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D’Arcy’s Organic Kitchen Garden
The legacy at the root of our earth conscious kitchen.
The philosophy behind Hidden Lake Hotel’s kitchen was set in motion decades ago by Glenda’s Uncle D’Arcy. His organic kitchen garden stems from a lifelong passion for growing produce.
D’Arcy’s practice has always been to eat fresh from the earth that you have tilled yourself, source local everything else you can, live a healthy lifestyle, give back, and know where your food is coming from.
D’Arcy chose garden over lawn every time
D’Arcy’s original organic kitchen garden still produces a great variety of fruits and vegetables. Even the compost is home grown. His flower gardens in Cambridge were the stuff of local legend. In the past, when D’Arcy’s gardens were prolific, producing far too much for him to consume, he was known to distribute produce amongst friends and neighbours free of charge.
Now D’Arcy’s Garden is feeding guests of Hidden Lake Hotel
Uncle D’Arcy’s garden is located on a plot of land close to the hotel. He uses his own rainwater supply, having set up a tank to capture the water and feed it to the garden. A compost system is in place, recycling weeds and old veges that are fed back to the garden when fermented.
At 81 years old Uncle D’Arcy stills works in his garden every day. Gardening remains his passion, and while he is delighted that his garden produce will be serving the plates of Hidden Lake Hotel, we are equally grateful and proud to continue D’Arcy’s healthy life and sustainable practice legacy.
Know where your food is coming from
We plan to carry on his tradition by sourcing produce from D’Arcy’s garden and contributing to the compost in return. Guests can experience the difference of eating at the source, fresh to plate, with any gaps filled in by local suppliers.
At the root of everything we do
Uncle D’Arcy’s legacy is at the root of everything we do in the hotel kitchen because it is all about flavour fresh food and a sustainable way of living – a perfect fit with an earth conscious hotel. One we honour in D’Arcy’s Garden Restaurant, Club Lounge & Bar.
Glenda Hamilton and Christopher Turner are the owners and operators of Hidden Lake Hotel Cambridge, New Zealand. Look for the Hidden Lake Hotel exhibition at EXplore and TRENZ Rotorua 13-16 May.
