Where it all began...
Idan and I (Hannah) met while working on the local farm, doing everything from lambing to calf rearing, to public demonstrations. It was a wonderful time in our lives that we hold fond memories of. We soon decided that this was the life we wanted for ourselves, although we knew farming was hard to get into when you're a first generation farmer.
In 2008, after getting married, we signed the lease to our first field and we took on our first lambs. This soon spiraled until we had a fully functioning little flock of our own, as well as starting our human herd. In 2009 we welcomed Poppy and in 2011 we welcomed Indie. Both girls were thrusted into farming and tagged along with everything from bottle feeding lambs to attending markets. As well as sheep, we also had a few cows, goats and horses. At most the sheep filled our freezer, and paid for our horses, but Idan still had his job as an engineer to keep the bills paid.
Fast forward to 2017 and another addition made an entrance into the world, Piper. She was an amazing addition to the family but the life of Shadowthorpe was seriously wavering. Being a mum of now three with a husband who worked away and a farm yard full of animals was starting to get too much. I decided to cut down the flock and concentrate on dog grooming, a skill i had learnt at college whilst pregnant with Piper.
Then lockdown happened. Life got very slow and we really appreciated the farm and the animals, much more than ever. We had a whole farmyard to keep us occupied and we realised that we had never fallen out of love with farming, we had just lost sight of why we did it. I ended up writing a series of children's' books, plus one about home educating our girls. This was very much centred around our life in farming, it was a revelation to me, finally realising that we were farmers, we just needed the confidence to go for it.
In 2023, we all decided as a family to do our upmost to expand the flock and do this farming malarkey properly, make it pay and become a business. We have learnt so much over the years, we have a serious amount of knowledge and experience under our belts, so it was silly to let it go to waste.
Our first thoughts were to attend farmers markets, but since there was an empty unit next to my dog grooming salon at Creake Abbey, it just seemed too much of a fab opportunity to miss. We have managed to turn this empty unit around in three weeks, unbelievably!
So this is our new venture. This is a new start for Shadowthorpe Farms, and Shadowthorpe Sheep. There is so much more in the pipeline for this little business of ours and we cannot wait to see what the future brings.
The Whyman-Navehs x
Our Suppliers are:
Pork
Broadland Hams, Hethersett.
Broadland Hams deliver to us twice a week, meaning we always have fresh pork in our little fridges for you to purchase.
From ham to bacon and sausages, we are always fully stocked with tasty Broadland Hams Pork.
This company used to stock the old Farm Shop at Creake Abbey, so it is a little bit of nostalgia too!
Beef
Heath Farm, Great Massingham
Dexter, Aberdeen Angus and Highland beef is supplied by our butcher at Heath Farm in Massingham.
Luckily for us, Elle works at The Seed next door to the farm shop, so she is always happy to stock our fridges up with burgers, mince and steaks.
If there is a cut of beef you're interested in then please do get in touch.
Lamb
Shadowthorpe Farms, Shernborne
So, basically the lamb you will purchase from the farm shop is our very own lamb. Our flock of both commercial Suffolk and Texel Mules and native bred Black Welsh Mountain ewes, are tupped with a chunky Southdown ram to make a slow maturing, very tasty lamb.
Due to the fact we use native breeds, the rate of maturity is much slower than pure commercial bred sheep, however this adds to the flavour and is totally worth the wait.
Eggs
Glovers Farm, Sedgeford
One of our neighbouring farms has recently purchased an amazing mobile hen house, and lots of young laying hens. We are one of the first farm shops to have the pleasure of stocking Glovers Farm eggs, from pasture raised chickens.
This new set up is done in a 'regenerative farming' manner, making sure nothing is pumped unnecessarily into the soil and in turn the birds live a free range life.