Crow-Wood Farm Shop
Shop opening times
- Friday 10.00am to 3.00pm
- Saturday 10.00am to 2.00pm
Payment
We are happy to accept cash and cheques with a cheque guarantee card. Unfortunately at this time we are not able to take credit/debit cards.
The Butchery
Unlike the majority of farm shops ALL the meat we sell in our butchery is produced on our farm from animals that we know have had a happy healthy life.
All the joints of meat are butchered each week by our butcher.
This means that we can supply to the customer meat which is not only excellent in terms of flavour and succulence but is also at its peak of freshness.
Customers are able to come in and choose what cut they want and take away the exact amount they require.
Our knowledgeable staff are on hand to offer friendly help and advice.
We have had lots of fantastic feedback about our meat and we are proud to be able to provide the local community with what we know is an excellent product.
To complement our meat we also sell a fabulous array of fresh, local and seasonal vegetables. We source these from South Derbyshire Growers the majority coming from the Melbourne area.
We sell free range hen, duck and goose eggs. The majority of the hen eggs are produced here at Crow-Wood however due to demand we also source locally.
The Honey we sell is made up the road in Spondon and the hives are kept on the fields at Crow-Wood.
Beef
A variety of different breeds of cattle make up our herd at Crow- Wood. We have Longhorn, Aberdeen Angus, Simmental, Charolais and Limousin cows.
In recent years these have been bred with continental bulls, such as Limousin & Simmental, to produce a better defined beef carcase.
Like the majority of farms in the UK from November to April each year we house our cattle indoors to protect the grassland from excessive damage. During this time our cattle are kept on straw bedding and are fed a mix of grass silage, maize silage, barley, protein and essential minerals.
To ensure optimum flavour and succulence we ensure that all beef sold through our farm shop comes from animals that are approximately 24 months of age that have been hung for at least 2˝ weeks before butchering takes place.
Lamb
Our sheep and lambs are kept out doors on our farm all the time; however, we do bring the ewes into our barn at the farm at lambing time to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible.
Compared to some farms we “lamb” quite late, we aim for the beginning of April to ensure that hopefully, the worst of the cold and wet weather is behind us and we can turn out with the minimum of problems as soon as possible after lambing has taken place.
We currently have Suffolk & Welsh ewes at the farm, which have been crossed with a Texel & Charolais, ram respectively. We are delighted with the carcases these have produced and with the excellent quality of lamb we have produced to date.
Gloucester Old Spot Pork
The Gloucestershire Old Spot pig is one of the great traditional breeds of England with a pedigree dating back to 1913. Originally from the Berkeley Vale region they were traditionally kept in orchards - the story goes that the large black spots on their backs are bruises caused by falling apples as they foraged the orchard floors for food!
All the pork sold at Crow Wood is Gloucester Old Spot. We started breeding Gloucester Old Spots in 2004 with the purchase of 3 Pedigree gilts and a boar. We now have a herd of 30 breeding sows.
All our pigs have a happy life living mainly outside. However, due to the nature of the land at Crow Wood (the soil has a high density of clay) we do have to bring more of the pigs in over the winter months as the land gets very wet.
The Gloucester Old Spot pork does have a higher fat content than some of the less traditional breeds however this adds to the special taste and texture. The meat is succulent, sweet and delicious, whether eaten as pork or bacon.