I’ve written before about farm shops, and how you can get some good stuff from them.
I often use Red Down farm shop in Highworth, Wiltshire for my eggs, although I must admit to having had a couple of dodgy experiences recently – once with about 50% of the three dozen eggs I’d bought being bad (green and smelly), and then with two dozen eggs being several weeks away from freshness (they ran across the entire pan when you cracked them, then I found a bad one after I’d had them a week or two).
You do expect “fresh” eggs to have been laid… well, if not that morning, perhaps a day or two before.
I have a new pupil at the moment who lives out at Bleasby. I noticed there was a farm shop – Gonalston farm shop – on the A612 on the way out there. They used the right bait to snag me: a chalked sign on the road saying “2kg beef rump £20”. So once when I had time, I went in.
It’s quite a big place, and the staff are extremely helpful. The meat counter is a full-on butchers. I bought some of the meat they’d advertised and a couple of dozen eggs. The meat was local, and as tender as anything when cooked. The eggs were obviously very fresh, sitting pertly in the pan when cracked.
Highly recommended.