Hollis Mead Organic Dairy
Dorset
Hollis Mead is a leading organic dairy farm in West Dorset. A large representation of all the NHS Trusts from Dorset and Somerset attended.
We were hosted by Charlotte and Oli Hemsley. Hollis Mead’s cows are 100% pasture fed. They just eat grass and wild flowers grown on the farm. As a result, they produce less milk per cow than the average dairy farm but the taste and the nutritional quality of their dairy products is supreme. This was of particular interest to all the NHS caterers there as dairy is such an important part of all NHS menus.
Dorset Wildlife Trust attended too and explained how the way the cows are farmed has contributed to the most wonderful biodiversity. It truly was there for everyone to see as they stood on the top of the hill surrounded by wonderful pasture, thick hedgerows teaming with wildlife and larks literally ascending.
Sheila Dillon of BBC R4’s The Food Programme came all the way from London to join us for the day. Terrific support from her resulting in a special edition of the programme.
You can read about the day here: https://www.lovebritishfood.co.uk/how-a-farm-visit-organised-by-love-british-food-resulted-in-a-new-supplier-for-a-nhs-trust
And for an account of the visit as described by Hospital and Food Service magazine please read here
Excitingly, as a direct result of the visit, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, rewrote their new dairy tender and issued it to regional SMEs resulting in a new first time supplier to the public sector. You can read about how they achieved this here: https://www.lovebritishfood.co.uk/somerset-foundation-nhs-trust-and-love-british-food
“Our visit to Hollis Mead was hugely inspiring and left a huge impact on us all. As our NHS trust has grown, we’ve become reliant on larger suppliers, but seeing the benefit that sourcing local procedure has on both the environment and our patients, has motivated and given us the appetite to push forward with securing more local produce where we can.”
Anna Warman, Facilities Manager, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Location
Hollis Mead Organic Dairy
Urless Farm
Corscombe
Dorchester
DT2 0NP