Winners of The Great Taste Gold Award 2012, Godwick turkeys have been lauded by many leading experts on fine food, including celebrity chef Anthony Worrall Thompson, BBC Good Food, Women's Weekly Magazine and The Ledbury Restaurant, London.
"We're a family run business which has specialised in supplying consistently succulent, free-range turkeys for almost fifty years," says Godwick Partner Robert Garner. "We can absolutely guarantee that a Godwick turkey will be the perfect centrepiece to a Christmas meal and the reason for our complete confidence lies in the way in which we rear our birds. We believe our customers can literally taste the care we put into making sure our turkeys have the happiest, healthiest possible life."
Indeed, to this day, not just the management tasks, but also the painstaking daily work required to ensure their turkeys enjoy the ultimate level of wellbeing is conducted by members of the Garner family. Rejecting mass production methods in favour of a traditional approach that goes back centuries, Godwick have built a peaceful, stress-free environment for their turkeys. Members of the Traditional Farmfresh Turkey Association, Robert Garner and his team follow this exclusive organisation's strict and demanding guidelines, which require that they adhere to the highest standards of welfare for the birds at all times.
Located on beautiful, tranquil land where the ancient, long deserted village of Godwick once stood, the farm provides an idyllic setting. "Secure fencing means we can allow our birds access to the rich pasture we're blessed with here 24 hours a day," continues Robert Garner. "We're able to let our turkeys roam free and eat fresh grass day and night, moving into our spacious pole barns for shelter and rest whenever they please, where they are comfortably bedded on fresh, dry straw."
Godwick turkeys are grown to maturity over a period of a minimum of 26 weeks, at which point their meat is in perfect condition for the table, having benefited from an all-natural diet of cereals grown on the farm and an environment created specifically to help them flourish.
"We prepare our birds for our customers as carefully as we rear them," says Robert Garner, "They're dry plucked here on the farm by hand, and then hung in spotlessly clean chillers for 7-21 days, which tenderises the meat and enhances the flavour. We know from many years of experience that to achieve the very best quality takes time and simply cannot be rushed. Our methods are a long way from the mass producers, who often keep birds in cramped, crowded sheds, then transport them long distances for slaughter at just 12 weeks, which we feel is far too early."
Having prepared each bird by hand, the Garner family then either distribute them to the stores which offer them for sale, or package them in special, insulated boxes containing two large ice packs for delivery by courier. These ingenious packages maintain a 5 degree temperature for a 48 hour period.
If the customer has sufficient space in their fridge, the turkey can then be removed from the box and placed in the customer's fridge if space allows. If not, the turkey can be kept fresh in the box simply by refreezing the ice packs.
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If the customer has sufficient space, the turkey can then be removed from the box and placed in the fridge. If not, the turkey can be kept fresh in the box simply by refreezing the ice packs.
Godwick farm fresh, oven ready turkeys can be ordered from their website at www.Godwick.co.uk, or to collect from the farm, which can be found between Fakenham, Swaffham & Dereham, at:
WR Garner & Son,
Godwick Hall Farm,
Tittleshall,
Kings Lynn,
Norfolk
PE32 2RJ
Tel: 01328 700540