We had always been just a normal dairy farm, selling normal milk to normal British supermarkets.
Then, on a rainy August day in 2011, we met a hen farmer who changed our lives. It was nothing extraordinary. He was just selling his eggs by his gate, as you do. A rusty old honesty tin with a stone on top. But sometimes it’s the unremarkable things that get you thinking... Why don’t dairy farmers sell their milk this way?
Our first bottles of raw milk for sale, 2011
The old Suffolk barns and farmhouse at Fen Farm 1964
Within a month, our cow-print shed was installed and our first 30 bottles of raw cow’s milk went on sale. A jam jar honesty box with a stone on top. Those 30 bottles sold out within the hour, the final customer guzzling the whole bottle on the spot and requesting a refill.
We learnt that people came back to the shed because of the high quality of our milk and the experience of having a personal connection to the farm.
A chance tweet from a friend in Italy introduced us to the concept of milk vending and within weeks we had installed the UK’s first raw milk vending machine. This had a transformative effect on the success of our farm. Seeing our customers enjoying our product had become a true enjoyment for us. It got us thinking once again… How could we make more of our milk into products that we could sell directly to people who would really and truly enjoy them?
In 2012, we embarked on a research tour of the UK and Europe. We learned from some of the world’s finest cheesemakers and purchased by hand 72 beautiful Montbéliarde milking cows from the Jura region of France. Their milk was highly prized for cheesemaking on the continent.
A year later, our first cheese, Baron Bigod, went on sale and has been followed over the years by our raw butter, skyr yoghurt and many more products. Our products can now be found in the finest delis, restaurants and cheese counters in the UK and around the world.
Our first experimental Baron Bigod
Bringing home the Montys from France
Our journey has led us to delve deep into what makes real food truly great. What it means to produce something that goes beyond fancy marketing and stories. To really and genuinely nourish people.
Our philosophy is that to truly nourish people with real food, we must first nourish our land, our cows and the wildlife and ecosystems we share our landscape with.
We must also respect the delicate nature of our milk and treat it with the utmost care, to preserve it in all its nutritional glory.
All of our products since our first batch of Baron Bigod in 2013 have been made following this philosophy.
Making butter the traditional way
Learning from master skyr maker, Thorgrimur in Iceland
Farm within your means. Within your community. Be as responsible as you can.
We are constantly working towards being a farm that is good for our planet. To read all about our sustainability work, click here.
Jonny inspecting the marsh
Our solar array