Free Range Chickens
Our free-range chickens now come from Sutton-Hoo Chickens.
Sutton Hoo chickens are lovingly reared in the heart of the Suffolk countryside, across 40 acres of meadows. They rear the chickens slowly, to the highest welfare standards and use traditional free range farming methods, to give you a chicken like it used to taste. Their mission is to rear a truly free range chicken with constant access to the outdoors, sunshine and plenty of room to roam on natural grassland. They have a passion for exceptional welfare, traditional farming and determination to produce good quality and authentic tasting chicken. They believe that chickens should be slowly grown to maturity, giving the meat that succulent flavour and perfect texture. Sutton Hoo chicken is special and you can truly taste the difference.
They focus on high welfare; the birds live in small groups with shelter from the elements, in mobile houses that have no artificial lighting and are naturally ventilated. No antibiotics or hormones are used in their diet.
They believe that a slower grown, naturally maturing chicken develops a fuller and more succulent flavour and use a slower growing breed of chicken, reared on average for 10 weeks. This is 25% longer than standard free range chickens and 70% longer than standard indoor chickens.
Herons Farm
The Blackwell family has been farming on the Marks Hall Estate near the picturesque Colne and Stour Valleys on the Essex/Suffolk borders for four generations and for many of these years they have concentrated on traditional farm fresh geese and turkeys for the Christmas market.
Free Range Bronze Turkeys
Bronze Turkeys, the name derives from the colour of the plumage, are a slow-growing strain which enables the development of firm-textured meat with a fuller, delicious flavour. They are raised free range in large grass paddocks at Herons Farm.
The turkeys meet the strict standards of the Traditional Farmfresh Turkey Association and are awarded a Golden Promise certificate. You can find turkey cooking instructions by following this link to their website.
Free Range Geese
The type of goose raised on Herons Farm is the Norfolk goose. They arrive at the farm as day-old goslings in April and May and like the turkeys are reared slowly in grass paddocks – just 40 to 50 to the acre. After July when grass loses its value, they are fed on Heron’s home-produced wheat.
As a guide a small goose will feed up to 4, medium up to 7, and large up to 10. Although geese are comparatively expensive, they are economical as there is little or no waste. Plus, there is the added bonus of a good quantity of fat drained off during cooking and this keeps well in refrigerator or freezer. It is invaluable for cooking roast potatoes with a delicious flavour, or it can be used to make an exceptionally light pastry.