Taste of Yorkshire on menu at Hockney’s London exhibition

David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, which opens at the Royal Academy in London on January 21, will showcase his landscape work over the last 50 years, including many large-scale paintings inspired by the undulating Wolds countryside.

Tourism organisation Visit Hull and East Yorkshire (VHEY) recently brought together over 20 of East Yorkshire’s leading suppliers with chefs from the Royal Academy, who are looking to include local produce in their dishes for the duration of the exhibition, which ends in April.

Around half a dozen suppliers caught the interest of restaurateurs Peyton and Byrne, who run the restaurant at the Royal Academy and several have already received sizeable orders, including Three Little Pigs of Kiplingcotes, which supplies rare breed pork from a farm high in the Yorkshire Wolds.

The business run by husband and wife Jon and Charlotte Clarkson started with three rare breed Berkshires given as a wedding present.

They now supply a variety of cuts of pork from the pigs, which live in large paddocks in family groups, and lamb from a flock of traditional Black Welsh Mountain lambs that graze on the slopes of the Wolds surrounding the farms.

Mr Clarkson, the third generation to farm at Kiplingcotes, said: “The showcase was a fantastic opportunity for us to highlight our products to a London audience at the Hockney Exhibition.

“The order we have received will make a real difference to our business and we can now feel very excited about the future possibility of expanding.

“We really feel that this is a chance to drive the business forward and hopefully recruit more local staff.”

The showcase at Tickton Grange was the brainchild of VHEY chief executive Janet Reuben.

VHEY has been promoting the largely unknown charms of the Wolds with a new sculpture trail along the Wolds Way and cycling routes and the organisation hopes the Hockney exhibition will show off the area to a wider audience.

One of the spin-offs may be artwork from local artists going on sale in the gallery shop.

Ms Reuben said: “We want to maximise the interest we know this exhibition will bring, while respecting his great talent.”

Barbara Macniven, from VHEY, added: “All the food that was showcased was actually produced in the area he has painted. We approached East Riding of Yorkshire Local Food Network and they were keen to get involved.

“Peyton and Byrne have begun to approach some of the successful people from the showcase; they are still devising menus.

“They are franchisees for the Royal Academy restaurant and cafe and they are serving up to 5,000 canape breakfasts, but they also do a number of functions per week, which could be up to 200 covers.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity; Three Little Pigs have been looking to break into the national market but couldn’t find a way on their own.”

Another local producer, Lowna Dairy, which has a herd of around 45 milking goats, at Raywell, on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, is waiting to hear from the restaurateurs.

Owner Tom Wallis, who took along some of their award-winning goats cheese to the showcase at Tickton Grange, including their unpasteurised Little Bobbin which got a first at the Great Yorkshire Show and gold at the International Cheese Awards at Nantwich, said: “To get the opportunity to supply them would be lovely – I am sure the girls would be proud.”

Artist goes back to his roots

David Hockney first came to the Wolds as a 14-year-old to help with the harvest and has strong family links with the area. He has been painting the landscape since 2005, including huge works like Bigger Trees near Warter, which recently drew 63,000 visitors to Hull’s Ferens art gallery. To him, cameras and computers – and recently the iPad and iPhone – are as much a part of the artist’s armoury as brushes and paints.