Nordmann trees cut on the farm from 25 November, free-range bronze turkeys ordered by 12 December, and hampers from the shelves from £45
Christmas
Trees from the plantation on the top field, cut the week they are sold, from 25 November: Nordmann firs from £35 for five feet, netted and carried to the car. Free-range bronze turkeys from the family near Usk, ordered by 12 December and collected on the 23rd or 24th. Hampers built from the shelves from £45, delivered within eight miles. Mulled apple in the café and the sheep in the barn.
Christmas starts on the farm on 25 November, when the first trees come down from the top field and the yard smells of fir, and it ends at one o'clock on Christmas Eve, when the last turkey leaves and we lock the gate. In between: trees cut the week they are sold, turkeys from the family near Usk, hampers built from the shelves, wreaths from the orchard, and the café doing mulled apple.
Trees: Nordmann firs planted on the top field in 2012, cut the week they are sold so the needles stay on, from £35 for a five-foot tree to £65 for seven feet, with a few eight- and nine-footers for people with the ceiling. Netted, carried to the car, and a stand for £12. Bring it back in January and it goes through the chipper for the paths. Wreaths from the orchard's holly and the hedge's ivy, made in the barn, £18.
Turkeys: free-range bronzes from the same family near Usk the butchery buys its chickens from, slow-grown, hung for a week, from four kilos (six people) to nine (fourteen), at £13.80 a kilo with a £20 deposit that comes off the bill. Order by 12 December at the counter, by phone or on the order page; collect on the 23rd or the 24th, with the trimmings from the butchery: Pendoylan pigs in blankets, our sausage-meat stuffing, a gammon. Hampers: built from the shelves in a wicker basket, £45 with the jams, honey, chutney, biscuits and a bottle of the cider; £75 adds the cheeses and a bottle of something stronger; £120 is the lot with a side of smoked salmon and a Christmas cake from the farmhouse. Delivered within eight miles, or posted in Britain for £9.95.
What you get
- Nordmann trees cut the week they are sold, £35 to £65, from 25 November
- Free-range bronze turkeys £13.80 a kilo, ordered by 12 December
- Pigs in blankets, stuffing and gammon from the butchery
- Hampers from the shelves at £45, £75 and £120
- Wreaths from the orchard, £18; a tree stand £12
- Collect on the 23rd or 24th; hampers delivered or posted
What it costs
Nordmann trees £35 for five feet, £48 for six, £65 for seven; bronze turkeys £13.80 a kilo, a £20 deposit; hampers £45, £75 and £120; wreaths from the orchard £18. Trees from 25 November; turkeys by 12 December. The seasonal calendar says what is in the fields this month; the boxes page builds this week's box with the total.
Questions about christmas
Can I choose my own tree in the field?
Yes, on Saturdays and Sundays from 25 November: walk up to the top field with Dafydd, pick it standing, and it is cut and netted while you have a coffee. Weekdays the cut trees are in the yard.
How big a turkey do I need?
About six hundred grams a head on the bone with leftovers: a five-kilo bird does eight, a seven-kilo bird twelve. Tell us the number at the table and we size it.
This week's box, built in a minute, on the step on Thursday.
Small, medium or large with this week's contents listed, eggs, bread and milk if you want them, and the total before you order. By Tuesday noon; collected from Thursday or delivered Thursday and Friday within eight miles, £3.50, free over £30. No subscription.