The Farm

The western boundary of the farm is formed by Aston Brook and the name of the land is literally the 'field by the Brook'.

Brookfield Farm was developed from a bare ploughed field in 1982 to what it is today by the current owners. Firstly the land was sown with grass seed and once this was established cattle were moved onto the site. A Dutch barn was erected to house the cattle during the Winter months with further buildings being erected during the next few years.

In 1987 temporary planning permission was granted for a mobile home to be installed on the site to provide temporary living accommodation. A free range flock of hens was introduced and the eggs were sold at the farm gate. As the number of customers steadily grew the size of the flock was increased to meet the demand.

It wasn't long before customers started asking if we would consider selling meat from our animals and as a result a small herd of pigs was also introduced. When they were big enough the young pigs were sent to an abattoir for slaughter together with the odd beast from the cattle herd and the carcasses returned ready to be butchered. The butchering was carried out to our customer's requirements by a qualified butcher employed on a part time basis.

It was soon apparent that in order to meet the ever increasing demand for our meat and to maintain our compliance with hygiene regulations we would need our own butchers shop on site and in 1995 Brookfield farm butchery and villiage store was built.

Demand continued to increase so the pig herd was expanded and we took on more grazing land locally for the cattle. We chose to breed Aberdeen Angus cattle to produce the best quality beef possible. The butcher rapidly went from part time to full time and we began producing our own table poultry. These are reared from day old chicks and killed and plucked on the farm as and when required by our customers. Turkeys are also reared from day old poults to provide farm fresh birds at Christmas and Easter.

After a long struggle planning permission was granted for a bungalow to replace the mobile home and this was completed in 1997.

By 2000 demand had grown so much that the shop premises were no longer big enough and we applied for planning permission to expand it to double the original size. As soon as the work was completed we took on a second butcher. As demand continued to grow we have expanded to the point that we are now supplied extra produce by carefully selected local farms. Our eggs are provided by a specialist free range egg farm and our pork and lamb comes from farms in Hertfordshire and Essex.

Our butchery also has a game licence which enables us to supply our customers with pheasant, venison and rabbit. However, it is still our own pedigree Aberdeen Angus herd of cattle that provide the shop with such top class beef.