History

A truly local hen, the Burford Brown was first bred commercially in the Cotswolds, from the lines used in the 1940’s by Philip Lee-Woolf’s grandmother, Mabel Pearman, who lived at Manor Farm, Westhall Hill, Burford, from the early 1900’s to the late 50’s. In 1980, at Millhampost Farm, near Winchcombe, Husband and wife team, Philip and Janet first started breeding Burford Browns commercially to supply eggs for Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly, under their newly formed Clarence Court company. Other leading London stores, & hotels including Harrods and Harvey Nichols, Claridges, soon joined the club, by stocking these traditional old fashioned, deep brown eggs. At the time Burford Brown eggs were unique, because UK shops and supermarkets only offered the cheap, mass produced, fawn coloured hybrid eggs, which had dominated the market since the 1960’s, sold on price, rather than quality. On moving to Coach House Farm, Broadway, a few years later, the Burford Brown brand, and ‘Clarence Court’ soon became known for unequaled quality, and the eggs were stocked by all major supermarkets across the UK. For the first time, British consumers were able to buy truly traditional dark brown eggs. Over the next ten years the egg sales continued to grow, and to this day, the Burford Brown eggs are without competition. Having made their mark on the UK egg industry, Philip and Janet decided to part with Clarence Court in order to devote their time to breeding their wonderful hens under the ‘Legbars of Broadway’ brand name, for everyone to enjoy the pleasure of keeping their own wonderful Burford Browns.