What makes
Our Turkeys
unique
The life of a Forest Lodge Turkey
After they hatch our turkey chicks are cared for in special temperature controlled barns, a vital environment for keeping them comfortable and safe.
From the age of 6 weeks they are ready to roam in a spacious environment on our farm where they are given a daily bedding of fresh straw, plenty of bales for perching and open access to our nutritionally-balanced feed. We do not allow the use of growth promoters, instead it is our home grown wheat that plays a major part in our turkeys naturally sourced diet.
Our free range bronze turkeys can often be spotted from one of our many footpaths within the farm, strolling freely around their own five-acre paddock, pecking at the sunflowers and foraging through the dirt. However don’t expect to spot them on a rainy day as they do not enjoy getting wet and will often choose to stay perched under shelter to stay dry!
“more than double the age of a standard intensive turkey”
Unlike the majority of the market, our birds are bred to full maturity on a natural timescale. This means they are more than double the age of a standard intensive turkey, resulting in a natural layer of fat which is crucial to achieving a succulent flavoursome meat, and prevents the “dry” texture that many people associate with a cooked turkey.
Our Unique Process
Our turkeys are processed here on site, where we continue to use the traditional production methods that have been passed down the generations at Forest Lodge farm including a very labour intensive dry-plucking technique. This allows for our turkeys to be dry aged and game hung for two weeks in our cold store, the final component to developing a tender easy-to cook meat.
Where our turkeys go next…
After our turkeys have been tastefully prepared ready for the oven, we carefully wrap them with grease proof paper and place them into one of our easy to carry boxes to ensure they remain in perfect condition for Christmas day.
All our Christmas turkeys are either collected directly from our farm gate by our local customers, or delivered to a select handful of local butchers and farm shops by a member of our small team.