For turkeys and ducks, Richard Waller’s Aylesbury Duck Farm (Long Grove Wood Farm) is very convenient for residents of Chesham and nearby villages and the Chilterns. The Wallers produce high quality poultry, specialising in the breeding and rearing of the Real Aylesbury Duckling, plus a full range of other poultry for the Christmas market. Very popular – order early for Christmas to avoid disappointment! To place an order for poultry, contact The Wallers at Aylesbury Duck farm, Chartridge
Bred originally by smallholders in Aylesbury and nearby villages, Aylesbury Ducks have long been prized for their tenderness and flavour.
The Wallers are the last breeders of the true table Aylesbury ducks. For two centuries, the careful buying and swopping of stock amongst local breeders has ensured that the original bloodline lives on.
History of Richard Waller’s farm
Richard Waller can trace his poultry-breeding ancestors back to the 1700s. In 1893 Emily-Jane Fairley of Askett, near Risborough, married Richard’s grandfather, George Henry Waller of Botley. Emily-Jane’s parents bred and reared a few Aylesbury Ducklings to supplement their income, as had her grandparents and great grandparents.
On her marriage to George, Emily-Jane brought with her a dowry of six ducks and two drakes. The couple rented a piece of ground on the old Saxon terraces of the baulks, in the centre of Chesham. They started a business keeping ducks and chickens, with geese and turkeys for the Christmas trade, as well as a few pigs and goats.
As the business expanded, the Wallers moved to a site in Chartridge Lane. In 1921 they built a bungalow there and Richard’s father, Lawrence, became a full-time duck and poultry breeder. In 1947 he bought fields and woodland further up the lane overlooking the Pednor Valley. Here some ten thousand birds – ducks, turkeys and capons – are now reared every year.
High welfare poultry
For any bird destined for the pot, life in the woods around Chesham must be as good as it can get. From the age of 7-8 weeks, all birds on the farm are free range, only rounded up at night to protect them from foxes. This provides them with a varied diet, with fallen apples and beech mast supplementing a basic feed free from animal proteins, growth promoters and antibiotics. For a final fattening, the birds are fed wheat sourced from a local farmer. The birds are processed on the farm to keep them as free from stress as possible.
The Christmas timetable
The Waller Aylesbury Duck Farm is supplied with eight strains of day-old Bronze and White turkeys from other rural suppliers. In the 1960s, Bronze turkeys were losing out to a new, Broad Breasted White turkey, favoured for its lighter flesh.
However, breeders fought back with a bigger breasted Bronze and both are popular in the Wallers’ Christmas sales. Capons, relished in medieval times by clergy and kings, are also making a comeback. No longer castrated cockerels, as the true term implies, this special breed of chicken can tip the scales at an impressive 8 – 14 lbs.
Naturally, Aylesbury Ducks add their special flavour to the festive season. Raised on the farm earlier in the year, the ducks are frozen to be sold oven ready for Christmas.
To place an order for poultry, contact The Wallers at Aylesbury Duck farm, Chartridge
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