Was there ever such a goose as the one that graced the Cratchits’ table in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, served as it was with lashings of apple sauce, sage and onion stuffing and mashed potatoes? And has there ever been a writer more capable of extolling the virtues of this festive dish with such mouth-watering prose?

A goose in Dickens’s time would usually have been roasted in the baker’s large oven and collected when it was done, which is why the two young Cratchits returned carrying it to the kitchen table in high procession. Dickens describes the scene so powerfully that it’s almost possible to smell the roasted flesh and festive trimmings.

I recalled this fictional scene while visiting Peach Croft Farm, at Radley, where more than 600 geese walk freely round their paddocks. Every year, during the lead-up to Christmas, the Homewood family hold an open day there to which butchers from all over Oxfordshire are invited. Bill Homewood believes that butchers will sell the geese and turkey with conviction if they first see the excellent conditions in which they are reared.

Following a trip around the farm, the butchers and their families are invited to enjoy a slap-up festive lunch, so that they can decide for themselves if the birds taste as good as Bill boasts they will.

The Homewood family will be allowing the general public to judge the quality of their festive birds, too, on Saturday, November 13, when they stage a tasting day from 10am to 3pm at Wells Stores’ little restaurant area which can be found at the centre of the farm.

Turkeys have been reared at Peach Croft Farm for more than 70 years and geese for more than 30. Bill inherited the farm from his father and is proud of the fact that he also inherited a wealth of traditional farming skills handed down from him and from his grandfather. In many respects, apart from the installation of modern equipment, very little has changed at the farm over the years, as the free-range turkeys and geese still have access to grassy paddocks in daylight hours.

The family farms almost 700 acres of land, much of which is used for the pick-your-own summer crops and late potatoes. This year they are rearing 1,000 turkeys and more than 600 geese.

During discussions on his poultry during the open day, I asked Bill how advance orders were going this year, given the recession and everything it entails. I admit his answer surprised me.

Apparently, despite the recession, people seem to want to enjoy a traditional Christmas more than ever this year.

He said: “We are actually ahead of last year’s figures at the moment and expect this trend to continue, as our customers return year after year confident that the quality we give them is worth the money.”

He went on to say that more than 50 butcher’s shops and about 20 farm shops sell his Bronze turkeys and geese, and as well as the farm’s loyal Oxfordshire customers, the farm attracts regular customers from as far away as Scotland, the Channel Isles and the south of England too.

Apart from geese and turkeys, customers can buy packs of quality sausage meat, pork chipolatas and streaky bacon to add the finishing touches to a Christmas meal. They sell their own goose fat, too, in 200ml jars, to enable cooks to produce the crunchiest roast potatoes ever.

Some argue that goose is too fatty and, therefore, difficult to cook without splattering the kitchen floor with the fat every time the bird is removed from the oven for basting. I must own up to doing just that the first time I roasted a goose. But one soon learns that, unlike turkey and chicken, a goose requires no basting, it looks after itself in that respect.

The fat that seeps out while it’s cooking is an added bonus, as it can be stored in the refrigerator for some considerable time, thus ensuring your roast potatoes remain crunchy for weeks to come.

Because the flesh of a goose is so rich, portions can be smaller. So although there is not as much meat on a goose as a turkey, it can still feed an average family.

Bill said that some of his customers order a small turkey and a goose, so that they can offer their guests a choice of poultry on Christmas day.

For more information about Peach Croft poultry or to order online, you can go to www.peachcroft.co.uk. But don’t leave it too long; as Bill said, advance orders are already well up on last year’s figures.

Christmas orders are available for collection on December 22 or 23, from a marquee set out in the grounds of the farm and where festive vegetables are also on sale and cups of mulled wine are offered to all customers collecting their orders.