BackgroundFamilies gathering together at Christmas traditionally feast on a succulent turkey dinner to celebrate the season.

In Cornwall, for a quality assured, traditional turkey reared on a farm where the flock roam free in the green fields, look no further than Treway Farm Turkeys near St Austell.

Will and Kate Martin took over Treway Farm 10 years ago and after a few years at the farm, which is predominantly beef cattle and arable crops, they decided to rear a few turkeys, more as a hobby than a business, for family and friends.

The turkeys proved so popular that it has now become a separate business stream and Treway Farm Turkeys has been growing year on year ever since.

The turkeys arrive on the farm in June as day old chicks from the world-renowned Kelly Turkeys. They are raised using traditional methods with great care and compassion until Christmas when they are fully mature.

Treway Farm Turkeys is a member of the Traditional Farm-fresh Turkey Association (TFTA) which is a group of around 40 independent family-run farms across the UK supplying fresh traditional turkeys specifically for Christmas.

They are the first and only producer in Cornwall to be accredited with the association’s ‘Golden Turkey Standard’ an assurance scheme which guarantees the highest welfare standards for the birds and stipulates the birds must be reared using age old traditional methods and fed a natural diet which gives them exemplary flavour.

The birds are fed a diet of pellets and crushed barley grown on the farm. The pellets are procured from a local supplier, so the expansion of turkey farm is providing a benefit to other local business in Cornwall.

The turkeys live in a spacious barn which is flooded with natural light and has access to the adjoining meadow where they enjoy grazing the fresh grass, taking dust baths, eating insects, scratching around or whatever they choose.

Economy and Sustainability

In order to keep expanding Will and Kate needed a large walk-in chiller to hang and store the turkeys leading up to Christmas.

Getting a grant from the LEADER programme enabled them to purchase and install a large brand-new chiller in an unused farm building just in time for the Christmas season 2016.

Treway Farm Turkeys

The new chiller has enabled Will and Kate to chill and store 600 turkeys this year. Previously they had to rely on rented equipment which could be unreliable.

Kate said: “The new chiller has enabled us to increase production and it has reduced our stress levels as we now have our own chiller we can rely on.”

The chiller also produces an income as it can be rented out to other Cornish businesses throughout the year when it is not required for the turkeys.

An increase in production has resulted in an increase in the demand for labour in December when it is time to pluck and prepare the turkeys for collection.

When Christmas approaches the turkeys are processed on the farm where they are dry plucked by hand and are game hung for a minimum of 7 days which gives them their exemplary depth of flavour and distinctive dense meat. They are then hand finished and packed with herbs into special boxes ready for collection.

A highlight for Will and Kate was when one of their turkeys won a Gold award at The Taste of the West awards in 2017.

Living on the farm with their two children Charlie 3 and Flora 4 months, Will and Kate have built a family business that local people really connect with.

“People love buying food locally and really buy into coming to us as a little family business. They love seeing our son Charlie and now Flora and seeing them growing up,” Kate says.

“We have converted a room in the barn to create a real Christmas atmosphere for people to have a glass of mulled wine when they come to collect their turkey and make it a really special occasion,” Will adds.

Thanks to the LEADER funding secured through the South and East Local Action Group, Will and Kate can now continue to expand and produce the highest quality turkeys, both in taste and welfare standards, and relish the feeling of playing a big part in making Cornish family Christmas dinners extra special.

www.trewayfarmturkeys.co.uk

Local Action Group Funding: £5,875

If you are interested in applying for LEADER funding visit www.localactioncornwall.co.uk

Award winning bronze turkeys