Charles Spencer, farmer at Stourhead in Wiltshire is the new supplier of free range eggs for around 150 of the National Trust’s food and beverage outlets across England.
The conservation charity, which has been undergoing a review of its suppliers over the last two years, was looking for a tenant supplier who could provide 1.5 million high-quality free range eggs to its cafes, restaurants and tea rooms each year.
Matt Drew, Head of Food and Beverage at the National Trust said: “We have 1,500 tenant farmers and producers managing National Trust farmland giving our food operations a unique opportunity to source ingredients that have been carefully reared or grown on our land.
“Ultimately, this will help us to communicate the importance of sustainable food production to our visitors through the food we produce and serve each day.
“Quality and supply continuity are also very important to our sizeable food operations, which is why we’ve chosen to work with Charles Spencer. Our aim is that all the eggs we use in National Trust kitchens in England are supplied by Charles or by our own property teams.”
Charles Spencer also meets RSPCA Assured standards for hen welfare and has the British Lion mark of quality for high standards in food safety.
Charles Spencer’s family have been National Trust tenants since 1972. He said: “This is fantastic news for us. The Trust will be taking over one sixth of our annual egg supply from the 37,000 Bovine Brown hybrid hens that we look after on our 2,000 acre farm.”
The hens share grazing with our dairy herd and are fed with our home-grown wheat and beans, processed through our own feed mill.
The Trust is also hoping to confirm plans for suppliers for its Welsh and Northern Irish food and beverage outlets in the next couple of months.
