Mary Fish was born on this farm. Her parents Arthur and Audrey Read bought Challon's Combe in 1958, a smallholding in a steep South Hams combe between Aveton Gifford and Bigbury and Mary has been running it with her husband Peter since 1993, joined now by their sons Jonathan and Andrew. The herd is around fifty cows, mainly British Friesian with a few from the Channel Islands, fed on grass and forage alone: hay, clover silage, stubble turnips in summer, fodder beet in winter. The cows drink spring water. Milk leaves the farm non-homogenised, in 1 litre returnable glass bottles on a deposit system. Yoghurt is incubated for a minimum of twenty-four hours in the processing dairy Peter and Mary built into the old cow shed in 2005. Organic conversion began in 1999; full certification with Organic Farmers and Growers came in 2001. Pasture for Life certification followed. One year, when the PFLA had promised to pour only certified grass-fed milk at the Oxford Real Farming Conference, Peter and Mary drove it up themselves. Andrew handles the butchering; the meat is slaughtered at a local abattoir near Ashburton, then cut in the farm's own cutting room and sold through Lidstones, the family's shop in Kingsbridge. The milk goes door-to-door across Kingsbridge, Salcombe, Loddiswell, Aveton Gifford, Kingston, Bigbury and Ringmore and the village shop in Aveton Gifford takes a regular delivery. Three generations, no homogeniser, glass that comes back.

Social Media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/challons_combe/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/challonscombe/

Can people visit or buy direct?

The farm is not able to be open for visitors. You can buy direct through their doorstep delivery programme if you are in the following local area, once or twice a week (subject to location) to Kingsbridge, Salcombe, Loddiswell, Aveton Gifford, Kingston, Bigbury and Ringmore. Order by 9am Monday for Wednesday delivery; by 9am Tuesday for Thursday. Products are also stocked at Lidstones Butchers, the family's own shop in Kingsbridge and at the Aveton Gifford village shop. Their yoghurt is also available nationwide via Wylde Market (wylde.market).

Website

https://www.challonscombeorganics.co.uk/

Address Summary

Aveton Gifford, Kingsbridge, Devon