Old Cotswold Legbars & Burford Browns

England is notorious for abysmal food--unfairly so, I am discovering. In fact, excellent quality organic produce, meat and dairy products abound. One of my favorite discoveries has been free-range, organic eggs from Clarence Court farm, widely available in supermarkets. They produce eggs from two rare breeds: Old Cotswold Legbar hens and Burford Browns. The eggs are beautiful (green/turquoise and brown), and taste amazing.

And they are great marketers (the farmers, not the hens)--read this from their packaging:

"Clarence Court Free Range Eggs are special, not only for their superior flavour and quality, but because of the poulterer's attention to the health and welfare of his hens, which are free to range and forage on green pasture from dawn to dusk, leading a natural and happy life. Our birds enjoy the finest quality cereal based non-GM vegetarian diet, the privacy of warm secluded nest boxes, trees and shrubs for cover, dust baths - in fact everything that a normal healthy hen requires for its freedom of expression and fullness of life, to bring you a truly Free Range Fresh Farm Egg. "

And if you don't believe them, you can see the hens yourself on their web site's "hen cam" now on my list of favorites.

Here are some Old Cotswold Legbar and Burford Brown eggs that went into this weekend's batch of homemade carrot bread (carrots dug up by Scott and myself):