We know where our delicious, real and foody ingredients come from

We take great pride in not only carefully choosing each one of our ingredients, but as part of the process, getting to know our suppliers – indeed we see them as part of the extended R&A family. Indeed here is Nigel Marlow – our milkman who delivers our milk in his very favourite apron!

So when we got an invitation to visit Cotteswold Dairies – our lead supplier for our delicious fresh organic double cream – we leapt at it…although city-boy Giles was a bit nervous of the cows click here for our Instagram of Founders vs Nature.

First-up on the visit was Cotteswold Dairy itself – where the organic cream is gently pasteurised and separated from the milk before being sent to us.

These visits bring out the inner geek in (especially) Steve who loves to understand how each of our foody ingredients are brought-to-life.

A little bit of history…

Founded, in Tewksbury, at the age of 20, by Harry Workman, who started a 30 gallon per day milk round with a Morris 8 van, milk churns and bottles in May 1938, he started his door-to-door delivery using a bucket and ladle to deliver the milk.

Harry built the business on core values of Quality, Service and Cleanliness, growing quickly throughout the region. Harry’s son Roger Workman was involved in dairy life growing-up and officially joined the business in 1962, taking-over from his father in 1982.  As many other independent dairies closed, Cotteswold Dairy acquired them and grew substantially. Roger’s son George joined the dairy in 1991 and became Managing Director in 2010.

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Today Cotteswold Dairy operates four depots across the UK and services customers ranging from wholesale to retail and independent milkmen – and of course Russell & Atwell!

Organic pioneers

Cotteswold Dairy was one of the first dairies to offer organic milk and the first dairy to offer it in returnable, reusable glass pint bottles in the late 1990s.

Their 5 organic farmers are certified by the OF&G (Organic Farmers and Growers Association), the cows are fed a diet free from artificial additives, chemicals and genetically modified ingredients. The cows spend much of their lives outdoors and graze naturally on a diet of grass and clover, but in the winter months when it is wet, cold and very little grass the farmers bring them inside where they have invested to ensure the cows have the highest standards of comfort.  Many of the organic farmers also have automated milking systems that allow the cow to choose when they would like to be milked, when to feed and how long they rest.

Home-made flapjacks, creamy builders tea and R&A Chocs – what’s not to like!

We were delighted to meet the team, understand about all things milk and creamy, eat the delicious cake made by Andrea and flapjacks made by Louise and then of course taste our full chocolate range with our Cotteswold partners.

Organic farming – working with nature, rather than against it

Next we set-off to meet Mike Sainsbury at Lygrove farm near Badminton in the Cotswolds. Mike’s farm was recently a finalist for the dairy ‘Gold Cup’ and he had had an additional brush with fame with an appearance on Scrapheap Challenge a few years earlier!

Mike talked to us about his father’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s that led him to fundamentally change direction and go fully organic, he spoke with real passion of his issue with mass-chemical use in farming – and how in organic they work to higher set of standards, better welfare and better care for the environment – appreciating the full cycle and impact of every activity they do. Click here to hear directly from Mike via our Instagram.

A lactose-intolerant dairy farmer?!

Amazingly, Mike is lactose-intolerant – but we did give him some R&A fresh chocolates for his wife to enjoy and made us think a little further – hmmmm, a vegan chocolate, could we ever get these to R&A taste standards…more later.

It’s all about the taste

For us – it’s fundamentally about the taste – we love the deeply, luxuriously indulgent flavour that comes from organic cream – so so much better than the waxy rather tasteless palm oil used by just about all the mass-produced brands.

For the best experience of the taste upgrade created by generous lashings of fresh organic cream – try our signature Milk or Dark ranges to taste luxuriously melty, deeply indulgent real chocolate - minimally messed with – and delivered in letter-box friendly packs direct to you.

Congrats if you’ve read to the end – you’ll note that we’ve resisted any clumsy cow puns, but do hope you’ve been at least mildly amoosed…