Frequently Asked Questions

What are your opening hours?

At Christmas time, we will be open for drive through collection on Sunday 22nd and Monday 23rd December, from 7 am – 7 pm and on Tuesday 24th December, from 7 am – 2 pm.

You are welcome to come at any time during our opening hours on those 3 days. WE DO NOT NEED TO KNOW WHEN. As long as you are collecting on those 3 days your produce is safely tucked up in our chillers and will be here for you when you arrive. Detailed collection details about our drive through arrangements will be e-mailed to you in December and the website will be updated to reflect these at the same time..

During the year we are open by arrangement. If you wish to know when we have fresh produce available or have a freezer sale on, please subscribe to our e-mail list. You are always welcome to phone up to check what we have available and we can arrange a time for collection.
Where do we come to collect our turkey?

We operate a drive through collection process. Customers will not be required to leave their cars. On arriving on site you will be asked your name (please know what name the order has been placed under – you will be amazed at how many PayPal accounts operate under maiden names!) and what you have ordered. You will then be directed to either the “FAST” or the “EXTRAS” lane and drive around the farmyard to a collection point where your turkey/goose/gammon/beef will be placed in the boot of your car. We do ask that the person collecting your order is aware of the size and type (bronze/white/goose/duck/gammon) of the order you are expecting so we can check with them as we place it in the car.

You are welcome to come at any time during our opening hours on those 3 days. WE DO NOT NEED TO KNOW WHEN. As long as you are collecting on those 3 days your produce is safely tucked up in our chillers and will be here for you when you arrive. Detailed collection details about our drive through arrangements will be e-mailed to you in December and the website will be updated to reflect these at the same time.
Is your produce provided oven ready?

All of our produce is oven ready. Our turkeys and geese are supplied in a box, wrapped in greaseproof paper. They are trussed for the oven with giblets in a separate package. The turkeys come with cooking instructions if you’re cooking turkey for the first time or just want to check timings! Our gammons have been soaked prior to being vacuumed.
Is your produce frozen?

All of our Christmas poultry – turkeys, geese and ducks – are fresh, as are our gammons and bacon. For logistical reasons – (see below) our sausages, chipolatas and sausage meat are frozen, as is our Christmas beef.

Our Christmas produce is fresh unless stated otherwise (our sausages, chipolatas and sausage meat ARE frozen because they come from the same pigs as our gammons and bacon which have to be cured for a month. We DO have frozen produce available during the year and please do contact us for details.
Where do we come to collect our turkey?

Our turkeys are available to collect direct from the farm at Steep. Our address is Ashford Farm, Ashford Lane, Steep, near Petersfield, GU32 1AA. If planning to use Sat Nav to find us, please do check out our location on a map before setting out. We are rural but the farm is just off a normal tarmac lane and will be well signposted.

Since Covid times we offer a drive through collection. Customers will not be required to leave their cars. On arriving on site you will be asked your name – please ensure that this is the name under which the order was placed – then you will be directed to drive around the farmyard to a collection point where your produce will be placed in the boot of your car. We do ask that the person collecting your order is aware of the size and type (bronze/white/goose/duck/gammon/beef) of bird you are expecting so we can check with them as we place it in the car.

You are welcome to come at any time during our opening hours on those 3 days. WE DO NOT NEED TO KNOW WHEN. As long as you are collecting on those 3 days your produce is safely tucked up in our chillers and will be here for you when you arrive. Detailed collection details about our drive through arrangements will be e-mailed to you in December and the website will be updated to reflect these at the same time.
How do I store my turkey?
Do I need to remove the black feather quills from under the skin?

Because our turkeys are free range and hand plucked it is nigh impossible to remove each and every quill. They are harmless and most will shrivel up during cooking. They tend to be more obvious on the bronze and Norfolk Black turkeys – they are on the white turkeys but you just can’t see them!!
Do you deliver?

Turkeys

At Ashford Farm, all of our poultry is free range. Our turkeys (both bronze and white) come in from a British hatchery as day old chicks in June and are slow growing traditional breeds, often being around double the age of those reared intensively. The fact that they are allowed to mature slowly and have daily access to our fields below the beautiful Ashford Hangers, mean they grow into plump, rounded turkeys with a natural layer of fat, which makes for a flavoursome and tasty final product.

We try and give our turkeys as natural a life as possible so they wander in and out of the barn for food, (which is predominately milled from our own barley and wheat grown in nearby fields) during the day. If you walk down our lane you will see them out in the field but watch out as they can be perched on the fences (a form of turkey oneupmanship!) or found in our yard having a dust bath in the wood shavings!

When the time comes, our turkeys are slaughtered on farm by licensed slaughtermen so that stress is kept to an absolute minimum and, obviously, no travelling is involved. Our birds are dry plucked for a quality finish and hung for a minimum of 7 days to allow the flavour to develop. We provide our turkeys dressed and oven ready in individual boxes with giblets and cooking instructions included.

Early Bird and Thanksgiving birds are available!

At Ashford Farm, all of our poultry is free range. Our geese come in from a hatchery in Norfolk as day old goslings in April. Initially, they are kept under heat lamps in the barn but as soon as they “feather up” they have daily access to our fields below the Ashford Hangers, where you will see them wandering pecking at the grass or sunbathing, invariably as one large “gaggle”!

As well as the grass, the geese are fed on a diet predominately milled from our own wheat and oats, which we grow and harvest locally.

When the time comes, our geese are slaughtered on farm by licensed slaughtermen so that stress is kept to an absolute minimum and, obviously, no travelling is involved. Our birds are dry plucked for a quality finish and hung for a minimum of 7 days to allow the flavour to develop. We provide our geese dressed and oven ready in individual boxes with giblets.

Early Bird and Thanksgiving birds are available!

This Christmas we are delighted to offer gammons from our outdoor reared pigs. Our gammons are all dry cured and uncooked and are soaked prior to being vacuumed.

These are OFF the bone and UNSMOKED.

We only have available the following weights and limited stock:

1.5 kg @ £18
2 kg @ £24
2.5 kg @ £30
3 kg @ £36

After the promised review we are now able to take orders for Gammons, but other accompaniments such as sausages, chipolatas and sausagemeat will only be available as you collect your orders.

Henry has wanted to be a farmer for the whole of his life and has always helped Simon with the cattle, sheep and poultry. He started his duck enterprise when he was 12 years old with four ducks. When the two female ducks started laying that spring we thought it would be fun to hatch some of the eggs in the incubator. We didn’t realise quite how prolific they would be and that year we ended up with around 80 Aylesburys and Indian Runners running around the farm!!

Whilst Henry (now 16) still has a core flock of pet ducks, these days he buys in the ducklings as day olds and then rears them on the farm, fitting it in around agricultural college!

In the spring time we have duck eggs available for sale from the farm gate (along with our free range chicken eggs). In the meantime, we will be selling some of Henry’s ducks in the shop at Christmas time – we anticipate they will weigh between 2.5 – 4 kg. Henry will be thrilled if you will support his budding business!

A Guide to the Weight Per Servings