The Patchwork Quilt of English Farming

Isn’t it absolutely beautiful at the moment? Hedgerows bursting with blossom, fields a vibrant green, and birdsong ringing out from dawn ‘til dusk. I’ve been deep in dad mode these past few weeks. “You know, kids, you can travel the world and still crave this scene —...

Spring has sprung – and so have the cows!🐮

A Bit About Our Cows A few requests came back from my appeal for blog ideas the other week with the theme of how the business works behind the scenes. There's always so much going on and I will endeavour to share it all through my musings! However, much of my...

Are Farm Shops Selling the Real Deal?

This question was posed to me in response to my last blog when I asked you all for some food for thought on what to write about next. By the way, I had some great replies—lots of ammo for future editions. But this one really struck a chord. It wasn’t a blunt question...

What the Dorset Coast Taught me This Week

As many of you may have gathered from my last journal, I felt it was time for a little break. So, last week, Tamara and I headed down to the south Dorset coast for a couple of days—the first time we’d had a trip sans enfants in a few years! We stayed at a beautiful...

A Tale of Woe on the Path to Net Zero…

Oh, what a week it’s been. At this rate, it feels like we’ll reach Storm Zachary by the end of February. Our originally planned closure has been delayed, unfortunately, so we’re open as normal this week. A little rant, if I may… Some background to why we were planning...

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March

March

Well, it has been a wet and windy end to the winter. They do say that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, let's hope this month brings some spring sunshine to lift us again! Despite...

The Barn News – January 2022

The Barn News – January 2022

The Barn is now closed until spring 2022. Building work has begun on creating a new home for our farm kitchen! Thank you again to everyone who supported us last year and at Christmas. It was a sad...

Christmas Orders & Opening Hours 2021

Christmas Orders & Opening Hours 2021

Welcome! We thought we'd put together a little post with all the good-to-know tips and advice for ordering with us this Christmas. As we did last year, all our Christmas orders are placed online. We...

June.

June.

As summer gets into the swing of things, we are following suit and gearing up for another alfresco season! We learned a lot last year and spending as much time out in the fresh air as we possibly...

May

May

The biggest news for this month is that we have welcomed guests back into The Barn again for breakfast and lunch! We managed to open just for a couple of weeks in October before the second lockdown...

Wild Garlic Pesto

Wild Garlic Pesto

Head Chef Chris’ wild garlic pesto has been something of a hit on the deli this week. So much so that we thought we’d share his recipe with you here, in case you want to try making it at home....

Easter Opening Hours

Easter Opening Hours

Our Opening Hours for Easter 2021 are as follows: Good Friday 9 am - 5:30 pm (The Barn is open for takeaway until 8 pm, order here) Easter Saturday 9am - 4pm Easter Sunday 9 am - 4 pm Easter Monday...

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...

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...

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