Caldecott's, Holly Farm - Turkey
Caldecott's are a family business which dates back to 1958 when Les Caldecott was producing hen turkeys for butchers in the Midlands. Today the company is headed by husband and wife team, supported by a team of dedicated staff.
They produce 50,000 plus hen turkeys for the Christmas market. For the last three years they have also produced 3,000 free range chicken per week, but their main focus is on the fresh hen turkey market for the festive season. This is their passion.
Their turkeys are slow grown, produced to the highest welfare standards, processed and packaged in-house resulting in an attractive product with provenance.
It has always been their philosophy to stick to basics, don't complicate things and keep an eye on costs without compromising on welfare and quality. This vision has earned Caldecott's the reputation of producing the finest quality turkey which not just meets, but exceeds expectations. Their range includes free range bronze and barn reared white available from Thanksgiving through to 24th December.
Their Cotswold White chicken , a modern breed from the Rhode Island Red and Cornish White Game, are bought in as day-olds. Kept indoors in small batches until around three weeks old, they are turned out into 'range accommodation' in batches of 2,000 at a stocking density of seven birds per square metre.
Fed bought-in standard rations, the birds are slaughtered at 63 days, wet plucked, eviscerated and refrigerated for one day. They're wrapped in greaseproof paper with the giblets (also wrapped in greaseproof paper) stuffed in their cavity and packed in a modified atmosphere.(i.e. vacuum packed). Then they are refrigerated and left for up to a week to 'give them a bit of maturity' - a modern equivilent of hanging.
What Robert Caldecott is aiming for is a middle to top range bird 'with texture and flavour and plenty of dark thigh meat, produced to realistic standards at an affordable price' and his chickens retail at around £2.25 per pound. And in case you think they sound familar, they've been used by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall on his TV programmes.
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