February

February

It was hard to see past the doom and gloom of January. Another national lockdown, grey skies, storms, a flurry of snow and more than enough rain thank you very much. There is, however, a definite sense of a light at the end of the tunnel as we head into February. The...
Christmas & New Year Opening Times

Christmas & New Year Opening Times

We’re heading towards the end of quite a year here at Hartley and indeed for everyone. Thank you to everyone for your support through the year and for your Christmas orders. Our order book is now closed for Christmas with some availability left for collections...
The Perks of a Local Christmas

The Perks of a Local Christmas

As a farmer and a food lover, I’m a firm believer that when it comes to meat, in particular, eat local where you can, but always eat British. We are a nation built on the solid and rich heritage of great British food and farming. There is very little reason to...
Christmas Orders Now Open!

Christmas Orders Now Open!

‘Tis the Season Christmas will be a little different this year but rest assured our intentions remain the same, to bring people together over the best local and seasonal food. We are so proud and grateful to work with so many wonderful local farmers and food...
October

October

The Barn is now open! The Barn is now home for our farm kitchen. If we’ve learned one thing this year it is to stay nimble and not plan too far ahead! However, we knew that returning to the previous cafe space wasn’t an option as it just isn’t suitable to keep...
September

September

With beautiful misty mornings and woodsmoke hanging in the evening air, we’ve well and truly landed in autumn. Despite a mini-heatwave for a couple of weeks in this month, the nights are certainly getting chilly and winter preparations have begun. Considering what we...
August

August

August has brought with it searing, stifling heat to top off what has been an excellent summer, and we certainly needed it. Not just to put a spring in our step with all the doom and gloom of the world but we’ve had some much-needed rain dotted throughout which has...
The Garden Kitchen at Hartley Farm

The Garden Kitchen at Hartley Farm

With the news at the start of July that cafes can reopen, we got our thinking hats on to see what we could do to make this summer a special one for everyone as we move into our new normal. We love seeing people enjoying the outdoors at our farm and have a wonderful...
May

May

If you’ve been up to the farm shop over the last few weeks, you’ll see the calves at Hartley Farm have been the main focus of attention for us on the farm. Our calving season has now finished on the farm and the next big job is silage making. We’ve had near-perfect...
The New Normal

The New Normal

We’re almost at the stage where we’ve begun to find some rhythm and dare I say it, routine in our day’s work. Which in recent times, means it is time for another government announcement to shake it all up again. It’s hard work planning a business at the moment. On the...
March

March

March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb as they say. I can’t help thinking about this as I write this month’s blog just off the back of two bracing storms in Ciara and Dennis. The latter part of the old saying sheds a little hope at least after an extremely...
A New Year’s resolution all about meat

A New Year’s resolution all about meat

January is about reflection and goal setting for the year ahead. Many of my musings recently have been regarding the press and their portrayal of livestock farming and the environment. The key message has been that we need to eat less meat as intensive farming...
October

October

Well, here we are heading towards the end of another year already. This is certainly the business end of the year for us in the farm shop and all of the efforts in planning and preparation over the last few months culminate in a mad rush towards another Christmas at...
September

September

September at Hartley Farm Darkness has started to set in earlier in the evenings but the trade-off has been some picture-perfect autumn scenes at the beginning and end of the day. The sloes and damsons are steeping in the gin and the smell of woodsmoke fills the damp...
August

August

Last month we bought a new (old) member of the family back to the farm in the shape of our 1953 Fordson Major Tractor. As a special feature, I thought I’d ask my father Richard to write this month’s blog and share his memories of the great machine when he was growing...
July

July

July has certainly had more of a Summer’s feel to it compared to a very wet June. With the kids breaking up later in the month all hands have been on deck to bring a new feel to our outdoor areas to make use of the sunshine and the long lazy (for kids that is) days....
June

June

I always challenge myself not to start our monthly blog with any reference to the weather, but alas once again I will fail. My interest in what the weather is doing and how the grass is growing has been developing at an unhealthy rate over the last few years and those...
May

May

This month has been a busy month for us as the kind spring weather meant silage making began and the beginning of building up our feed stores for our cattle for next winter. The balance of rain and shine has made for great grass growing weather and with last summer’s...
April

April

This month we kicked off the year’s event’s calendar with our Spring Farm Open day. Thank you to everyone who came to the farm to see a little bit of what we get up to behind the scenes. We hope you managed to catch a glance of our new Tamworth piglets and also the...
NATURE NOTES PART ONE

NATURE NOTES PART ONE

Welcome to Hartley Farm Nature Notes My aim is to give you an idea of some of the things you might see or find around the farm.  I hope you will find it interesting and informative, and hopefully feel inspired to go out and explore the farm and its surroundings. I...
How to heal the world with your morning coffee…

How to heal the world with your morning coffee…

January is always a great month for a bit of reflection and of course a bit of goal setting! Well, one of our first new projects we’re excited to launch is tackling the global problem of non-recyclable takeaway coffee cups. As a nation, we use more than 8 million a...
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