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ebruary, 2009


RIGHT: Day old ducklings.


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Pictures by


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ABOVE: Ducklings move to a new home at Swainson House Farm. BELOW: In safe hands - a young duck.


m T :R ^ Johnson and Bud Swaitrick's son Adam at Swainson House Farm.


Quacking ducks


NY fears I might have that Johnson and Swarbrick - pro- lucers of the famous Goos-


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nargh Duck - might be struggling in the current economic climate are quickly allayed as I arrive at a bustling Swainson House Farm. While the phones ring off the liook, I


am invited into the family home for a cup of tea by Cara, owner Reg Johnson’s daughter, who works in the office. It is there that I meet Winnie, Reg’s


n 'A — , ( r 1 /i I 1 ‘i^


mother, who promptly presents me with a homemade mince pie and a delicious slice of chocolate cake. And as I learn about the history of the


Goosnargh Lane business it becomes ap­ parent that family values and a passion for local produce are what has made Johnson and Swarbrick one of the most successful examples of diversification in the county - although Reg argues he and his step-brother Bud Swarbrick have just been “lucky”. “We’d always had a farm, and I started


by selling chickens, eggs and turkeys - various farm products - on a market stall in Cleveleys,” Reg begins. “But I found that the stall only attract­


ed a limited amount of customers. In­ stead of just standing there doing noth­ ing, I started going round restaurants and hotels and selling them there. “Farmers are an idle bunch - they’re


R E T R E A T '& S P A R K L E BROOKLANDS COUNTRY RETREAT & HEALTH'SPA By NIKKI BRADY__________


used to things being taken from them. I had to go out to other people to sell my food. I started teaching chefs how to deal with the chickens I sold.” At that time Reg was approached by


Paul Heathcote, head chef at Broughton Park Hotel, who wanted to use local pro­ duce in his cooking. Reg believes Paul, now a Michelin- starred chef, was one of the first people


. in the country to call for produce grown and reared in the UK. He continued: “Everything that came


from France seemed to be comfed. Paul wanted English cornfed chickens and we had our own mixing plant, so we tried all kinds of different experiments. “We used different feeds and diets and


breeds, as well as two nutritionists, and gave to samples chefs to taste. Cornfed ducks and chickens are a different colour - the oil infuses through the flesh, which makes them cook and taste better. What you put into an animal is what you take out. If you use cheap ingredients, you get a cheap product. “We wanted an edge - something dif­


ferent for the top end of the market. This was the time of daily quotas and we needed to find alternative market.” Success didn’t come straight away for the business - people were unsure about


trying new things. The first 10 years were hard work, and sometimes Reg got frus-


. trated, butwiththeadventof TV celebri­ ty chefs and a new drive for local pro­ duce, things began to pick up pace. Reg said: “TV cookery


programmes made people aware of how easy cooking is. There were a couple of generations that barely cooked at all. It was all about frozen food. “Now there is a huge in­


terest. People think ‘Can I do that?’. Everyone has a • natural flair for cooking. People are also more aware of flavours. They are more adventurous and want to taste the flavour of the product. “You can’t pick up a


magazine now without the last 10 pages being about • food and flavours, which is great. It’s becoming a na-


. tional interest.” Reg also found that


when the chefs he supplied to moved on to other restaurants, they took his product with them, which meant the ‘Goosnargh duck’ and ‘Goosnargh chicken’ brands began to gain recognition around the country.


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that fit the bill Now the farm produces around 140,000 ducks and 100,000 chickens a


year. 3,500 free-range geese and plenty of turkeys are also pro­ duced each Christmas. The firm also processes


game for local shoots, in- eluding hare, rabbit and pi­


geon. . Three years ago the


company only supplied six customers in the Lake Dis­ trict. Now they supply to 30. They also supply top


names such as Gordon Ramsay restaurants Clar-


idges and the Savoy Grill and Irish chef Richard


Corrigan. While the geese are


free-range, Reg has a poli­ cy of keeping his chickens


and duefe in small amounts in large bams, al­ though recent campaigns


for free-range chicken have meant a demand for C U iU U U i.1 a u v i


to be said for people like Hugh Fearnley- He said: “There is a lot


Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver. I always said I would never do free-range chick­ en. A lot of the bigger places are selling


the product and he recent- t_ti Ki«f


Iv dLided to buy five arcs our sales went to inem auu L free-range pLltiy.


iirpc ••


have had a policy of This is


free-range chicken at the price of ordi­ nary chicken and it just means they arc kept in bigger bams. True free-range chickens are kept in very small, move­


able units, which is more expensive. “When they are kept on concrete we


can get rid of disease and keep the bams immaculately clean. If they are free- range, their feed needs to be medicated and we want to keep the birds as drug-


free as possible. “I feel that for their welfare, they are ,


better inside, with small amounts of birds in a bigger area. We could put dou­ ble the amount of ducks m the sheds, but


we don’t. “These birds aren’t going to grow up


and go to university. They are there for our pleasure and for our sustenance. We have to eat to survive. It’s reality. Although sales have increased over


the past year, Reg has noticed that statt have had to work harder recently and that they have had to keep on top of fi­


nance. “If somebody starts slacking, we chase , , . , ^


them up. We have to be vigilant. Many years ago a company went bust. A lot ot our sales went to them and since then we


-


there is no point in worrying ab ut We’ve just got to get on with it, double our efforts and work a bit harder.


“ 1 his IS all parn anu pai cci ui ..........-i.nwnrrv-mpa ou i.t. R E T R E A T & S PA R K L E Call 01995 605162' ' www.brooklandsretreat.co.Cik brooklands COUNTRY RETREAT S HEALTH SPA t and parcel of life and uu “A lot of people are actually better olt


trical products and clothes means people have got more money. On the other hand, the relative value of the pound against Euro means people won’t travel abroad and will eat nice food instead. “People look after themselves and


enjoy themselves in these times and the better end of the market will keep


going.” In the future, the family plan to create


a new farm shop, where teas, coffees and homemade cakes will be sold. They are also building a new mixing plant so they can use the old building for further pro­ cessing, and are looking to get planning permission for their own hatcheries. Reg added: “We already have local


farms that grow chickens and ducks for us now that we are expanding. Eyety- thing ends up local and the people in the village eat our products so the business helps to sustain the area. “Big restaurants like to have one sup­


plier for everything and we are looking at other lines of the business, such as yo­ ghurt and cheese. “It’s been a hard year, but it s been in­


teresting and it’s always entertaining. Life is an accident and you just have to try your best. We might not have got be-


yond the first hvo years, but eve^thing came together at the right time.”


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than they have been foryears. Low inter- ABOVE: A handsome bird. est rales, low petrol costs and cheap elec- BELOW: Ducklings move to a new home at the fann.


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