Broad Beans

Availability: Back in 2025

When to pick: Mid-June to late July. We plant three different sowings so have a new crop every three weeks for nine weeks.

How to pick: We supply bags for picking, however we encourage you to bring your own bags to reduce plastic use. Picking broad beans is easy: feel the pod you want to pick to check there are beans inside, pull them directly upwards from the stem and pop in your bag. Do not remove the beans from their casings or damage the stem. Smaller pods will have smaller beans and be slightly sweeter – the beans in larger pods are stronger tasting but still delicious. Don’t pick too small as you won’t find any beans inside: we recommend picking pods that are at least six inches long but also look full.

Ready picked: If picking is not for you then we have a skilled team of professionals in the fields who pick our best every single day. You can find our ready-picked fruit & vegetables in the Farm Shop fridges. If you would like to order a large volume of fruit or vegetables for an event, we’ll be happy to help. Please contact us using our contact form or call the shop on 01865 358 309.

What we grow: We grow Witkiem Manita broad beans: these are quick growing and produce a lovely early season variety. Cook them, peel them, eat them raw or even freeze them to eat all year round. They are a great source of protein as well.

Fun fact: Broad beans really struggle when it’s hot and wilt down so we have to irrigate them quite a lot if we have a heat wave.

Plan your visit to Rectory Farm pick your own.

Recipe Ideas

Broad Bean, Feta and Mint Dip

Prep 20 min | Cook 3 min → Serves 2
This is an extremely fresh dip that’s perfect for a summer BBQ!

Ingredients:

  • 100g of peeled beans (which equates to around 600g of broad beans picked from the Rectory Farm fields or 230g of the beans still in the shell!)
  • 75g feta cheese
  • 4 mint leaves
  • ½ tsp lemon
  • ½ tsp honey
  • 1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
  • Zest of ¼ lemon
  • Salt and pepper

Method:

  1. Open up the broad bean pods. Place the beans in one bowl and the pods in a separate bowl. 
  2. Boil some water and pop the beans into the pan.
  3. Cook for 3 minutes before draining and washing with cold water.
  4. Peel the green part of the bean out of the shell and place into a bowl or blender.
  5. Once all the beans have been peeled and placed into the bowl, add the feta, lemon juice, oil, mint, honey and lemon zest. 
  6. Blend all the ingredients together into a smooth paste and then season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Broad Bean Pod Fritters

Prep 10 min | Cook 10 min

Ingredients:

  • The pods from your broad beans
  • Milk
  • Flour
  • Seasonings: Salt, Pepper, Paprika and Chilli flakes
  • Cooking oil

Method:

  1. Pour your cooking oil into a frying pan till it’s an inch deep and turn onto a medium heat. This is to shallow fry the fritters.
  2. Mix together the flour and seasonings in a bowl.
  3. Add the milk into a separate bowl.
  4. Place a broad bean pod into flour, then milk, then flour again until well coated.
  5. Repeat with as many pods as you would like.
  6. Add the coated pods into the hot oil being careful that you don’t burn yourself.
  7. Cook until they become golden brown.
  8. Enjoy!

Recipes by Ben and Julia at Rethink Cooking 

Also available today

Pinks

Pinks

Available: PYO open now

These dainty frilled flowers grow in an array of shades of pink and white and smell absolutely divine! Read more

Potatoes

Potatoes

Available: In farm shop from now

Sacks of our Saxon, Jelly and Mozart potatoes are available in the farm shop from the autumn. Read more

Sweetcorn

Sweetcorn

Available: PYO open now

Sweetcorn tastes the best when picked and eaten on the same day - you can pick yours here from late summer into early autumn. Read more

farm shop

We sell all our own homegrown produce when in season - including several varieties of our own potatoes - picked and on the shelves within a few hours. We work hard to source the best quality local products from Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and The Cotswolds. In our fridges you’ll find local meat, pies and sausage rolls from Eadles Farm in neighbouring Beckley village, chicken, lamb and beef from D'Oyley's Farm in Stadhampton, award-winning organic cheeses from Nettlebed Creamery, and traditional farmhouse Cotswold Butter – plus all manner of condiments and cooking sauces, baking supplies, biscuits, pantry essentials, free range eggs and milk from Oxfordshire farms and dairies. Our bread arrives each morning from Oxford’s Natural Bread Company and Degustibus artisan bakers in Abingdon.

snowdonia

help us to reduce waste

Please try wherever possible to bring your own containers and carrier bags when you visit our Farm Shop and PYO. We offer a discount on all our PYO fruit and vegetables when you bring your own container - do good and save money!

Lots of small containers for PYO are better than one large one, as soft fruit will easily bruise and squash at the bottom of a deep container.

Use our "bring your own weigh station" to weigh your containers before picking – we can then deduct these from the weight of your fruit when you come to pay at the end.

Remember to bring your own 1 litre bottle for milk or buy a Rectory Farm glass bottle in the shop.

Read more

pick your own

Come and pick your own Oxfordshire fruit, vegetables and flowers from our 45 acres of colourful produce, all grown just for you. 

You can enjoy Rectory Farm produce practically all year round - it simply doesn't get fresher than picking your own. Start with asparagus brunches and rhubarb tarts and crumbles in April, and then enjoy a long summer of strawberries, artichoke, broad beans, courgettes, raspberries, redcurrants, blackberries and blackcurrants.

Autumn brings a hearty crop of sweetcorn and pumpkins, and our many varieties of potatoes are available to buy all year round, from baby salad potatoes to red and white spuds perfect for baking, mashing, roasting and boiling. 

Find out more
cheese hamper

PYO

The Rectory Farm picking season runs from April - October, starting with asparagus and finishing with pumpkins. 

Our strawberries ripen up at the start of May and finish into September. Check out our PYO page to see what's in season when, and for lots of recipe ideas.

Read more

Plan your visit

Enjoy a day out at Rectory Farm picking all your favourite fruit and vegetables to take home and enjoy. Remember to bring your own punnets and carrier bags to help us reduce plastic use.

Visit the shop from March - December to stock up on kitchen essentials and all our ready-picked fruit and vegetables if you’re short on time.

Read more

rectory farm cafe

Join us for coffee and locally baked pastries, a pot of tea and a slice of homemade cake or a cool ice-cream topped with a flake. 

We have both indoor seating and outdoor seating (covered and uncovered) and plenty of space for families and groups to gather and catch up over good food and drink. 

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