Wow – what a crazy week that was!
At a glance
- A half-kilo English autumn truffle, found in Wiltshire by Stanley the truffle dog
- Raffled during lockdown at £5 a ticket
- £9,175 raised for homelessness charity StreetSmart in under a week
- Won by Clemmie in Warminster
The moment Stanley the truffle dog looked at me, I knew he had found something special. But I had no idea quite how special – an incredible, solid half-kilo truffle! A beautiful, perfectly ripe English autumn truffle, and one of the biggest we’ve ever found here in Wiltshire.
There was just one problem. We’re in the middle of lockdown, and all the restaurants are closed. Normally we’d have a queue of chefs fighting over a truffle like this, but with everyone stuck at home, we wondered what on earth to do with it.
Then we had an idea. Why not raffle it to raise money for our friends at homelessness charity StreetSmart?
Within 24 hours we’d set up a page on our website, offering raffle tickets for £5 each, and shared the news on social media. What we hadn’t anticipated was what happened next…
Thanks to the wonderful support of so many friends in the hospitality industry, and the extraordinary generosity of truffle lovers across the country, we raised an astonishing £9,175 in less than a week!
In the end, our monster truffle was won by Clemmie in Warminster, who now has the rather enviable task of deciding what to do with half a kilo of beautiful fresh truffle. We suspect there will be some spectacular meals involved!
Meanwhile, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing with media requests all week, and it feels rather strange returning to normal life now that it’s all over.
What an extraordinary experience. From a dog striking lucky in a misty Wiltshire woodland, to raising thousands of pounds to help some of the country’s most vulnerable people – with a few days of complete madness in between.
A huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone who played a part. We couldn’t have done it without you.
Cook with fresh truffles
