Hampton Naturally Reared News November 2025
Our final Hampton Beef Day of 2025 will be on Friday 12th December and wow, have we got lots in store for everyone. Beef obviously in all its most magnificent forms, but also new Hampton helpful products just in time for Christmas, a selection of local stalls selling epic goods, together with lots of wood smoke, hot drinks, cake and chat. Please put the date in your diary now, as we would hate you to miss out on the retail and social experience of Surrey’s festive season.
Starting with beef, we are going big and will have not one, not two but three prime and beautifully matured carcasses for sale in all their constituent parts. Steaks will be at a premium as a good sizzle of sirloin, rump, spider, flat iron, picanha, rib eye, fillet, hanger, bavette and minute will blow away your guests all over Christmas. As will a carvery rib or any other roasting joints you care to think of be it silverside or top rump. Braising and stewing steak will fit the casserole requirement perfectly and prime mince shores up the cottage pie and lasagne department. And for the slow roasting team how about a brisket (8 hours tops is perfect) or oxtail which will melt in the mouth alongside mashed potatoes and a medley of winter veg. Just go to www.hamptonestate.co.uk/beef/ and the list is there from which to choose. Then click on jameswindridge@hamptonestate.co.uk and give James your order which will magically be ready for you on December 12th. (I forgot to mention our beef sausages, full of flavour and perfect on a long walk with a little Dijon mustard in a roll).
New style Hampton aprons will be on display and for sale, with all Hampton team members modelling our new colour and design. These will compliment our Hampton mugs with their distinctive hop theme made of fine china and so easy to drink from. Trying to be helpful we are also launching our Hampton kindling sacks, full of bespoke dried kindling from estate timber which will light your fire a treat and keep you one step ahead of Good King Wenceslas.
Our stall holders this year include our friends at Nibbs Gin who’s elderflower gin is very special and that’s not just because elderflower from the Hogs Back is used in the process. The Greyfriars Vineyard team will be with us and produce the best local sparkling as everyone knows. South Downs Roastery, our supplier of supreme coffee and The Cold Pressed Oil Company. New to the fold is the Farnham Community Farm with fresh Christmassy veg, which will be complimented by Kilnside Farm who make delicious cider and apple juice. There will be lots of everything for sale.
Last month I mentioned Pitch Up! and we are still open to ideas and projects who want to partner with us. See our Pitch Up! webpage here with details (and great video of the estate) and do spread the word if you know of anyone looking to fulfil an opportunity and needs land.
Talking of great video, our cow moving video Molly posted on Instagram on 5th November has had 454,000 views, which has left us all a bit baffled as it was only cows trotting down the road, but also delighted as so many have had a chance to watch the herd on the move.
Friday 12th December is our beef day, Hampton is the place, and we all look forward to seeing you from the moment we open at 10.30am. Please please do put your order in NOW as we hate to disappoint and we know how important the festive cooking season is to all our wonderful customers and friends who insist on only the best produce possible.
Very best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Naturally Reared News October 2025
Welcome to our October newsletter as the glorious colours of autumn just keep getting better and the backdrop to Hampton is glowing orange, rusty yellows and golden amber. Hopefully there will still be colour around on our next beef collection day FRIDAY 7th NOVEMBER which is coming along pretty quickly.
Two magnificent beef carcasses are hanging in the bespoke hanging room we always use at local Provenance Meats, to give the best possible flavour and maturation to our pasture for life accredited beef. And at this point in the month we have everything available for order but do put your order in as soon as possible as we know that stuff goes speedily as soon as the newsletter goes out.
It’s that time of year when we are thinking casseroles and stews, even your own homemade suet crust pies, all using prime stewing steak, shin, Osso Bucco or braising, lots of herbs, a good dosh of red, and root vegetables galore. Seventh heaven. It’s also time to think about a really fine roasting joint, a double carvery rib for instance which will feed 6 if not 8 and the heavenly juices will make sublime gravy for roast spuds, cauliflower and pumpkin accompaniments. Our silverside, topside and top rump are all eminently roastable too, and will come up trumps. Just think of the cold beef sandwiches the next day with horseradish on good brown granary bread.
Of course we have every type of steak available from fillet to flatiron, sirloin to spider not forgetting the good old rump, and both beef and venison sausages to make up the full barbeque complement. There is also Hampton wild roe venison, stalked on the estate, and the most delicious meat imaginable, in the form of steaks, minced, diced and haunch. Do give it a go.
Head of Farming James has taken over the beef/venison ordering slot (don’t worry, Helen will be very much present on beef days) and so the order of events is to now look at our webpages for beef www.hamptonestate.co.uk/beef/ and venison hamptonestate.co.uk/game, decide on what you want and send it over to jameswindridge@hamptonestate.co.uk who is ready and waiting for your order. Simple. We all look forward to seeing you on 7th November.
We are always working on new ideas, and it’s great to update you on some exciting news for Hampton which we hope will help boost local economic growth, providing opportunities for start-ups, entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses looking to expand.
Calling all local entrepreneurs and start-ups! We’re thrilled to have become part of Pitch Up!, a national initiative connecting regenerative farms with local businesses and start-ups. We’re opening our gates to new enterprises and inviting local entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to us at Hampton this autumn, Dragons’ Den-style. See our Pitch Up! Webpage here with details of the types of businesses we are wanting to partner with.
We will be open from 10.30am to 3.30pm on Friday 7th November but that’s slightly getting ahead of things. Pop your order over to James first and we will make sure everything is ready for you in your Hampton bag for collection, plus coffee, cake and chat on a hopefully colourful Friday morning.
Best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Naturally Reared News September 2025
Our August beef day had a wonderfully relaxed holiday feel about it but as we head into September I perceive that the real beef eaters will be out and about eyeing up top-quality beef for casseroles, stews, lasagnes and steak and kidney pies. As always we can help with every beef thought as our next beef collection day will be on FRIDAY 26th SEPTEMBER.
And often beef thoughts involve beef recipes and I have been perusing my latest present, the Hawksmoor at Home cookery book. Hawksmoor is a fabulous steak restaurant chain serving up the best steaks by far, and their recipes really stand out. Beef shin macaroni and cheese is one I want to experiment with, and I think a Thor’s Hammer may be the way forward. We will have all the beef necessary for every yummy dish, whether it be a Hawksmoor inspired one or your well tried and tested family recipe passed down from generation to generation. Stewing, braising and diced steak, prime mince, kidney, Osso Bucco, shin, are all available to order as are steaks of every variety from fillet to sirloin, rump to flatiron and not forgetting the spider steaks. We will also have picanha steaks which everyone tells me are to die for. And I haven’t even mentioned the wonderful roasting joints where pride of place must be the carvery rib roast (a couple or three ribs is a complete wow), or silverside, top rump and topside which are full of flavour and roast brilliantly.
Grab the recipe, decide on quantities, have a look at our cutting list and pop your order over to Helen at helenjackson@hamptonestate.co.uk.
And a September mention for mouthwatering Hampton wild roe venison. Completely delicious and there are recipes galore. My favourite is a fillet. Heat plate on BBQ to very hot, drizzle olive oil over fillet, season, pop fillet on BBQ, turn after two and a half minutes, take off after five minutes and rest for 10 minutes. Serve in slices with fresh garden salad. But venison casserole or lasagne are equally good using diced or mince.
Our hop harvest is now complete, with hop bines having been transported by tractor and trailer to our hop picker and oast towards Seale. It’s hot thirsty making work for all involved and an evening pint of Hogs back TEA or Timothy Taylor’s Landlord goes down a treat. This year’s weather (no rain, lots of sun) has been fantastic for cricket lovers but its not what Fuggle hops want, and our hop yield is substantially reduced. What we have picked looks good quality, there’s just not enough of it!
Our next volunteering day is on Friday 19th September and do sign up on the website. Every Hampton volunteer day includes sausages and baps or cheese and baps, and we love seeing everyone and getting stuff done.
We all look forward to seeing you for beef and venison on Friday 26th September, and do order as soon as possible to avoid any disappointment. A chat about your own best beef or venison recipe would be much appreciated on the day whilst fresh tea, coffee and cake will be ready from 10.30am at Hampton Lodge, GU10 1JF.
Very best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Estate Naturally Reared News July 2025
As holidays kick in, buckets and spades are packed, and the milk is cancelled for a week or two it’s good to get future dates in the diary for your return. Please put FRIDAY 15th AUGUST firmly in your calendar now as it is our next BEEF DAY, and as I write two prime carcasses are hanging in the bespoke cold room in the Surrey Hills improving tenderness and flavour.
We are welcoming so many new customers to our ever-popular beef days and it’s wonderful to receive so much positive feedback after first visits. This makes it even more important to strike while the iron’s hot and zip your beef, wild roe venison and sausage order over to Helen as soon as possible to ensure there is no disappointment. There are only a certain number of ribs on a cow, only 2 picanha, and definitely only two fillet and these all go pretty quickly. We have plenty to choose from at the moment and have a look at our beef or wild roe venison pages, lick your lips, decide on your order and send over to helenjackson@hamptonestate.co.uk It’s a simple shopping model and by all accounts extremely enjoyable.
As important to the produce is the chat, the foodie thoughts, the fresh coffee and tea, and the mystery cake, which all make up the Hampton beef community. It is a really important and valued part of the estate and thank you for being a part of it.
Lots of the Hampton team attended the annual regenerative farming pilgrimage to Groundswell, the UK’s regen ag festival which was as brilliant and inspiring as ever. We have also become an official partner of Pitch Up! Which is an awesome UK wide farm led initiative to connect regenerative farms with sustainable businesses needing access to land/ space. Partners then share resources, knowledge, and land to feed one another and grow together. It works a bit like a Dragon’s Den for businesses that want to become part of our Hampton community, in line with our regenerative and restorative principles. We are looking for a whole range of enterprises to join us – from pastured poultry and woodland pigs, to composting businesses and cut flower enterprises, we’re open to all ideas! For more info on how Pitch Up works and what we’re wanting, head to the website and have a look at our page. If you’ve got a business idea that you think would work well with us at Hampton, do let us know.
As a quick snapshot of the estate since our last newsletter, Waggoners Campsite our off grid ecofriendly nature-based campsite is thriving and very popular. The cold-water showers in the woods have been in big demand. Our hops at Puttenham are parched and desperate for water. Fingers crossed any rain at this stage might just save the crop. Hay has been very easy to make but there isn’t much of it and we are making plans A, B and C for the winter. Our two magnificent bulls Crusader and Major are sowing their oats in their respective herds, and nature restoration on Puttenham Common continues with the No Fence collar cows working brilliantly in and on the landscape. Our forestry works in Britty Wood have largely finished, giving us new planting areas and thinning existing plantations, and most importantly our new Hampton work shirts and gilets have arrived and been distributed. Hopefully we will be looking dead smart on 15th August.
Join the Waggoners Team This August!
We’re looking for a friendly, confident Evening Campsite Warden to help out on Friday and Saturday nights throughout August. This part-time role (7:30pm–11:30pm) involves evening rounds, checking facilities, welcoming late arrivals, and making sure things stay peaceful from 10pm. Waggoners is our popular off-grid campsite here at Hampton, offering a relaxed, back-to-basics experience. Pay is £15/hour or a weekend pitch in exchange. If you enjoy the outdoors, working independently, and being part of a small, welcoming team please email your CV and a few sentences explaining why you’d like the job to recruitment@hamptonestate.co.uk applications are being assessed on a first come first served basis. Do please share with anyone you think might be interested – perfect seasonal summer work!
We hope everyone has a fabulous holiday and if you are going away or not, we all look forward to seeing you on Friday 15th August.
If you can both diarise and order now you will be getting a Hampton gold star.
Very best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Estate Naturally Reared News June 2025
Thank you to all our fabulous customers and friends for your understanding over our postponed May beef day. It was so disappointing in every way, but your supportive messages were very much appreciated. And the really good news is that our beef day on FRIDAY 4th JULY is definitely going ahead as the carcasses are hanging and slowly maturing to give the best possible flavour. We will have beef in stock!
Summer beef conjures up all sorts of lovely images from thinly sliced cold brisket surrounded by fresh salad to hot sizzling steaks on the barbeque and cold beers. Sirloin, rump, ribeye and flat iron steaks are all packed with flavour and goodness, and we will have good supplies of Hampton 100% beefburgers and our special Beef Bangers. That’s a whole barbeque party sorted for a Sunday afternoon, especially with the Lionesses in mind on the TV (or the Lions).
Have a look at our beef page here and grab a summer cookery book thinking about picnics, end of term celebrations and family gatherings then send your order over to helenjackson@hamptonestate.co.uk when inspiration has hit.
Stalker Paul has been out early in the mornings and late in the evenings and as a result we have good supplies of Hampton wild roe venison. A warm roe venison fillet salad is what dreams are made of and highly recommended. Check out our wild roe venison page here and again zip your order over to Helen. Don’t forget that venison on the barbeque is completely delicious.
The cows are enjoying grass all over the farm, and as an update we have had 44 very healthy calves this year (with one cow still to calve, then James can relax) and the total cow population at Hampton stands at 174 with the oldest 14 years old. They are spread out in different groups, and the most high profile are the 18 on Puttenham Common with their No Fence collars. They are so at home on the common and we call them our ecological warriors, knocking down the bracken, nibbling off the sedges and reeds in the boggy mires and loving so many different species of leaves.
On a completely different note, but still an integral part of the estate we have a five bedroom converted coach house in the middle of the park available to rent from August. It’s directly above our main house and looks out over the walled garden. If you know of anyone looking for a beautiful location in the heart of Surrey please do get in touch. It’s a pretty special place.
There is lots going on around the estate, and do join any of our volunteer groups if you have a moment and want to get involved, or join a nature walk meeting cows or watching birds. Visit www.hamptonestate.co.uk/events for all details and we would love to see you.
Our beef day will start at 10.30am for coffee, tea and a special cake. We all look forward to seeing you to talk beef, abattoirs, possibly Mr Clarkson and of course if anyone would like a lovely walk around the walled garden it will be open for you to do so.
Very best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Estate Naturally Reared News May 2025
We like to keep our wonderful customers on their toes and just to prove the point May’s Collection Day has been changed to FRIDAY 30th MAY and we apologise if this throws your system. At the beginning of the year we plan all our beef days, and these dictate the days when our cattle go to the abattoir to allow maximum hanging time for the meat. We can’t though factor in the closure of our local abattoir in North Camp two months ago, which has put incredible strain on our next nearest facility which is now at maximum demand and struggling to fit in all their new and unexpected clients. Thus our timings for this month have been slightly altered but we hope won’t cause inconvenience.
I’m delighted to report that all cows are thriving under the careful eye of James, and all the new calves are putting on weight with milk from their mums. We’ve had two sets of twins and have 10 cows still to calve, out of 52. At the moment we have grass growing, but we will be putting out the rain mats for some concentrated dancing if this period of drought continues.
But we have great supplies of beef available for 30th May. It could well be barbeque time, and I thoroughly recommend a steak sample bag with 500g of sirloin, rump, flat iron and hanger or skirt/bavette or even minute steak to mix and match which gives eight steaks, and a perfect opportunity for an al fresco supper party. Hampton 100% beefburgers were extremely popular at our last beef day, hand made by yours truly the night before the event and I’m ready to make May’s quota. We also have joints galore, stewing and braising steak, the most delicious liver, heart, oxtail and tongue (for the more adventurous), Hampton Beef Bangers, and good quantities of prime mince which is always so amazingly versatile.
For the full list and prices please click here and zip your order over to Helen (helenjackson@hamptonestate.co.uk) and everything will be ready for you on the 30th.
Don’t forget the most mouthwatering wild roe venison stalked on the estate and 100% wild will be available on the day, and I’m delighted to report that our popular wild roe venison sausages are currently in good supply and available for your order. Have a look at our webpage here.
The cows are back on Puttenham Common with their NoFence collars! They will be helping restore the heathland habitats until the end of Autumn. We are hosting Meet The Cows walks on Puttenham Common on Wednesday 28th May 6-8pm and Saturday 14th June 10-12pm, everyone is very welcome and do bring your dogs on leads. Click here to book your free place on one of these walks.
We will be holding guided birding walks again on Puttenham Common with our brilliant ecologist Dave, and we are also finalising our next series of volunteer working days around the estate, we will release dates for both shortly – keep an eye on the website for all the details.
We have made the decision to take a break from hosting Open Farm Sunday this year, and will not be open that day. We want to take a break and refresh our Open Farm Sunday ideas, and with school visits (90 children visited from west London last week over two days) volunteering days and guided walks we have our hands quite full at the moment!
We really look forward to seeing everyone on Friday 30th May when we will be open as usual at 10.30am for fresh tea, coffee, cake and a good chat. Do send your order over to Helen as soon as you can as we hate to disappoint anyone and once we have your order we know it will be destined for your bag.
Very best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Naturally Reared News March 2025
Giving up something for Lent always feels good and puts a different spin on late winter/early spring. The absence of coffee or cheese for 6 weeks is definitely possible. This year though I’ve given up seconds for Lent, which is a bit of a disaster when it comes to roast beef or wild roe venison, and Easter seems a long way off just at the moment. I will definitely be celebrating on Easter day, probably with a carvery rib joint of Hampton beef surrounded with roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots and then possibly a second helping. Wonderful.
Which takes me to our pre Easter Beef Day on Friday 11th April and we are already taking orders for our pasture fed beef, wild roe venison, sausages, offal and beefburgers. An Easter joint will always be popular and ribs, top rump, topside and silverside all hit the spot, especially with a creamy horseradish sauce and a bottle of good red. I rub the joint with salt, sizzle it for 20 mins at the highest possible heat then reduce the heat a tad and wait for that magical 60 degrees centigrade to ping up on the meat thermometer. Leave to rest for 10 minutes and a sharp carving knife will complete the picture.
On the other hand, given how late Easter is this year we could be wallowing in sunshine, you may have the BBQ fired up and what’s needed are steaks, sausages and beefburgers. Who knows, but whatever the weather, we have all the ingredients you need for all your delicious menus be it prime minced beef, braising steak, a long slow brisket roast or even my favourite short ribs. Go to www.hamptonestate.co.uk/beef/ and work on your culinary magic then send your order in to helenjackson@hamptonestate.co.uk and all is buttoned up.
Don’t forget our wild roe venison, which has the best flavour imaginable, is hugely versatile, and my recommendation is the fillet, peppered and salted and cooked hot and fast for approximately four minutes a side. Rest for 15 minutes and add to a spring salad. You will be wowed. Visit the page here.
Elsewhere at Hampton stringing is taking place in the hop gardens ready for the new hop shoots to grow up. This very manual hand work starts in early February, and we hope to finish by 1st April as the shoots start to grow. On the cattle front last year’s calves have been weaned from the cows who are now enjoying a calf free holiday before calving starts again in early April. They are all eating delicious meadow hay that we made last summer and still remains fresh, tasty and full of goodness.
Waggoners Campsite opens on 3rd April and we are all looking forward to another great camping season. Our new bike shed complete with bike tools and ride maps has been completed and is ready for use, and we welcome back Nikki from last year to run and manage it all.
“Outstanding. This is easily the best campsite we have ever been to. There is so much beautiful space. Fire pits and wood available. Staff cannot do enough for you. Low impact environmentally. It’s perfect.”
We love this kind of review and have a look at www.waggonerscampsite.co.uk for all this year’s booking details.
Our nature restoration work on Puttenham Common continues a pace and we have been thrilled with the initiatives, events, walks, studies, and data collection which have all taken place in the last year. Come and hear more about what has happened in this special spot so loved by so many at our special ‘Puttenham Common Two Years On’ event on WEDNESDAY 9th APRIL at 7pm to 8pm at Myrtle’s Courtyard. Booking for the event which is free, is via our website (just click on events) or on TryBooking and we look forward to updating you on the most amazing nature based outcomes.
We also look forward to seeing you on FRIDAY 11th April for our collection day! We will be open from 10.30am and please zip your order over to Helen ASAP (helenjackson@hamptonestate.co.uk) to avoid any unnecessary disappointment.
Very best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Hampton Estate Naturally Reared News February 2025
Hampton beef cows are really on a high at the moment, and that’s not just because their diet is grass (ho ho). It’s because mid-winter they all look really well, because the cows that spent the summer doing a great ecological job on Puttenham Common are doing a similar job in our woodlands this winter, because we are all so impressed with the no fence collars which negate the need for physical fences, because cow numbers are increasing and we will be calving over 50 this spring, and because we are all convinced that Hampton beef really does taste fabulous.
And with all this in mind its time to sell delicious pasture for life beef at our next Beef Day on Friday 28th February. An easy day to remember as it’s the gateway to March, and 1st March is nudging us just that little bit closer to spring. Do come over and see us, and we will have your order ready and waiting.
We have excellent supplies of all beef cuts, joints, steaks, bones, offal and sausages, and Paul our stalker has estate wild roe deer in his sights, and we should have good amounts for ordering. As always look at our website beef page www.hamptonestate.co.uk/beef/ and wild roe venison page then grab your go to recipe book (currently for me it’s Pipers Farm, The Sustainable Meat Cook Book, a fabulous and informative cookbook championing pasture for life) and make some fun meat orientated decisions. Zap your order over to helen (helenjackson@hamptonestate.co.uk) and you will be assured of your Picanha steak, or your rolled rib, your stewing steak or your wild roe venison sausages. The list goes on……
With thoughts of spring we have opened bookings for Waggoners Campsite, and are looking forward to welcoming back campsite manager Nikki for her second season. We open on 3rd April and all details are now on the website. It will be a summer of camp fires, woodland showers, great walks, and the opportunity to relax with family and friends in a beautiful setting. Do bear it in mind when the diary comes out and you are making plans.
And the best news for Hampton is that Jimmy the cat has returned safe and well, (and is now grounded). He went missing from gardener Cornelia’s cosy fireside and made a bid for freedom, with sightings on The Hogs Back and towards Runfold over a period of four days. With a poster and social media campaign to find him rapidly deployed, three lads delivered him to a local vet in Farnham where he was enjoying city life, and he was reunited with a very happy Cornelia. Thanks to everyone for keeping an eye out for him and all those who offered support and advice to Cornelia. Hugely appreciated.
We all look forward to seeing you on the last day of February, when we will open at 10.30am with steaming coffee and tea, and a bespoke end of February cake which has yet to be devised. One word of warning, we are killing just one beef animal this month so please do pop your order in as soon as possible to avoid any disappointment.
With best wishes
Bill and Bridget
Get Ready for an Exciting 2025 Season at Waggoners Campsite: Book Now for a Nature-Filled Adventure!
We are really excited to announce Waggoners Campsite will be opening for the 2025 camping season from April 3rd 2025 through to October 13th 2025. As with last year, we will be open Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights all season, and Monday nights on bank holiday weekends.
Our website is now open for bookings so do head to www.waggonerscampsite.co.uk to get your stay booked in.
We are delighted that brilliant Nikki who ran Waggoners in 2024 is returning for the 2025 season and is looking forward to being back on the campsite with Reedus the Waggoners dog, to welcome you and make sure you have the best stay with us.
We are in the middle of building a new bicycle hut for Waggoners (all made with homegrown Hampton timber of course) which will provide space for all our bike packing guests to lock their bikes and will include all the tools needed to fix any mechanical niggles/flat tyres. The hut will also include cycling routes to go alongside the walking routes we suggested for guests last year. We’re really looking forward to welcoming more two wheeled friends this summer! Don’t forget we are on Cycleway 22, The North Downs Way, and very close to The King Alfred’s Way, so a great spot for bike packing stayovers.
Waggoners really is the perfect place to stay for a weekend immersed in nature, with so much on our doorstep (or tent step?!) to explore. Our heathland restoration project at Puttenham Common is going really well, we recorded over 70 different species of breeding bird across the site in 2024, including woodlark, nightjar, tree pipit, willow warbler, woodcock and many other precious species. Our Sussex cows are doing a great job managing and restoring our heathland, chalk downland and grassland habitats which are humming with life and producing delicious beef. A reminder that you can buy Hampton beef and venison at our monthly beef days.
A new must-explore for 2025 is our now community-owned pub The Barley Mow in The Sands, a beautiful 45-minute walk from Waggoners Campsite which has re-opened and is serving Hampton venison and beer made from our Fuggle hops. We are spoilt for good local walkable pubs!
With miles of paths lacing through Hampton’s beautiful landscapes and local lanes to cycle, Waggoners is the perfect base for a weekend of nature-filled adventures. A reminder that we are only an hour from London and 7 miles from Guildford train station.
We are really looking forward to welcoming you in 2025.
Love from all the Waggoners Team
Hampton Estate Naturally Reared News January 2025
Happy New Year to all and we hope that you have had a good Christmas and New Year break, and undoubtedly will have enjoyed cooking with some fine Hampton beef and venison.
With 2025 stretching out before us we aim to build on the last twelve months which have been very exciting for the estate. Highlights include
Our 100-year nature restoration on Puttenham Common which saw our first ever BioBlitz in partnership with our friends at Surrey Wildlife Trust. It was a great day supported by a wealth of local organisations specialising in moths to fungi and bats to birds and together 276 different species were collected on the day. From bird surveys carried out during the year 70 different species of breeding bird were recorded on the common including 6 species with the highest protection status in England, Barn Owl, Crossbill, Firecrest, Kingfisher, Red Kite and Woodlark.
Our reintroduction of grazing cows onto the common in 2023 continued and the brilliant NoFence technology which monitors the cows’ every move continues to impress. They love the mixed habitat and carried out their important task of conservation grazing from May to November. They will be back….
We harvested over 10 tonnes of Hampton Fuggle Hops for English breweries across the country, and Waggoners Campsite enjoyed a stellar season welcoming over 2500 adults, over 800 kids and exactly 246 dogs to the campsite, all run by the manager Nikki. Over 2000 visitors enjoyed Open Farm Sunday and we also hosted school and university visits and ran 4 volunteer work parties.
And very excitingly we have now welcomed to Hampton James Windridge our new Head of Farming who moved in at the very end of 2024 and is learning field names fast and getting his feet under the desk. He brings a wealth of cattle and managerial experience, but readily admits that hop growing will be a new challenge, and we are all delighted to help.
2025 will I know bring the same diversity and interest across the estate, and continuing on our volunteering roles we have two important volunteering days coming up in January. We will be hedge planting at Shoelands Farm on Thursday 16th January and Friday 24th January creating really important wildlife hedgerows and everyone is so welcome to help. Just go to our volunteering page and sign up for a day in the country with a purpose. We would love to see you, and we provide all kit plus a venison sausage lunch!
Our January Beef and Venison Day takes place on Friday 31st January and we will have a limited selection of frozen beef for sale. We have roasting joint favourites top rump, silverside, topside and the slow roasting spectacular brisket, alongside the pot warming pie making shin, braising steak, skirt bavette and diced steak. For the BBQ enthusiast there are rump steaks galore and even some spider steaks, and for the big green egg devotee we have short ribs ready to go. We have prime mince for hearty lasagnes and cottage pies and if it is time for liver and onions, we can supply the former with ease. Just send your order over to helenjackson@hamptonestate.co.uk and we will have it ready for you on 31st January. We even have bones!
Our stalkers are out and about despite the cold and there will be wild roe venison for sale.
Our February Beef and Venison Day will be on Friday 28th and we will have all cuts, roasts, joints and offal available in the usual way.
Do seriously consider volunteering, it’s so worthwhile, and we would love to see you. Do pop your beef order over to Helen and we really look forward to seeing you at the end of the month.
With very best wishes for a wonderful 2025.
Bridget and Bill