Put Your Wellies On with… TOM COPAS | Show notes

Welcome back to the Put Your Wellies On podcast show notes. If you haven’t already, be sure to give our latest release a listen, and come take a walk with us and our fabulous guests by checking out the rest of our episodes!

This week on Put Your Wellies On we stopped off at the amazing family run Copas Turkey farm with Tom Copas.  We strolled around the turkey fields with Tom, hearing all about this multi-generational family farm and the challenges of the turkey industry in the face of Brexit, Covid and Christmas. Tom also discusses his transition to fatherhood, and how he and his amazing wife are balancing a new baby during their busiest season of the year! We absolutely loved talking to Tom and were impressed by the knowledge and care that he puts into his turkeys to ensure that they have long and happy lives.

Copas Turkey Farm was founded in 1957 and is a beloved family business that has already spanned three generations. Their turkey’s are free range from as young as 6 weeks old, and are reared to full maturity, so you can be sure that they have been treated wonderfully. While Tom’s top-quality turkeys are ALREADY sold out for Christmas at the time of recording (early November!) there’s still plenty of trimmings you can order via their amazing website, and you can follow the Turkey’s journey on instagram too.


The Walk – Kings Coppice Farm

When you’re trying to pin down a farmer for a walk at their busiest time of year I recommend going straight to them. That’s how we found ourselves at Kings Coppice Farm in early November, surrounded by turkeys, and six dogs. We were briefly interrupted when our little Fox Red Labrador puppy Maple decided to have her Christmas lunch early. She recieved a quick shock on the nose from the electric fence and ran about 100m away but she was absolutely fine – and left the turkeys alone!

This podcast is probably our noisiest with the turkeys gobbling away in the background as we make our way around their five star set up. I left Copas thinking that this was the Maldives of turkey farms and that if I was a turkey I’d be delighted to spend my life here. You can tell throughout our conversation the level of care and compassion Tom has for the animals. If you would like to see the farm and it’s feathered residents for yourself, then you can make use of the public footpath that crosses Copas farm. Remember to give Tom and his team a wave on your way through!

QUICK FIRE QUESTION ROUND

Music or birdsong?

  • Tom: Music

Multi-coloured or monochrome?

  • Tom: Monochrome

Big night out or quiet night in?

  • Tom: Big night out on December 23rd!!

Beach or mountains?

  • Tom: Depends on the time of year, tricky but right now BEACH!

Walk or run?

  • Tom: Walk

Holiday at home or abroad?

  • Tom: Home

Don’t take your wellies off just yet…

…We have plenty more walking and talking with a stellar line up of guests. Join us next week to hear from Natasha Kaplinksy, all about winning Strictly Come Dancing and her career in journalism. You can find all our podcasts here to take us with you, whether you’re on your daily commute or walking the dogs through the great British countryside!

If you want more things welly, then you can also find Nessie’s iconic welly boot illustrations by checking out our website for hand-illustrated personalised gifts. Our original welly boot prints are the perfect way to bring the family walks into your home!