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Hello, and welcome to my website. My name is Richard, and I am third generation farmer from Eastmoor, near Chesterfield; on the edge of the Peak District. We have farmed here sine 1938, and since then produced milk with a herd of Holstein Friesians.
When I came back from university in 2002, the dairy industry was in a poor state, and many farmers diversified. Our initial diversification project was a hotel, which we ran alongside the farm for three years. We then sold the hotel and diversified into Water Buffalo, on the strength of a university project that I had written a few years earlier. We bought our first few buffalo, started selling the meat at local farmers markets and other outlets. This was and still is very successful, and I thought that a farm shop would go hand in hand with the new retail venture, but realized that we were out in the sticks; so I found an old butchers shop here in Dronfield Woodhouse and set up the Farmhouse Pantry.
We have been running now for just over two years, and have developed a strong customer base, and many loyal regulars. The shop is, in essence, a specialist butcher and delicatessen. We started off by offering a full basket shop, including vegetables, bakery, condiments, confectionary, etc; but found that the majority of our sales were meat orientated. We therefore concentrated on the meat side of the business, and also offer pies, cheeses, cooked meats, etc. We also stock our water buffalo meat, alongside a wide range of game and other specialist produce. We also provide freezer packs, barbeque packs, etc. and welcome catering and wholesale orders. Please contact the shop for further details.
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The shop is run by my sister Lisa and her husband Ian. Lisa is in charge of the day to day shop management, making sure that everything runs smoothly and making sure all of our customers are looked after. Ian is the master butcher, who has trained at other high class butcheries and farm shops such as Chatsworth. He makes sure that what ever you buy is of the utmost quality, and is constantly searching for innovative recipes and ideas. We also have two other butchers - Philip and Derren, who are needed to help Ian out with anything from boning out carcasses, making stroganoffs and stir-fry's; to counter work and customer service.
We concentrate on using local suppliers and farmers wherever possible, and make sure all of our produce is 100% traceable. The beef that we sell is all reared on our own farm, alongside the buffalo, and it is all hung for a minimum of three weeks, to ensure that its flavour and texture are perfect. We are fully certified as organic at the farm by Organic Farmers and Growers; and also run organic and higher level stewardship on the land. We have also been awarded the environmental quality mark, and are currently in the middle of a lapwing regeneration programme.
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Peak Buffalo
Our sister business is called Peak Buffalo. We run a herd of 350 water buffalo on the farm, which is situated on the edge of the peak district in Eastmoor. We sell a wide range of buffalo meat and meat products at different farmers markets every month. The dates and places that we can be found are listed below, and are the same every month:
1st Wed - Doncaster
1st Thurs - Buxton
1st Sat - Stone
1st Sun - Leeds
1st Sun - Castleton
2nd Thurs - Chesterfield
2nd Fri - Worksop
2nd Sat - Belper
3rd Thurs - Derby
3rd Sat - Leek
3rd Sat - Retford
3rd Sat - Buxton
4th Sun - Sheffield
Last Saturday (depending on how many weekends in the month) is Bakewell
All of these markets are open for trade at around 9am, and close at around 3pm. Please ring for further details.
If you would like to place an order for the buffalo, we can have it ready to collect at any of the markets listed above, or you can collect it from the shop. Alternatively, if you would like to order a joint of lamb or pork, or whatever else we have to offer from the shop, you can collect it from the farmers' market as well!
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