About Us
Who we are, why we do it and how we do it
Our Story
Where It All Began
Current turkey numbers stand at approximately 1,600 free range bronze turkeys for the Christmas market. We pride ourselves on rearing the best turkeys, to the highest welfare standards possible, which means they are hand reared from the day they are born, and then go outside at about 8 weeks old (when they no longer need heat) to enjoy sunshine and fresh air (although they are free to go back under cover at night).
All our Christmas turkeys are processed on the farm, by hand, to ensure not only a Premium Christmas turkey for our customers but also so they are treated with care and consideration at all times.
We welcome visitors any time to the farm to see what we do and how the turkeys are reared as we feel it is important to be completely transparent and to show our customers exactly how we produce our Premium quality Christmas turkeys.
Turkey rearing began at Eastwick Hall Farm in 1970, when Walter May reared 150 turkeys in the back garden to sell at Christmas. Over the following years his son David built the business up further and began to rear wholesale turkeys for another producer, whilst also steadily increasing the numbers of turkeys that were produced for Christmas. The business at its peak, was rearing 15,000 turkeys all year round, of which 13,000 were for another producer to the wholesale and catering market.
The business is now run by Peter May, who runs the Christmas turkey business alongside his busy agricultural and amenity contracting business. The year round turkey stags have ceased, following the sharp decline in demand due to the Coronavirus outbreak, but these have been replaced with 12 business units on the farm. Peter also runs a flourishing biomass business from the farm.
Turkey Journey
Our Christmas turkeys arrive at the end of June as day old poults. They are then reared under heat for about 4 weeks until they are ready to be put into the outside barn at around 6-8 weeks of age. From about 9 weeks onwards, the turkeys are big enough to be released in to a grass paddock next to their shed. Here they are free to walk in and out of the barn as they please and bask all day in the sunshine (and the rain, which they seem to love1). They are shut up in the freshly strawed barn every night, to protect them from any unwanted predators! Throughout their 24 weeks on the farm, they are fed a diet which is produced from locally grown cereals and contains no antibiotics or growth promoters.
We begin processing the birds in the second week of December. all of the birds being processed by ourselves on the farm. Once plucked they are hung in a chilled environment for approximately 7-10 days in order to give them a more succulent texture and flavour. The birds are then eviscerated and packed in a special, easy to handle, turkey box complete with vaccum packed giblets, full cooking instructions and a pop Up Turkey Timer to ensure that your bird is cooked to perfection whether this is the first time you have cooked Christmas lunch or you are experienced!
Hours of Operation
MONDAY - FRIDAY
8:00am – 5:00pm
Drop Us a Line
Don't be shy. Let us know if you have any questions!