fresh eggs

What better way to begin the day than with freshly laid, free range boiled eggs and home baked organic bread? In eggcups made by little Albert and Rowan.

And then, on arriving at Cordwood to find on lifting the lid of 'The Eggery' that the hens have obligingly laid another six eggs?

Our Light Sussex bantams (5) and large fowl (1) are certainly back in the zone now that we've resolved the persistent broodiness that had locked three of the bantams into clucky and pecky grumpiness for weeks. So, back into the laying swing they go.

Their reward is lovely fluffy hay in the nesting boxes and a refinement to each box to give more privacy.

This is in addition to the free range they have of the orchard and the beautifully built hen palace they call home.

Free range hens that feed on grass lay eggs with a full flavour and intense, almost orange yolk.

The satisfaction of having our healthy hens produce fresh eggs is matched by the simple site of them foraging freely beneath the elderly apple trees. I could watch them for hours.

And as if five eggs a day were not enough, we're seriously looking at adding some new hens to the little flock.