We LOVE our land. We want to see it flourish…
Farming and the countryside is in my blood…
I grew up on Bottom Farm in the Northamptonshire village of Hargrave, surrounded by fields my family has tended for generations. After university, I came home to join my parents as a fourth‑generation farmer, but it didn’t take long to realise that simply doing what we’d always done wouldn’t secure the farm’s future. We needed to evolve, and that’s when the idea for our cold‑pressed rapeseed oil first took root…
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Generations of devotion
Harvesting wheat with binder machines leaving the complete seed and straw in sheaves before being taken away to thresh at a later date.
Enjoying a rest. Duncan's Great Uncle, Lance Farrington (on the right) next to Duncan's Grandfather, Fredrick Farrington.
Great Uncle Walter Hawes planting potatoes.
Robert Farrington (Duncan’s father) joins his father on the farm. Here they are harvesting barley, with his sister Freda helping as it is all hands to the pump.
Frederick’s home becomes one of the first in the UK to run on renewable energy as they install a wind turbine.
Duncan becomes a LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) farmer.
Duncan marries Eli.
Bottom Farm becomes a LEAF Demonstration Farm, launched by actress Tamsin Greig (The Archers, Black Books, Green Wing, Episodes).
Farrington Oils is born. Duncan and his mother Angela produce 100 bottles of Mellow Yellow on the first day. In this first year 6,500 bottles are produced.
Adam Gray starts using Mellow Yellow in his Michelin starred restaurant.
Years of research
Returning to my university research on rapeseed oil, a passion was awoken, which quickly turned into an obsession for the fantastic culinary properties and nutritional benefits packed in those tiny little seeds. Following years of research, I launched Farrington’s Mellow Yellow® in 2005 as Britain’s first ‘seed to bottle’ cold pressed rapeseed oil.
In the early days…
With my Mother’s help bottling the oil, I would drive around local shops in my old battered car, gaining customers who remain loyal to this day. Later in our farmhouse kitchen, my wife Eli, with her superior taste buds and trusty jam jar to hand, started creating salad dressings and infused oils to add to the range.
Today, our Mellow Yellow range is sold in shops and restaurants nationwide and abroad. We now produce as many bottles in a day as I did in the whole of our first year.
Provenance remains as important as ever and with our fantastic team we ensure that the same passion, attention to detail and quality ingredients still goes into every bottle we make.
