News

Judith will be at the following events answering questions and offering free samples

SATURDAY 27 + SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER
Durham Food Festival, Palace Green, Kelly (In front of the cathedral)

SATURDAY 10 NOVEMBER
Food Fair, Plants R Ross, Garden Centre, South Hetton Road, Easington, County Durham SR8 3BZ

SATURDAY 17 NOVEMBER
Food & Craft Fair, Dalton Park, Murton SR7 9HU

Don’t be deceived by the headline! No turkeys were harmed during the event as the targets were clay pigeons, so both the competitors and turkeys were happy.

Dryden Farms sponsored the day as well as a trophy for the best shot. At lunchtime hot KellyBronze turkey sandwiches were served. Stuart York, the club secretary, is pictured shaking hands with Judith and congratulating her on an enjoyable day.

Judith has been keeping the free range KellyBronze turkeys for 12 years, increasing the numbers as the years pass. The turkeys can be seen in the field as motorists pass on the B1285. They roam the field free to eat the natural grasses in the traditional pasture which receives no artificial fertiliser or chemicals. The freedom to roam and drug-free feed results in a moist, dense meat full of flavour.

Christmas Eve sees the farmyard busy as customers collect their pre ordered KellyBronze turkeys and geese which have been prepared on the farm. Fresh herbs, cooking instructions and a meat thermometer are an important part of the package so that the customer is confident that their Christmas lunch has that WOW factor, because as we all fully appreciate - ‘Christmas lunch is the most important meal of the year’.

Judith pictured centre shaking hands with
Stuart York, Club Secretary, Times Inn Gun Club

A very successful Golf Day was held on Sunday 10th October 2010 at Castle Eden Golf Course.

Forty teams of four entered the competition which was sponsored by Kelly Turkeys.

All the players returned to the clubhouse at Tee 7 and were treated to a hot KellyBronze turkey sandwich with stuffing and cranberry sauce.

I learnt a lot about golf and the players watched a DVD of Paul Kelly carving a KellyBronze turkey.

The prizes of a KellyBronze turkey and breast roast were won by two people who live in Peterlee and they will be collecting their oven-ready turkeys on Christmas Eve from our farm at Murton. Judith

INCREASE IN BIRDS AND ANIMALS ON THE FARM

After joining the entry level scheme in 2008 which requires us to leave a small proportion of land in an unproductive state, so that it can return to nature, increasing bio-diversity, we have seen an increase in numbers of many birds and animals over the whole farm.

This is due to the CAP reform in 2003 which shifted subsidy payments from a production linked system to a system which would be more environmentally sustainable for our countryside, in the years since we personally have seen an increase in bio-diversity in our fields with regular sightings of such birds and animals as: Brown Hares Foxes Water Vowels Frogs and toads Finches Skylarks Swallows and Swifts Owls and many more . . .

NEW ACCOLADE FOR KELLY TURKEYS - ‘benchmark for the industry’

Leading traditional turkey producers Kelly Turkeys have won the Poultry Producer of the Year Award organised by publishers of the magazine Pig & Poultry Marketing. The award was presented to Derek Kelly by Andrew Keeble, joint creator of the Debbie & Andrew’s sausage brand, at London’s Haymarket Hotel.

Judges of the award, sponsored by Alltech UK, said that in nominations the term ‘quality’ was often overused, along with words such as ‘sustainable’, ‘consistency’, ‘innovative’ and ‘open door’. Yet, they said, it is words like these that truly epitomize the essence of Kelly Turkeys and its positive impact on the industry.

AWARD WINNING TURKEY FOR TOP COUNTY DURHAM RESTAURANTS

Traditional turkeys from the Dryden family at Murton, near Durham, are proving a hit this year with local restaurants as well as consumers.

Several top restaurants are featuring their nationally acclaimed KellyBronze turkeys on their December menu this year including Oldfields Restaurant at Durham City and Jesmond Dene House, the Newcastle establishment which gained the four star AA Centenary Awards hotel and restaurant of the year title in 2008-9.

“It’s encouraging that restaurants are valuing top quality local food on the menu,” says Judith Dryden. “The award winning restaurant owner Bill Oldfield and his chef Anthony Taylor visited our farm to see our turkeys and geese in the fields, and the housing for the night and the processing plant.”

The Drydens began producing Christmas poultry 10 years ago and now rear 550 turkeys and also 200 geese on free range. The farm grows the wheat which forms part of the poultry’s autumn diet. Around 90 per cent of the birds are sold from the farmgate and collected in the two days before Christmas.

“The result is a turkey with good old fashioned flavour — beautifully moistened and densely textured meat — a real treat to eat,” says Judith.

JUDITH COOKS FOR A MASTER CHEF

David Hall phoned me in the summer and explained that he was researching for a new North East food magazine called Flavour. He wanted to come and see ourKellyBronze turkeys and geese grazing in our fields and write an article for the December issue.

I told the family at the tea table. "You should cook him lunch", they replied! The day arrived, I nervously prepared lunch for the 2007 Master Chef finalist and his family. David was great, he wondered around the farm chatting about our birds.

Martin and Richard answered questions while I dashed back to the house to turn the roast potatoes, cooked in goose fat (crisping up nicely) and take the KellyBronze turkey out of the oven to rest for a while. We all sat down to a traditional Sunday / Christmas lunch.

The KellyBronze turkey meat was moist and bursting with flavour. We all ate well and the nerves melted as the wine flowed. David wrote a lovely two page article about us which appeared in the December issue of Flavour.

BIRDS OF PREY GET FEATHER EXTENSIONS!

During December while preparing the KellyBronze turkeys a local falconer visited the farm.
He asked if he could have some tail feathers as he had just purchased a Goshawk with a damaged tail . He wanted to repair the feathers using a similar method used by hair stylists to extend human hair.He returned a few days later to report his success. The Goshawk with its secondhand black tail can now twist and weave in flight. How about that for recycling!