The Hugh-Jones family have been farming high quality, sustainable shellfish since 1969, when David Hugh-Jones set out in his Transit van to realise his dreams of becoming an oyster farmer.
Known for his stamina and determination, he travelled widely throughout the British Isles and extensively around the Irish coast looking for the perfect location, until finally finding it at Rossmore in southern Ireland, where he settled with his wife, Bridget.
The Rossmore oyster beds are in an idyllic remote location, nestled in an enclosed warm inlet of Cork harbour and protected by fertile mud banks on either side, which ensure warm and shallow waters ideal for oyster breeding. A regular flow of nutrient-rich water guarantees a bountiful supply of food for our oysters to grow, and the unique conditions of the bed provide the ideal growing environment.
David soon established an innovative and successful native oyster breeding programme, and in 1987 also began producing rock oysters, using 22 man-made ponds to assist in their growth. His unique breeding system, combined with radical new farming techniques, and a strict adherence to excellent water quality, had immediate results: hundreds of tonnes of oysters were grown each year, and sold around the world.
Today the farm is run by his sons Tristan and Rupert, who were both born at Rossmore and have the same passion for the sea.
Now based in the UK, Tristan is responsible for the sales and logistics side of the company, including the management of our more recent oyster beds in Scotland and Cornwall, as well as our purification and packing depot in Sussex. Never happier than when in a boat, he spends his spare time fishing for mackerel and lobster in a boat full of children, in the Cornish fishing cove where he lives with his young family.
Rupert and his family live a few miles away from the oyster farm in Cork, and Rupert runs the farm with a small, hard-working team. When not at Rossmore, he’s running local Farmers’ Markets around Ireland, or can be found onboard the Ballycotton lifeboat where he has been an active volunteer for many years. Together, the brothers continue the family tradition of farming the sea; this is a proud family business with a passion for producing high quality, sustainable shellfish.
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