I was delighted to be on Womans Hour on Radio 4 at the end of December and was interviewed by Felicity Finch who is an actress and journalist - she plays Ruth on the Archers - and she came to the farm a few months ago and spent the day here. I have been a fan of Womans Hour and the Archers so we had a great day and it was really good to be on the programme, especially over the Christmas time. I hope that some of you might have heard it.

Life is getting back to normal again after Christmas and all the festivities. The weather has been mild and very helpful! We will soon be moving the whole breeding ewe flock back to the home fields in preparation towards lambing in mid March. The mutton flock will stay in their fields.

We have removed the rams from the breeding ewe flock. Due to the mud we couldn't get the trailer near to the rams, three of them, so we had to walk them down to the trailer and then persuade them to load! They weren't very keen! Very glad that I had lots of male reinforcements in the form of son Will and sons in law to gather around and get the rams in the trailer!

its busy down on the farm!

Everything seems to happen at this time of year, hedging, ditching, fencing all happens especially with the weather being dry and helpful.

We have been sorting the ewes for the breeding flock, putting in our homebred replacement ewes to join the flock and then sorting the breeding rams - we decide which bloodline will be used each year and then the homebred rams from that bloodline are selected and put in with the flock - exhausting stuff but great when it is all done and dusted!

It is always a race against time to get lots of jobs done before the weather breaks and this winter is predicted to be another really cold one so the sheep will be pleased with their wooly coats.

We have lots of delicious lamb and mutton in stock and if the winter is a bad one we will be sending frozen boxes out - our organic registered butcher lives in a very steep valley, not easy with snow and ice so we keep the freezers well stocked with lamb and mutton boxes so that they can be sent out quickly for orders.

Do get in touch any time, we always like to hear from you - post@langleychase.co.uk or 01249 750095

National Organic Food Awards

It was a magical day to receive our award with the Prince of Wales in Clarence House gardens on a beautiful sunny evening. I am so proud of our wonderful Langley Chase Flock with our mutton winning first prize and our lamb as the runners up. We have also won double Gold with the Taste of the West Awards with our lamb and our mutton.

It is such a privilege to be able to farm our flock in Wiltshire and a wonderful endorsement to win awards. It is a great feeling being in the fields with the flock clustering around me and my sheepdog at my side, in all weathers.

Talking of weather, the recent wind has brought down a few boughs off the ancient oak trees which line our fields. It is a relief when they survive any onslaught from windy weather as they are irreplaceable even though we have planted hundreds of trees around the farm, nothing can compare with the majesty of these oaks.

Wonderful Win in Organic Food Awards

It has been a wonderful time winning the National Organic Food Awards for our lamb with our mutton taking Highly Commended too. I have congratulated the flock and we are all thrilled to win! Thank you for sending all the emails with super messages and congratulations, it is very much appreciated.

We have fresh stocks of Manx Loaghtan Chorizo Salami and Manx Loaghtan Salami with juniper and red wine, they can be presented in a presentation box, also smoked lamb so let us know if you would like any. Our last deliveries for lamb and mutton before Christmas will be in November to avoid the manic Christmas courier rush so if you would like to order please do get in touch as soon as possible.

We have a good stock of our honey coloured sheepskins here, quad rugs and single rugs which make great presents. They can be sent out as late as December - as they are not a fresh product!!

Do keep in touch, we love to hear from you.

Blue Peter comes to Langley Chase and Langley Chase is Wiltshire Independent Food Producer of the Year

Langley Chase has been having such an exciting time that there has been no time for posting!! Time to make amends.

We are proud and thrilled to have won the Wiltshire Independent Food Producer of the Year and thank you all so much for putting us forward for the nomination. We received the award at a most prestigious and delightful evening at the beautiful Wilton House in Salisbury, Wiltshire. We are also grateful to Wiltshire Life Magazine http://www.wiltshirelife.co.uk/awards.shtmlwho run the awards and to Smith & Williamson Accountants in Salisbury who sponsored our category award.http://www.smith.williamson.co.uk/salisbury. The magazine has yet to publish the evening and we will post the photos when we get them.

We have been playing host to BBC Blue Peter who came here just before Easter and Joel, the presenter of Blue Peter, came to help with the lambing and with the jobs about the lambing barn. We all had a great time, the weather was sunny and lovely and little lambs were everywhere. We had a rejected lamb, born that morning that Joel arrived and he took over the care of it and named it Joleene! A girl of course!! Blue Peter programme is going to follow her career over the year, maybe years! I am pleased to say that Joleene was happily re-united with her young and forgetful mother who finally took on the task of rearing her lamb. So all is well!

The BBC Blue Peter Programme at Langley Chase goes out on Tuesday 28th April at 4.35 p.m. Be sure to catch it!!

Lambing has finished now and we have over two hundred leaping and bouncing lambs. When I checked them again this evening a whole crowd of them were racing together around the edge of the field in a black swathe with the mothers looking on and calling to them. The sunshine will gradually change the colour of their fleece from black to chocolate brown, to mid brown and then eventually to the deep coffee colour of the Manx Loaghtan.

We now have Manx Loaghtan Salami, delicious with plum chutney, also our Year Lamb is ready now so let us know if you would like to order anything. Give me a ring any time or email us on post@langleychase.co.uk.

New Product, lambing about to start, thank you for norminations.

The past few weeks have flown by and we have been very busy preparing orders for lamb and mutton and our smoked lamb - and we have produced A NEW PRODUCT!!

MANX LOAGHTAN SALAMI IN RED WINE, it is so exciting. It is the perfect present as it lasts for nine months and can hang in your kitchen looking decorative and be eaten at the same time. Are there any salami devotees out there??


We have lots of whole and half lamb ready, along with diced mutton and mutton joints, also smoked lamb and Manx Loaghtan salami.


Our April delivery will be on Wednesday 22nd April and collection on the farm will be Saturday 25th, so if you would like an April delivery or collection now is the time to let us know what you would like to order. Give me a ring anytime for any information or send me an email.


We are gearing up for lambing and everything is in place, even the water buckets in every pen! The weather is settled and we are ready for anything now.


We have been nominated for Best Independent Food Producer sponsored by Wiltshire Life Magazine and we are very grateful to our customers for the nomination so very many thanks for putting us forward for the award.

Just wanted to wish you a very Happy New Year and to thank you for your custom and interest in our Manx Loaghtan lamb and mutton in 2008. It is very much appreciated.

The big news is that we are on The Food Programme on Radio 4 Sunday 11th and today at 4.0 p.m. featuring the flock and the high quality of our lamb and mutton.

You can listen to it by going to the link on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ghqw8

It will be available for the next seven days to 'Listen Again'

The big freeze is now thawing. It has been beautiful with white, shimmering trees and the pond completely frozen.

It has been so freezing and cold but wonderful once you are out there – I have grown muscles just trying to break the ice on the water troughs and pushing the wheelbarrow with the hay in over fields with frozen mole hills!! A real obstacle course as the wheelbarrow hits the frozen mole hill and then the hay flies out!

I am sorting batches of lambs again now that the weather is getting better so let me know if you would like to order anything. Our prices are still at the 2008 price and will be increased in the Spring. Any orders taken before end of Febuary will remain at the 2008 price.

There has been talk in the media about organic farming considering cutting down on the standards of feed due to the high cost of organic feed. If this was so the products would not be registered organic and would not be able to be registered with an organic body.

I want to confirm that we are totally and completely committed to organic standards and adhere to the rigorous organic standards of the Soil Association. We feed totally 100% organic feed, it is expensive but it is worth every penny.

We are now thinking about lambing which is in March but plans are being laid now and preparations being made.