato growing success and how to save seeds. They’ll also talk about the work being done to save heritage seeds in order to keep local and heritage varieties alive and in production in Devon. 

Every year the Kitchen Garden at Knightshayes produces tonnes of fruit, vegetables and cut flowers for use in the café and house. Each year when they harvest, they keep aside a portion of the many seeds in order to plant the next year’s crop. For many years gardeners have saved seed to use for the following year’s crop and it’s only more recently that gardeners have started purchasing seeds - which has meant some less mainstream seeds have fallen out of favour and use. 

For four years, Knightshayes has been holding seed swaps help to maintain the diversity and genetic strengths of seeds, and keep the more unusual varieties alive - such as the heritage tomato collection Knightshayes has built over the years. 

The team at Knightshayes grow many heritage varieties, as Bev Todd, Supervisor at the Kitchen Garden explains, ‘At Knightshayes, our aim is to create a garden in the experimental spirit of the Victorians, our visitors can experience a real working kitchen garden, akin to how it would have been during the time when the Heathcoat Amory’s lived here.’

She continued, ‘To do this we use many traditional growing techniques and also grow and harvest a large range of heritage seeds.  Seed saving is really important, not just to preserve genetic diversity but also to avoid the loss of our heritage in food form. It also promotes and advocates sustainability, avoiding reliance on bought in seeds.’

This year’s tomato day at Knightshayes will be taking place on the middle terrace in the Kitchen Garden on Saturday 7 September from 11am to 2pm. The event is free, though normal admission applies to those who are not members.  There will be tastings of this year’s varieties, along with talks about our top tips for growing tomatoes and how to save your own seeds at home.

For more information visit: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/knightshayes