Tag: Barnstaple

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Honey Bee on hawthorn flowers Chilcotts Farm

Spring 2021 Poor Weather Means No Spring Devon Honey

Our 2020 Honey sold out rapidly last year. Throughout the seasons we regularly get asked if we have honey for sale and look forward to when we can sell it again. Unfortunately for the bees, the Spring 2021 weather has been poor. As a consequence our bees have been unable to get out and about to gather sufficient nectar for a surplus of spring honey to sell. Hopefully we may have some honey in August. We will notify all our Honey Newsletter subscribers when available. If you want to know when honey is available, sign up to our Honey newsletter.

Local Honey made by bees in Barnstaple, Bickington, and Fremington. Bees on our smallholding at Chilcotts Farm
Local Honey made by bees at Chilcotts Farm - Extracted using traditional methods
Chilcotts Farm Honeycomb - made by bees in Barnstaple Devon
North Devon Local Honey from the surrounding area of Barnstaple, Bickington & Fremington

Local Bickington & Fremington Honey

£6.00

Due to the loss of our bees we will not be selling honey for the foreseeable future.

Produced by our bees in Bickington and harvested using craft skills and traditional methods.  Our Honey is unadulterated, filtered and not heat treated, and therefore retains all its natural properties.

CLICK & COLLECT only.  Buy online and schedule a time to pick-up.

Card payments only online.  chilcotts farm takes mastercard visa maestro  Find us here …….

Out of stock

Description

Flavour

Our bees are located in our fields between Bickington and Fremington, just on the outside of Barnstaple, North Devon. They forage for nectar in the hedges lining the fields, local trees as well as local gardens. In our opinion, the honey shows the characteristics of a traditional English honey, smooth but floral with hints of fudge and citrus.

Granulated Honey

All natural and unprocessed honey will crystallise over time.  Depending on which flowers the bees have been visiting will depend on how quickly the honey granulates or goes solid.  Processed liquid honey bought in the super market, is treated to stop granulation.  This is often done through heating the honey.  This process destroys the natural properties of the honey removing the benefits and altering the taste. At Chilcotts Farm our honey is Pure and Untreated.  All we do is filter our honey after it has been extracted. The fact that honey crystallises and granulates, is the best evidence that you have a quality pure product.  However, if you prefer liquid honey you can restore it to a liquid state by gently heating the honey.  To do this:
  1. Loosen the lid of the jar, and stand the honey jar in a bowl of hot water.
  2. Gently stir the honey until the honey becomes liquid again.

Find out More About Our Honey

If you want to know more about our Honey click here.

Newsletter

Want to know when we have honey?

Subscribe to our email list and we will let you know when we have honey available.

Honey maybe available late spring or September depending on the season. We will let you know.

Additional information

Availability

Normally available in August or September
Allergy Advice

May help pollen allergies
Origin

Produced in Devon, United Kingdom
Ingredients

Pure Filtered Unadluterated Honey

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “Local Bickington & Fremington Honey”

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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Salad Nicoise made with Goose eggs

Goose Egg Salad Niçoise

As the geese come to the end of their laying season, we still have goose eggs for sale.  About 3 times the size of chickens eggs, they are a meal in themselves.

Last night we had salad niçoise for tea. One goose egg per adult, soft boiled (boil the eggs for about 15 minutes to get a lovely soft boiled egg with a creamy yolk)

You can buy online or from the door. We take contactless payments.

Local collection only.

Two goose eggs laid at the beginning of March
Chicken Duck Goose Egg Size Comparison
Fresh Goose Eggs, laid by Geese at Chilcotts Farm, Bickington
Decorated goose eggs

Fresh Goose Eggs Laid by Our Geese

£3.00

Goose eggs are truly distinctive being almost three times the size of a hen’s egg!  We have three girls that typically lay from the beginning April through to the end of May.

Price is per egg, minimum order of 2 eggs.

CLICK & COLLECT only. Buy online and schedule a time to pick-up.

Card payments only online.  chilcotts farm takes mastercard visa maestro  Find us here …….

 

Out of stock

SKU: 10003 Categories: , , Tags: , , ,

Description

Having a more pronounced flavour than a hens egg, but slightly milder than a duck egg.  A Goose egg is simply a meal in itself eaten boiled, scrambled, or fried and shared.  As with all eggs they can be used as an ingredient in baked dishes such as gratins and quiches or as the base for the finest Yorkshire pudding.

Our Geese lay their eggs between Spring and early Summer by free roaming in our fields. With access to grass all year round and free to roam, they produce the most delightful eggs with deep orange yolks!

Uses for Goose Eggs

Goose eggs can be used in exactly the same way as chicken eggs.  The only difference is their size.  About 3 to 4 times the weight of a chicken egg, they can be used in cooking in the same way.  If a recipe is asking for 3 eggs, one goose egg may do.

Examples of use for goose eggs:

  • Soft boiled:  To get a nice runny soft boiled goose egg, boil for 6 minutes. Read more here ….
  • Hard boiled:  Boil for about 8 to 10 minutes to get a hard boiled egg, and use in the normal way.
  • Blowing:  Its great fun for kids to blow goose eggs and then paint and decorate them, especially around easter time.  Use the egg blown out of the shell to make scrambled egg or omelette.

About Our Geese

Our Geese are kept naturally, predominantly eating fresh grass.  In February, in preparation for egg laying, we may supplement their feed with a premium quality specialist goose breeders feed.

At this time of year, the grass can be low in nutrition, and supplementing their feed provides necessary minerals and vitamins in preparation for the laying season and the number of goose eggs they can produce.

Unlike many keepers of geese,  we feed all of our birds on quality premium food, containing natural ingredients that contain no Genetically Modified crops or chemical additives.

Geese fed naturally on grass - Do not feed the geese
Geese fed naturally on grass – Do not feed the geese

Additional information

Availability

Normally available February to June, Seasonal
Life Style

Access to Grass All Year Round, Given Free Range to Roam
Origin

Produced in Devon, United Kingdom
Weight

Average weight approximately 160 grams each
Allergy Advice

Eggs

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “Fresh Goose Eggs Laid by Our Geese”

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Open post
Chicken Duck Goose Egg Size Comparison

Goose Eggs for Sale!

We have goose eggs for sale.  About 3 times the size of chickens eggs, they are a meal in themselves.

You can buy online or from the door. We take contactless payments only.

Two goose eggs laid at the beginning of March
Two goose eggs laid at the beginning of March

Local collection only.

Two goose eggs laid at the beginning of March
Chicken Duck Goose Egg Size Comparison
Fresh Goose Eggs, laid by Geese at Chilcotts Farm, Bickington
Decorated goose eggs

Fresh Goose Eggs Laid by Our Geese

£3.00

Goose eggs are truly distinctive being almost three times the size of a hen’s egg!  We have three girls that typically lay from the beginning April through to the end of May.

Price is per egg, minimum order of 2 eggs.

CLICK & COLLECT only. Buy online and schedule a time to pick-up.

Card payments only online.  chilcotts farm takes mastercard visa maestro  Find us here …….

 

Out of stock

SKU: 10003 Categories: , , Tags: , , ,

Description

Having a more pronounced flavour than a hens egg, but slightly milder than a duck egg.  A Goose egg is simply a meal in itself eaten boiled, scrambled, or fried and shared.  As with all eggs they can be used as an ingredient in baked dishes such as gratins and quiches or as the base for the finest Yorkshire pudding.

Our Geese lay their eggs between Spring and early Summer by free roaming in our fields. With access to grass all year round and free to roam, they produce the most delightful eggs with deep orange yolks!

Uses for Goose Eggs

Goose eggs can be used in exactly the same way as chicken eggs.  The only difference is their size.  About 3 to 4 times the weight of a chicken egg, they can be used in cooking in the same way.  If a recipe is asking for 3 eggs, one goose egg may do.

Examples of use for goose eggs:

  • Soft boiled:  To get a nice runny soft boiled goose egg, boil for 6 minutes. Read more here ….
  • Hard boiled:  Boil for about 8 to 10 minutes to get a hard boiled egg, and use in the normal way.
  • Blowing:  Its great fun for kids to blow goose eggs and then paint and decorate them, especially around easter time.  Use the egg blown out of the shell to make scrambled egg or omelette.

About Our Geese

Our Geese are kept naturally, predominantly eating fresh grass.  In February, in preparation for egg laying, we may supplement their feed with a premium quality specialist goose breeders feed.

At this time of year, the grass can be low in nutrition, and supplementing their feed provides necessary minerals and vitamins in preparation for the laying season and the number of goose eggs they can produce.

Unlike many keepers of geese,  we feed all of our birds on quality premium food, containing natural ingredients that contain no Genetically Modified crops or chemical additives.

Geese fed naturally on grass - Do not feed the geese
Geese fed naturally on grass – Do not feed the geese

Additional information

Availability

Normally available February to June, Seasonal
Life Style

Access to Grass All Year Round, Given Free Range to Roam
Origin

Produced in Devon, United Kingdom
Weight

Average weight approximately 160 grams each
Allergy Advice

Eggs

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “Fresh Goose Eggs Laid by Our Geese”

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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Capped honey in the comb

Bickington & Fremington Devon Honey For Sale

We have jarred up this year’s Summer 2020 Honey which is now for sale. Collected and produced by our bees. The girls have again done us proud, the runny honey tastes delicious. Although it will probably crystallise over time (as all naturally produced honey does), when it goes solid, we provide instructions on how to make it liquid again.

Local Honey made by bees in Barnstaple, Bickington, and Fremington. Bees on our smallholding at Chilcotts Farm
Local Honey made by bees at Chilcotts Farm - Extracted using traditional methods
Chilcotts Farm Honeycomb - made by bees in Barnstaple Devon
North Devon Local Honey from the surrounding area of Barnstaple, Bickington & Fremington

Local Bickington & Fremington Honey

£6.00

Due to the loss of our bees we will not be selling honey for the foreseeable future.

Produced by our bees in Bickington and harvested using craft skills and traditional methods.  Our Honey is unadulterated, filtered and not heat treated, and therefore retains all its natural properties.

CLICK & COLLECT only.  Buy online and schedule a time to pick-up.

Card payments only online.  chilcotts farm takes mastercard visa maestro  Find us here …….

Out of stock

Description

Flavour

Our bees are located in our fields between Bickington and Fremington, just on the outside of Barnstaple, North Devon. They forage for nectar in the hedges lining the fields, local trees as well as local gardens. In our opinion, the honey shows the characteristics of a traditional English honey, smooth but floral with hints of fudge and citrus.

Granulated Honey

All natural and unprocessed honey will crystallise over time.  Depending on which flowers the bees have been visiting will depend on how quickly the honey granulates or goes solid.  Processed liquid honey bought in the super market, is treated to stop granulation.  This is often done through heating the honey.  This process destroys the natural properties of the honey removing the benefits and altering the taste.

At Chilcotts Farm our honey is Pure and Untreated.  All we do is filter our honey after it has been extracted.

The fact that honey crystallises and granulates, is the best evidence that you have a quality pure product.  However, if you prefer liquid honey you can restore it to a liquid state by gently heating the honey.  To do this:

  1. Loosen the lid of the jar, and stand the honey jar in a bowl of hot water.
  2. Gently stir the honey until the honey becomes liquid again.

Find out More About Our Honey

If you want to know more about our Honey click here.

Newsletter

Want to know when we have honey?

Subscribe to our email list and we will let you know when we have honey available.

Honey maybe available late spring or September depending on the season. We will let you know.

Additional information

Availability

Normally available in August or September
Allergy Advice

May help pollen allergies
Origin

Produced in Devon, United Kingdom
Ingredients

Pure Filtered Unadluterated Honey

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “Local Bickington & Fremington Honey”

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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Bees cleaning honey from the boot of a car

What do you do if you spill honey in your car?

Hmmmmmm slight problem. 5Kg of honey spilled in the boot of the car. Problem ….. how do you clean up the sticky mess?

A frightful mess, and a real waste of this precious harvest. This honey was destined to be fermented and become mead. However during transportation, the bucket turned over and ended up all over the boot of the car and a load of honey jars.

PANIC! How do you clear up this sticky mess. Instinct was to get the carpets out the car and hose them down. Worried about how the carpets would cope with water, as much of the honey as possible was scarped up and scooped into a bucket.

After this, we put the bees to work! (Strictly, as a beekeeper this is not good practice! It can spread disease between hives…. but needs must) The boot of the car was left open, and whatever could be removed, from the car was left sheltered in the garage.

  • Bees cleaning honey from the boot of a car
    Bees cleaning honey from the boot of a car
  • Before: Honey Bees cleaning honey from the mat taken out from the boot of a car
    Before: Honey Bees cleaning honey from the mat taken out from the boot of a car
  • 24 hours later: Honey Bees cleaning honey from the mat taken out from the boot of a car
    24 hours later: Honey Bees cleaning honey from the mat taken out from the boot of a car

Within minutes, the bees from the hives were coming to recover the honey. Pools of honey had been cleared within an hour. 24 hours later, the interior of the car had virtually been cleared. None of the sticky residue was left. Quite amazing.

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Local Devon Honey Spring 2020

Bickington & Fremington Devon Honey For Sale

We have jarred up this year’s first batch of honey (Spring 2020), which is now for sale. Collected and produced by our bees. This spring honey is still runny and floral. Although it will probably crystallise over time (as all naturally produced honey does), when it goes solid, we provide instructions on how to make it liquid again.

Local Honey made by bees in Barnstaple, Bickington, and Fremington. Bees on our smallholding at Chilcotts Farm
Local Honey made by bees at Chilcotts Farm - Extracted using traditional methods
Chilcotts Farm Honeycomb - made by bees in Barnstaple Devon
North Devon Local Honey from the surrounding area of Barnstaple, Bickington & Fremington

Local Bickington & Fremington Honey

£6.00

Due to the loss of our bees we will not be selling honey for the foreseeable future.

Produced by our bees in Bickington and harvested using craft skills and traditional methods.  Our Honey is unadulterated, filtered and not heat treated, and therefore retains all its natural properties.

CLICK & COLLECT only.  Buy online and schedule a time to pick-up.

Card payments only online.  chilcotts farm takes mastercard visa maestro  Find us here …….

Out of stock

Description

Flavour

Our bees are located in our fields between Bickington and Fremington, just on the outside of Barnstaple, North Devon. They forage for nectar in the hedges lining the fields, local trees as well as local gardens. In our opinion, the honey shows the characteristics of a traditional English honey, smooth but floral with hints of fudge and citrus.

Granulated Honey

All natural and unprocessed honey will crystallise over time.  Depending on which flowers the bees have been visiting will depend on how quickly the honey granulates or goes solid.  Processed liquid honey bought in the super market, is treated to stop granulation.  This is often done through heating the honey.  This process destroys the natural properties of the honey removing the benefits and altering the taste.

At Chilcotts Farm our honey is Pure and Untreated.  All we do is filter our honey after it has been extracted.

The fact that honey crystallises and granulates, is the best evidence that you have a quality pure product.  However, if you prefer liquid honey you can restore it to a liquid state by gently heating the honey.  To do this:

  1. Loosen the lid of the jar, and stand the honey jar in a bowl of hot water.
  2. Gently stir the honey until the honey becomes liquid again.

Find out More About Our Honey

If you want to know more about our Honey click here.

Newsletter

Want to know when we have honey?

Subscribe to our email list and we will let you know when we have honey available.

Honey maybe available late spring or September depending on the season. We will let you know.

Additional information

Availability

Normally available in August or September
Allergy Advice

May help pollen allergies
Origin

Produced in Devon, United Kingdom
Ingredients

Pure Filtered Unadluterated Honey

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “Local Bickington & Fremington Honey”

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Open post
Jarring up natural local honey

Sticky Morning

This morning has been spent jarring up some of this year’s spring honey. The hives have done really well, building up the colony, but also out and about collecting and abundance of nectar.

Now onto labelling and getting out for sale.

Roll on the summer honey flow!

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Wild brood comb in a bee hive

Wild comb

Last year I housed a honey bee swarm I collected from the local area. On returning, I put the swarm into a new hive with about half the intended frames I had to hand. I needed to assemble more and intended to put the remaining frames in the following day.

However, I didn’t get the chance to return to the hive for a couple of days. At this point the colony had drawn wild comb which was hanging from the crown board (the lid on the top of the hive).

In a dilemma, I decided to leave the hive until the following season and sort it out then.

Yesterday, was the day. In the main picture you can see 5 pieces of wild comb. Each of these were packed with brood (growing baby bees).

I took three pieces of the wild comb and attached each piece into a frame using elastic bands (not sure how this will work). I then transferred these to a new hive with new frames. The new hive was put back in the same place as the original hive.

  • Wild comb resting on the top of the hive
    Wild comb resting on the top of the hive
  • Hive before the tidy up and removal of wild comb
    Hive before the tidy up and removal of wild comb
  • Wild comb attached into a frame with elastic bands
    Wild comb attached into a frame with elastic bands

I couldn’t find the queen, but hopefully she was somewhere amongst the existing frames or was brushed off into the new hive as I removed each piece of wild comb.

Now all tidy and manageable, the hive can be easily inspected. Next week, I will go in and see if I can find the queen or evidence that she is still laying.

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Lauder & Smith brick circa 1876

Barnstaple History

We have done a lot of work to the house and the out buildings. Moving a lot of stone, roof tiles and bricks we have discovered all sorts of things, including little pockets of history.

Most of the bricks and roof tiles which were stacked up appeared to have been from outbuildings that had fallen into ruin. Most of the bricks and tiles were unmarked or branded. Interestingly we have found a batch of roof tiles & the odd brick stamped with Lauder & Smith Brick & Tile Works, Barnstaple.

Lauder & Smith Roof Tile circa 1876
Lauder & Smith Roof Tile circa 1876

It turns out this tile works was about 3 miles away from Chilcotts Farm in an area of Barnstaple called Pottington. The pottery was in business for 38 years from 1876 to 1914.

I am guessing the start of the First World War in 1914, was the reason for the demise of the company.

We haven’t researched the age of the property, but we thought it was mid 1800s. The farm house, isn’t built of bricks, but rather a rubble construction with render. I am guessing the Lauder & Smith bricks and tiles were brought in at a later date and used for an outbuilding.

Lauder & Smith brick circa 1876
Lauder & Smith brick circa 1876

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