Work has started on a gourmet mushroom farm in Combe.

The new farm, located on the Blenheim Estate, will harness recycled coffee grounds, compostable packaging and sawdust from Blenheim Palace to propagate gourmet mushroom varieties such as Oyster and Lion’s Mane.

The fungi will not only appear in the palace's own kitchens but will also be dried, packaged and sold at the palace store and local Oxfordshire establishments, over 20 of which have already shown interest.

The mushroom farm's structure will consist of three units - a substrate and inoculation prep room, an incubation area and a fruiting chamber.

Following each harvest, the used substrate will be turned into biochar pellets, energy and carbon credits through a (patent pending) pyrolysis unit.

Roy Cox, the managing director of estates at Blenheim Palace, said: "Using mushrooms in our restaurant kitchens which have been grown using our own organic waste is the perfect example of a self-sustaining circular ecosystem in action."

The project is a collaborative endeavour between Blenheim Estate and environmental consultants Tumblebug, as part of their Country Estate Carbon Demonstrator Project.

Sylvie Verinder, Tumblebug founder and CTO, said: "Recovering organic waste to grow mushrooms, with the added benefit of producing green energy and biochar for our growing medium and fertiliser products, not only accelerates the route to Net Zero but has economic and social benefits."