Alec Mercer, Packington Poultry farmer with The Hairy Bikers
Packington Poultry, the Staffordshire-based free-range poultry farm is featured on the BBC2’s Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain series.
The Hairy Bikers have undertaken a food tour of Britain to find the best of each county’s larder and meet the local producers who have a passion for keeping traditional recipes alive.
Packington Poultry the Staffordshire free-range poultry farm has featured on the programme, with its chickens described by the Hairy Bikers as ‘some of the happiest chickens in the country’. Alec Mercer, the farmer who has pioneered his own method of breeding the free-range chickens says, ‘It’s inspiring that the Hairy Bikers are so passionate about promoting sustainable and free range farming and we were delighted to welcome them to our farm and share our passion with them.’
Part of the Staffordshire episode of their next series, due to be broadcast on BBC 2, took them to the free-range chicken farm to find out how chickens are reared with the best of welfare standards to produce the most deliciously succulent chicken out there.
The Bikers, renowned for their travelling kitchen, food-lover informal approach to cooking, explore the Packington free-range chickens amongst the large grass fields bordered with woodland and wild hedgerows. The farm tour inspired a wealth of questions from the Bikers, keen to know how the chickens were reared, what they ate, the fields they roam in – as well as the spacious barns they are kept in at night.
As Alec explains; ‘This is the third generation of the Mercers family that have been farming in Barton-under Needwood for more than 70 years and we continue to believe strongly in low density, environmentally sound and welfare orientated farming. All Packington chickens are free range, flock numbers are kept low, they roam freely and have a healthy natural diet.’
The Packington Cockerel, truly helps keep traditional recipes alive. Cockerel was popular during Tudor and Elizabethan times and is a great alternative to turkey at Christmas time, as a large cockerel can grow up to 7 kilos, feed up to 15 people, and is moist and succulent; as Alec says; ‘We strive to deliver old fashioned real tastiness that has long left fast-grown, mass produced supermarket birds – the Hairy Bikers were able to try one of our amazing doorstop chicken sandwiches and the look on their faces was enough to see the proof was definitely in the tasting!’
Hairy Bikers will be aired 2nd August 2010 at 5:15pm.
For more information, please email info@creamcommunications.co.uk or call 08453889584
About Packington Poultry: Packington Poultry is based in Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire, where the family has been farming for more than 70 years. Packington Cockerel is sold in some prestigious farm shops and butchers around the country, including Chatsworth Farm Shop and The Ginger Pig in Borough Market, London. This Christmas Packington Cockerel are working with local Michelin starred chef Paul Gilmore (Restaurant Gilmore at Strine’s Farm), to create a Christmas recipe based on ‘back to basics’ principles, to let the delicious, natural flavours shine through.
