Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in tears

So part two of "Hugh's Chicken Run" aired on Channel 4 last night, absolutely required viewing (in my household anyway)...we haven't even got to the metaphorical "end" of the journey yet and there were already some sequences where Flyingpops felt the need to look away from the screen (if that gives you any idea)...I mean, Hugh's dream of seeing a communal chicken run in every neighbourhood is sadly laughable fantasy (at least in *most* places where the average consumer spends £2.50 on the family roast), he might have been better off showing how you could bring up a couple of birds in a pen in the garden (like Gordon did) feeding them quite successfully with kitchen scraps (no more smelly recycling) and mixer (cheap), but it wouldn't have made such good TV, setting up (as it did) the group of motivated people who were going to be the benchmark "public opinion" thermometer (although one that had been personally involved in rearing their own chickens at the absolute pinacle of excellence in husbandry). They were then paraded, in order, through an (idealised) but largely standard "free range" industrial setup, and after (thinking "well, not great, but not too bad") they were led into the black hole of calcutta next door...

Only one woman (the one who had been most voiciferous throughout) held onto her convictions claiming she still didn't care what conditions they had to endure (so she could afford to gorge herself on enough of them for satisfaction), that is, until her small son emerged from the gloom in floods of tears...(a small, but twisted smile spread a little way across my lips when I watched her bend down to comfort him)...

On this note, did anyone notice McDonalds UK quietly issue a press release (before Channel 4's hype engine got out of first gear) confidently predicting that standards of animal husbandry would become more of an issue in the public conciousness this year? Someone who works under the golden arches is obviously *rather* good at their job...it does beg the question though, if McDonalds can do it (and have the best year in the companies history despite it), why can't the supermarkets?

It's simple, the public must demand it...McDonalds *have* to be whiter than white because after McLibel everyone expects them to be dirty and underhanded (even though they have now been using purely free range eggs, sourced locally if at all possible, for over a decade, among other amazingly foresighted moves)...the supermarkets simply don't have any of this kind of pressure to react to, and that's what needs to change (and, I believe, is changing now)...

If you want to add your support, you can sign the petition here...

Part 3 tonight...

Update - looks like things are changing already, and not in a good way, the Express reports that farmers are already suffering as public opinion takes landslide shift away from intensively farmed chicken...not quite what they had in mind!

Bocketts Farm review

So (and quite why we picked the very beginning of the Wimbledon fortnight to do this, I really cannot *begin* explain - and - having lived in Wimbledon, I am doubly guilty), today was the day we had decided to take little Alexander to celebrate (a slightly belated) birthday surprise at Bocketts Farm -

- which is actually still a working farm, as well as providing all sorts of visitor facilities (thank *goodness*) including plenty to do *indoors*...

...Alexander started (despite the rain) to get really rather excited (dashing off ahead of us across the car park!), the minute I mentioned that there might be the chance of seeing some geese -

- which, while relishing the rain, were doing so right at the extent of my zoom lens (he loved the glimpse anyway), but rather than stand and watch we dived into cover inside the main barn -

- what followed was almost an hour just following him (smiling), as he *ran* from animal to animal in amazed joy, pointed out "eep!", "raddit!", "igs!"', "tow!" and "oat!" (etc.) -


- although he missed the miserable looking Llama who some cruel git had shaved leaving an 80's footballer's haircut (he was *not* amused) -

- Anyway, at the appointed time, we went into the animal encounter room to witness (drum roll please!) the "Goat Milking"- in the poor old thing was lead (to a chorus of "Awwww!", "I don't loike it!" and "Why is it limping Mummy?" from the little kids lining the room) -

- but despite *repeated* good humoured attempts to get it to mount the milking position (including, eventually some obviously difficult "backside" encouragement), in the end the poor old thing was lead back out of the room, and a younger substitute was brought in (much to everyone's relief) -

- this new goat, called "Shandy" I think, hopped up as soon as it smelt the grub, and stood good as gold -

- until a thick creamy jug of fresh milk had been extracted (6-8 pints per day, apparently!) -

- the young man then got up, announced he was now "kn*ckered" (to a laugh from most of the watching crowd), and then a very brave little chick, and a very patient little rabbit were quickly paraded around the room, so everyone little could have a tiny gentle stroke.

Once all this was done, we all paraded out, back into the barn but it was *still* raining outside, in the lack of *much* else to do (Alexander being too young for the adventure playground) we decided to brave it anyway -

- checking out some of the larger wildlife -

- who were kicking their stable doors (I imagine as normally they would have been let out to do Pony rides by now) -

- a lot of ducks, who couldn't care less about the inclement conditions, and some wonderful gardens -

- with some incredible residents -

- (driven back by the rain) we then stopped for a bit of lunch in the large "Tea shop", which was actually a licensed restaurant, shame the toasted sandwich they brought me (Bacon and Stilton) came largely devoid of bacon, but to their credit they took it back and made me a proper one without too many excuses - "but it's just been chopped up a bit, look, we all do them differently" - which was swiftly answered by a pointing finger at Mr S's plump and fine sarnie next door, which was positively overflowing with bacon, whereas mine appeared to have 3 sliced lardons that had accidentally slipped in, after which it had obviously been run over by a traction engine), anyway - after lunch the rain had let off a little bit, so we went and took the tractor ride around the site (an extra few quid) -

- which was very exciting -

- taking us up through "Scarecrow wood" -

- which was like something out of a horror film quite honestly -

- the rotten, deformed and limp, sack covered bodies, hung from trees being snorted and snuffled around by fat looking pigs (Hannibal, anyone?) -

- anyway, Alexander seemed to enjoy every minute of it, and in fact, quite amazingly, in the distance from the top of the hill, it was quite possible to pick out Canary Wharf (all the way into central London), even on this largely rainy day!

We were driven, hanging onto our lunch, back down to the barn, and that was where the day drew to a close - and despite the weather, I think I can safely say, a lovely day was had by all! I can heartily recommend it as a fun-filled day out (if accompanied by a young family member, of course)...otherwise you would have the whole thing done in about 90 minutes... ;)