Celebrating 100 Years

MANOR FARM BOURTON

Our History

The Verey family have been farming at Manor Farm in Bourton for four generations. David and Ann Verey have been breeding Suffolk and Charolais lambs, for the markets, for the past 30 years, in addition to breeding and fattening Aberdeen Angus cattle for supply to one of the national supermarkets.

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An insight into

OUR HISTORY

2014

In 2014 Tim and Helen Verey started a new venture rearing Oxford Sandy and Black pigs for meat. At the end of the year, an on-farm unit was set up, with their brother-in-law Big Dave, to enable the production of homemade sausages on-site.
2016
In November 2016 we started to sell meat directly from The Farm and in conjunction with this, we set up the Larder Café. Having the Butchery and the Larder Café running alongside they work to complement each other by having more opportunities to use and sell the meat we produce from The Farm.

2016
2018

We celebrated our centenary in October 2018.

The Farm was originally bought by John Verey at an auction in Banbury in October 1918. To mark the centenary of this, we set out our vision for The Farm and continued our plans to develop and diversify.

With challenges of the environment, public perception, and food production within the global market, there are many hurdles along the way, but with the possibility of finding the right market for what we produce and showing the public our commitment to making a better local environment for nature and people there is a strong chance of our still being here for the next 100 years!
2020
As we all know, March 2020 turned everything upside down, so we took a deep breath, held on tight and made the best of what we could with what we had at the time. The Larder Café was closed but the Butchery and Cheese Room remained open. With the restrictions in place, the local community provided much support and footfall went up. The Farm continued and all the animals were safe and well-fed.

We used the furlough system for staff members in the Larder Café, it was a lifeline that partly helped get us through. As and when we could offer food and drink to the public through such means as takeaway and delivery, we did.

We adapted and changed our business model within the guidelines of the Covid rules and with a lot of hard work and sleepless nights, we were fortunate enough to keep on establishing and growing the business throughout.

2020
2021

Well-versed in the ways of Covid rules we carried on serving and entertaining the public with what we could and continued to enjoy building a relationship with the local community, with half a mind knowing that once the country was fully opened, we may face a downturn in custom.

Luckily, we have remained in people’s minds and the business found a steady local custom base which we work hard to maintain and cherish.
2022
We continued to work hard in creating a growing business with food, farming, environment, and sustainability at its heart.

We looked at our environmental impact through what we use in the Larder Café and on The Farm. Where possible we reduced our energy consumption and waste of any kind, to make the business more sustainable in the future.

2022
2023

It’s been an exciting and busy year so far!

Our neighbour, The Buckingham Flower Farm is flourishing and blooming.

We have planted more hedgerows and trees, some through the solar park scheme and some through a part-funded Woodland Trust Project.

We have many great plans for the coming months to improve our surrounding environment and develop and grow The Farm and our Businesses.

Established 1774

MANOR FARM BOURTON

We’re passionate about

THE ENVIRONMENT

Over the past 5 years, we have been restoring and re-planting hedgerows. We are double fencing ditches to give larger wildlife corridors free from animals grazing and lessening the animal waste from entering watercourses. We are starting to plant more trees around the fields, with more leaning towards agroforestry type of farming over the years to come.

Through the Butchery and the Larder Café, we are growing a customer base for what we produce on The Farm. We hope these will be a sustainable side of the farming business, so we can keep putting more back into improving the local environment and giving people who are interested a chance to be up close to and find out how and where the food in this country is produced.

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