Middlehall Beef available from middle of February Sign up below to be the first to get your hands on it!
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When we first planned to open the farm shop in 2019, we decided to start rearing Angus cows to provide beef for the shop.
We have developed a small herd over the past couple of years and have great success in selling the meat direct to our customers.
We use traditional methods in rearing and allow the cows to roam free in fields at our home farm in Eastington and paddocks in the nearby hamlet of Nupend. This mix of permanent pasture and fresh herbal lays creates an unbelievable tasting meat.
Allowing the animals to mature slowly creates a well marbled meat. We hang our animals for 28 days to allow the flavours to set and create a tender meat. The difference with our meat is that it is not available every week of the year.
We only send an animal to slaughter when we know we have the demand for the meat. This avoids waste and allows us time to produce the best quality animals. We currently have meat available every 6 to 8 weeks.
Great news! We are now offering online ordering for our meat. Click the button below to be taken to our shop.
Wick Court Pork
We are proud to work alongside the Farm for City Children at Wick Court in Arlingham, who produce wonderful, delicious succulent meat from their group of pedigree Gloucester Old Spots pigs. These animals are born & bred at Wick Court, being reared outdoors and looked after by John and the city children who visit all year round!
We periodically buy in whole pigs so be sure to sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear when this amazing produce will be available again!
The next animal will be here w/c 15th April!
Nutshell Flock Lamb
We are delighted to be the only retailer selling Nutshell Flock Lamb. This wonderful flock is raised on the banks of the canal and surrounding areas in Stonehouse, less than a mile from the shop. The meat's reputation procedes itself and you won't find a better lamb roast!
As with all the meat we source direct from the farm, Nutshell Flock Lamb is only available occasionally. Our mailing list hears when it is available first, so sign up below!
We asked our farming partners some questions so you could get to know them better. See what they have to say below...
Tell us about your product. Breed, age, quality.
Our sheep are pasture kept and graze all year round in the fields around Stonehouse, and the Stanleys.
Lambs are April born, outdoors, to coincide with fresh new spring grass, and are raised slowly to a natural finish. Lamb raised at grass is the most environmentally friendly source of red meat. It is also extremely nutrient dense as it is high in key vitamins and minerals and is an excellent source of omega 3. We also aim to enhance the flavour of the meat through our choice of breed and minimal handling. By using the Southdown ram as a terminal sire and the stress free environment that the sheep live in, we produce an exceptionally tasty meat product that is not only high in nutrients but also has the correct fat content to ensure an outstanding flavour.
What is your farming ethos?
Our farming ethos is to use high welfare, natural and sustainable farming methods which reduce our impact on the environment as well as effect the flavour of our meat product. Striving for our farm to be a good place for the animals, for nature and for the environment. We believe that there is a disconnect between society and the food that they eat, and strive to produce an ethical meat product that is available to the local community.
We aim to achieve this through a low input farming system, where the flock are pasture fed through out the year, lamb outdoors in the spring sunshine, and by reducing the use of any chemicals as much as we possibly can. Where it is possible we use natural or organic products on the flock and by lambing outdoors there is no routine use of antibiotics in lambs. We believe passionately in regenerative farming, maintaining soil health, and biodiversity. Where we can we have planted hedges and have plans to plant windflower areas on our land.
What do you feed your animals/free range?
Our flock are pasture fed and live free range outdoors for the entire year.
Where do you farm?
We farm on the outskirts of Stonehouse and Stanley Downton. This is a beautiful part of the world and home to our flock. Our fields are only a few miles from Eastington farm shop.
Ewe lambs that we breed to remain in the flock will spend around one year grazing away from the home farm, at pastures in Rodborough. Here they have time to grow on to maturity and will join the main flock as shearlings (I.e., 18 months old).
How long have you been farming?
Nutshell flock farm is a small, first-generation family run farm. We are a husband-and-wife team, Jason and Sarah and our daughter Jess. Sarah was born and raised on a farm in South Africa and so you could say farming was in the blood and Jason is a true local, having lived in the Stonehouse area all his life. Jason had a huge interest and passion for farming from a very young age, and through helping out on farms as well as getting to know and learning from the local farmers over the years, he has learnt and developed his lifelong interest and passion for farming. Our flock and farming journey started around 15 years ago with only a handful of ewes, and has steadily grown to our current size which varies from 90- 130 breeding ewes which we farm across around 60 acres of farmland
Why do you farm the breeds you do?
We choose the LLeyn ewe and Lleyn crosses due to their breed characteristics that suit our farming system. Renowned for their hardiness, prolificacy, easy lambing, strong mothering instinct, milkiness and easy handling. This makes them suited to outdoor lambing and a system of minimal human handling and intervention. However, in the case of needing to be handled the breed are relatively docile and calm.
We choose the Southdown breed as it is a native sheep, and the oldest terminal sire in the UK. We love the breed and would like to be a part of its survival, as well as the fact that the breeds easy lambing, docility and ease of finishing make it suitable for our system.