Fosse Meadows

Nick Ball and Jacob Sykes - Fosse Meadows. Leicestershire

The farmers

After living in ‘Peck’em’, London, and working as a fashion designer and property developer respectively, Nick Ball and Jacob Sykes returned to the Ball’s family farm in Leicestershire. With their keen interest in good food, they started the poultry farming business with the aim to produce something a bit different. A bird they were both happy to say was of the highest quality, of excellent flavour and succulence, and raised using compassion and artisan farming standards.

The animals

Fosse Meadows Farm produces free-range, slow-grown chickens all year round. The traditional French breed chickens are slow-reared to full maturity (81 days), with access to mobile sheds for when bad weather occurs in the day and overnight for protection from foxes. They are fed an additive-free ethically sourced diet with full access to wild flower pasture and hedge rows, roaming freely, scratching around in the clover fields and at the bottom of trees and hedges.

Fosse Meadows chickens were positioned No. 7 in The Observer Food Monthly ‘6th Annual OFM 50′ — Everything we love in the world of food right now’. They also won a Good Housekeeping award in 2015, have numerous recommendations from chefs and food writers, and came top in a blind taste test by a Michelin starred chef.

The land

No artificial fertilisers or sprays are used and the grassland is managed to encourage wildlife and biodiversity. It's natural pasture in the heart of Leicestershire.

70 acres of prime pasture in Leicestershire.