Our Hens

Mabel Pearman’s Burford Browns

The Burford Brown is often described as Britain’s favourite hen, laying fabulous deep brown eggs, with large yellow yolks. The Burford Browns have been around for a long time, and for a traditional breed, they are prolific layers, and carry-on laying, year after year. The shells are thick, the egg white and yolk are a dense texture, and the flavour is out of this world. She is, without doubt, one of the best brown egg layers available, and you can expect up to 240 eggs in the first year, if kept in good free-range conditions.
No wonder she is a winner – her tight, silky black, with a touch of bronze in the hackles and breast plumage, makes her ideal for free-range life in the garden even in the harshest weather. The Burfords make wonderful pets, are very sociable, and love human company.

NOTE: Beware of rogue dealers selling look-alike inferior hens and claiming that they are Burford Browns !

The Old Cotswold Legbar

The Cotswold Legbar was developed by Philip & Janet Lee-Woolf at Broadway 35 years ago when blue eggs were a great novelty in the UK, so it’s no wonder that this little hen from the Cotswolds, took the market by storm when people across the Country, were able to buy her stunning blue eggs from all the major supermarkets and leading London stores. The famous pastel coloured eggs, are still sold under the Clarence Court label, are available in  across the UK. They are used by top chefs including Jamie Oliver, Rick Stein, Mark Hicks, Tom Parker Bowles, to name a few.

The Cotswold Legbars and Burford Browns were responsible for reviving the interest in traditional free-range eggs in the late 1980’s, reminding consumers of real eggs from the early post-war years. Philip & Janet’s Clarence Court brands brought new enthusiasm to a dull & unimaginative egg industry, obsessed, since the 1960’s, with ever increasing productivity using French and German hybrids, at the expense of egg quality and hen welfare.