A real Cotswold Hen with very special ox-blood dark brown eggs

This is another special Cotswold Hen. The name originates from Cotswold farmers Tom and Mabel Pearman who moved to Westhill, Burford during the early 1900’s. Mabel earned pin money from butter and from the special dark brown eggs from the hens which were her pride and joy.

Mabel kept her hens in the Rickyard at Manor Farm and they were free to roam on the grassy slopes overlooking Burford High Street.

Their eggs were very special with a chocolate coloured shell and large deep yellow yolks and a super flavour. With their thick dark brown shells they soon became known as Burford Browns.

Mabel Pearman was Philip Lee-Woolf’s grandmother and the origins of her birds have been passed down through the family until he has reintroduced the breed through the ethical egg producer he founded - Clarence Court. Three years ago Mr Lee-Woolf, bred the first Mabel Pearman’s Brown Burford in 50 years. The hens were difficult to breed because the gene for a chocolate-coloured egg is recessive, meaning it would be swamped by any genes for other colours. Only chickens with a particular heritage produce the eggs.

Another problem is that the blue-black hens lay just five eggs a week compared with up to 10 from the average modern hybrid.

Clarence Court are donating 2p to HEN Aid for every pack of Burford Brown eggs sold between now and End of September.

www.clarencecourt.co.uk

Farm Africa - making a lasting difference to Africa’s families.

Tags: charity | eggs | food

From Patagonia to Stow-on-the-Wold - what a journey!

An “Old Cotswold Legbar” is a chicken. The hen lays her eggs in a variety of beautiful pastel colours including turquoise, blue, olive, pink, peach and eau-de-nil. The colours are perfectly natural and are akin to the eggs laid by many wild birds.

They are proud, striking birds with distinctive “crests” and the hawk-like eyes of their earlier Chilean relatives. They can be traced back to the 1920s. Botanist and explorer, Mr. Clarence Elliott from Stow-on-the Wold in the Cotswolds, who toured the world collecting rare plants and animals, set sail for home in 1927 from Patagonia and amongst the many animals on board his “Noahs Ark” were three Chilean Araucana hens and a cockerel. Disaster struck when the cockerel was killed accidently but the three hens survived the trip.

These hens were used at Cambridge University in genetic studies of poultry and by crossing these Araucana hens with White Leghorns and Gold Legbars, and over four generations, they produced the Cream Legbar.

Direct descendants of these Cambridge Legbars are now kept on farms in the Cotswolds and have been instrumental in the development of Clarence Court’s own bird - the Old Cotswold Legbar.

Clarence Court are donating 2p to HEN-Aid for every pack of Old Cotswold Legbar eggs sold until the end of September.

www.clarencecourt.co.uk

Stay for Bed and Breakfast at Little Gidding and you will be served a free range Old Cotswold Legbar egg (or eggs) from Ebrington Washbrook at the breakfast table and we can show you the blue egg shell as proof.(subject to their hens co-operating and providing enough eggs)

Tags: ebrington | eggs | food

Buy Clarence Court Eggs and Help Raise Money for Farmers in Africa

Clarence Court has championed ethical egg production since it was founded seventeen years ago by Cotswold farmer Philip Lee-Woolf and he has pioneered the revival of pure breed bloodlines which, unlike modern hybrids, are bred for egg quality and not quantity.

Last year he distributed radios to all his producer farms because music relaxes chickens and happy hens lay better eggs.

Philip was anxious to do more and to mark the 22nd anniversary of Live Aid, the multi-venue rock concert for famine relief, Clarence Court has joined forces with FARM-Africa to raise money for its chicken projects in pastoral communities in Eastern and South Africa.

500,000 charity packs of Old Cotswold Legbar and Burford Browns eggs will go on sale from 13th July until the end of September and for every pack sold Clarence Court will donate 2 pence per pack, with the aim of raising more than £10,000.

This donation will help change the lives of marginal chicken farmers by educating them about how to manage their natural resources more effectively and build sustainable livelihoods on their land.

The Clarence Court charity egg boxes will be stocked in Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Booth’s, Fortnum & Mason, Harrods and selected Asda stores.

FARM-Africa is an international non-government organisation that aims to reduce poverty in Eastern and South Africa and has projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Southern Sudan.

www.clarencecourt.co.uk
www.farmafrica.org.uk

charlotte.Hutley@thespaway.com

So come on, eat an extra egg for breakfast and help Hen-Aid to achieve it’s target.

Tags: broadway | charity | food | eggs