 |
Farm Shop Opening hours:
Farm Shop (Monday Closed) Tues -Thurs :09-00 - 16-00 Fri :08-00 - 17-00 Sat :08-00 - 16-00 Sun : 10-00 - 15-00 Borough Market: Open for cooked lunches Mon-Sat 9am-5pm Raw meat sales open Thurs-Sat 9am-5pm We are happy to help if you need something on other days Broadway Market Every Saturday: 09-00 - 17-00 |
Great British Food Revival Video
|
|
|
Northfield Farm straddles the Rutland/Leicestershire border midway between Oakham and Melton Mowbray. When the McCourt family first moved here in 1994 members of the more conventional farming fraternity observed our herd of small Dexter Cattle with some amusement. Unlike herds more commonly used in beef farming, the Dexter is a small, short-legged cow of ancient origin, believed originally to have come from Ireland, as do the McCourts. The similarity ends there as McCourts tend to be slim, tall and bear little resemblance to a bovine.
We gave cuts away to as many people as we could from the first steer we killed by way of a marketing exercise. We sat back and waited nervously for the verdict...the applause was deafening!
We gave cuts away to as many people as we could from the first steer we killed by way of a marketing exercise. We sat back and waited nervously for the verdict...the applause was deafening!
Our principal aim at Northfield Farm is to source and produce premium quality Beef, Lamb and Pork, which has lived well and has been humanely killed. We hang our meat carefully and appropriately and butcher it to provide the very best quality for all our customers. We have a small range of fantastic products which we create from these animals and which we produce in our on-farm production room and butchery. We are a small family business made up a long-serving team of people who are passionate about giving you the best possible food and service we can. In addition to using our own home bred animals we source the best British and Scotch meat we can find. This is especially the case where customer demand is concentrated on a small number of prime cuts such as steaks, which we cannot possibly satisfy from our home bred stock.
Cattle
Having once had one the largest herds of Dexter Cattle in existence, we now rear mainly White Park and pedigree Aberdeen Angus Cattle.
Legend has it that King John "Knighted" the roast loin of a White Park to create "Sir Loin". We use our home bred Native Angus bull (Valentine Perseus, or Percy to his friends) who, apart from being incredibly handsome, produces some of the best beef in existence.The concept of consuming rare and traditional breed meat appears strange to the uninitiated. The majority of those breeds, which have become rare or 'traditional' are the old farm animals, which were developed by our predecessors for their eating qualities. This process of development was a gentle balance between old-fashioned husbandry and the advances of science. Since the last war, however, this balance has been destroyed. Achieving the lowest cost for the least effort in the quickest time became the sole preoccupation of most modern livestock production.
Many of the food crises we have suffered over the last few years have been the direct consequence of this misguided policy of quantity, speed and quick profit over quality. The old fashioned breeds are not cheap to produce, nor are they particularly efficient as they take time to mature but the quality of meat is unrivalled. Many of you will have seen examples of these breeds on BBC' Countryfile under the stewardship of Adam Henson and his father Joe. Thanks originally to the efforts of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and the support of the countless smallholders and their supporters, the core of our declining agricultural and culinary heritage has been saved.
Many of the food crises we have suffered over the last few years have been the direct consequence of this misguided policy of quantity, speed and quick profit over quality. The old fashioned breeds are not cheap to produce, nor are they particularly efficient as they take time to mature but the quality of meat is unrivalled. Many of you will have seen examples of these breeds on BBC' Countryfile under the stewardship of Adam Henson and his father Joe. Thanks originally to the efforts of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and the support of the countless smallholders and their supporters, the core of our declining agricultural and culinary heritage has been saved.
Crushed
Jan's book is available on Amazon in Paperback & as an Ebook. Click on the cover to read a free sample. A donation to the Air Ambulance will be made for every copy sold. 'A love letter to the NHS' Nursing Times Review The Independent review BBC Radio4 Saturday Live Interview JanMcCourt.com Jan's Blog: Letter From Another Country |
