Springstep Goat Farm

SPRINGSTEP DAIRY
Mundon Hall
Vicarage Lane
Mundon
Maldon, Essex.
CM9 6PA
Tel: 01621 740357
Fax: 01621 742410

You can also find directions on google and they have a very good website. There is loads of parking space and it is a good spot for a walk after a nose about the farm


This week saw a little treat in the form of a trip to Springstep Goat Farm in the wilds of Mundon. This is a working farm where the goats are well looked after and the produce outstanding. The farm produces a selection of cheeses - soft and hard which can be brought from the shop or found at a number of different farmers markets across the county. I am a bit of a fan of their Mould ripened soft curd cheese - "Nose Knocker". The also produce milk and a very good ice cream. Goats milk is low in cholesterol so if you have an issue this could well be the way forward.

The farm will also sell you half a goat for £50 which seamed very reasonable to me, so next time we go I think I might be bringing home some goat to cook.

When you get there you can eat a beautiful selection of lovingly made cakes (sadly not cholesterol free) I tried their toffee date cake, very impressive but the slice was big enough to kill me off for the rest of the day!!! They also have a nice selection of sandwiches and light bitey things to suit most pallets.

On a note for those city types, it is a working farm full of farm animals therefore there are flys! lots of flys that fly about doing fly things. There is nothing to be done about them so if you do go on a day where flys are flying about please don't moan about it. IF you don't like flys there are pleatny of sterilised places for you to go and eat. I could not help but feel sorry for the poor woman serving in the cafe as what must have been the 50th person that day complained about the flys. What exactly they wanted her to do about them was beyond me.

The history of Mundon Hall Farm is a long one, and it's oldest feature is the petrified oak forest that grows within it's boundary. You can go for a walk and look at them, we did not get time on this visit but after the cake felt it was best if we saved something to go back for a second time. The oak forest in Mundon is first mentioned in the Domesday book so its been around for a while. Later, the oaks narrowly missed being cut down for use as masts when a fleet was built to sail against the Spanish Armada, you can if you are feeling energetic take a stroll down to Mundon spit and look at the estuary. The trees were rejected for their twisted trunks, which today draw admiring glances from many ramblers. The oaks are home to numerous wildlife, including owls, and in their roots, rabbits and foxes.

The farm itself is a classical Victorian Farmhouse, it has a lovely feel to it and the staff are very welcoming. It is clearly a family run business and on the day we went, mums and aunts had been called in to prepare the fruit ready for jamming. Outside, a lovely pond is surrounded by plants and you can eat outside if you wanted to. the pond is the home of carp, tench and rudd and you can see them bobbing about.

The house is built on the site of an old monastery, and today, the 14th century church, St Mary Mundon, still stands. It is currently closed due to renovations by the National Heritage Trust but still worth a look.

The barn was built during the Second World War by German Prisoners of War, and has survived 60 years of 'bracing' British weather. Believe me when i say there is not much to stop the wind in any direction.

Some years ago the farm became home to a herd of imported alpacas. It was felt that many would die during their quarantine period but few did and while many went off to find new homes a small number still remain at the farm. Their wool is harvested and is apparently of good quality so you might well get to buy alpaca jumpers in the near future. The alpacas had just had a visit from one very lucky Mr Alpaca a few days before we arrived and were looking pretty tickerty boo with themselves. So there may well be some baby alpacas on the way soon.