Want to know why our Turkeys taste so good. Here’s why…
We are a family run business that’s been farming and rearing Christmas turkeys for three generations.
We rear a mixture of traditional White Feathered turkeys and “free-range bronze” turkeys.
The bronze birds have a reputation for having superior flavour, texture and meat quality.
All our birds arrive on the farm at the end of June/early July.
This makes them a minimum of 22-24 weeks old by early December when ready for processing.
Early in their life, the birds are bedded on shaving and later on a deep bed of straw.
All birds are raised using traditional and natural methods. They’re fed on a cereal-based diet which drug-free and free from growth promoters.
Prior to Christmas, during the last 6-8 weeks, we introduce whole grains to their diet. This is a traditional way to finish turkeys. It makes our turkeys mouthwateringly moist.
Slaughtering is carried out in early December by fully licensed operatives.
Finally, the birds are hand finished and hung in a chilled environment for 10 – 14 days. As with beef, this hanging period improves the flavour and texture of the meat.
The birds are then eviscerated again on the farm, for collection on the 23rd and 24th of December.
But don’t wait around. We’re a small turkey farm. The number of birds we can produce is limited. So once they’re gone, they’re gone.
FAQs
Please read the following. It’s very important.
Why do you take a non-refundable deposit?
You might be wondering why we don’t charge you the full amount for your turkey.
And you’re probably wondering why we take deposits instead of full payments.
Here’s why:
When you buy online you are just paying a deposit for your turkey. This deposit is non-refundable.
In a perfect world, we’d allow you to order your turkey with no charge. And then you could pick your order up before Christmas.
However, if we do this, we run the risk of people ordering turkeys and then not showing up. And this costs us.
If we’re left with turkeys after Christmas, it costs us money. And we can’t sell them either.
Have you ever tried selling turkeys after Christmas? It’s damn near impossible.
Anyway, when you collect your turkey on 23rd & 24th of December we will remove your deposit from the full amount.
Here’s an example: If you put a deposit on a £50 bird via our site this will leave you with £30 pay on collection.
Why do you not give refunds?
We pay charges on every transaction people made through our shop. We also pay transactions on every refund too.
If we offered free refunds our payment processing charges double.
We’re only a small business and we can’t afford to take these losses like this. So, we must make all payments non-refundable.
Our work schedule is manic running up to Christmas. Not only do we have the turkeys to process, but we have a sheep and beef farm to run too. And we all have families and children to deal with as well.
Issuing refunds takes time. And this is simply time we don’t have running up to Christmas.
To summarise: we don’t give refunds because it cost us too much and we don’t have the time to process them.
Why do I have to pay with cash on collection?
The number of turkeys we breed and their weights varies from year to year.
Trying to predict what turkey weights we’ll have near Christmas is impossible. It’s like trying to predict winters weather in the summertime. You can make a guess but you’ll never be 100% accurate.
Also, we rear a natural product. So, you’re at nature’s whim. And when dealing with natural products you always get a degree of variation.
Therefore, we can only grade the weights of the turkeys near Christmas.
Also, on some years, certain weights will just sell out fast. We’ve no idea why, but it happens.
This means we can’t always guarantee you’ll get the exact turkey weight you want if you ordered it months in advance.
But if this happens, we will find you a turkey that is as close to your original order weight as possible.
And you’ll be charged for that weight of the bird. Minus your £20 deposit amount.
Taking deposits gives us more flexibility when providing customers with turkeys.
If we can’t give you an exact weight bird, we can alter your order on the day (with minimal hassle).
And it means you get your turkey faster and without having to deal with refunds, checking your card payments, etc.
To summarise: It’s easier for us just to take a deposit. And then ask you to pay the remainder when you pick your turkey up.
When do I have to pick my Turkey up?
All turkeys are to be collected 23rd and 24th December. We will knock the deposit amount off the full amount to pay.
Payment for the rest of the turkey is made with cash or cheque. We do not have a cash machine on site.
Why do I have to pay with cash/cheque on the collection?
Because we do not have a card machine.
So please, please, please bring cash with you on collection. Or pay us by cheque.
We only sell turkeys 2 days of the year. And we only take orders for turkeys a month or two prior to Christmas
This means we’d only need the card machine for the few months prior to Christmas. The rest of the time we wouldn’t use it. It’d be sitting around idle and costing us.
So, a card machine is a monthly cost which would be impractical to us for 90% of the year. We’d never use it.
We’re not a big farm, so we can’t afford unnecessary costs like this. So, it’s just easier to ask people to pay the remainder of their balance in cash (or by cheque).
We hope you understand. Thanks for reading all this.
Unsure about the order process? You can order by phone on:
And if you have any questions, or want to order by phone, call either Cathy or John on: 01282 455 185 (Mon-Sun 9am-5pm). If you don’t get an answer please leave a message and a contact number, or try again later (our farming jobs might mean we’re not around to take your call the first time – so feel free to call us a few times).
