FAQS
Be Informed
WHEN DO I PAY THE ANNUAL FEE?
Your annual fee will be due every January from the first January that you adopt the tree.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I FAIL TO PAY THE ANNUAL FEE?
You will be sent a reminder to pay, and then a second reminder. Failing that, you will lose adoptership of the tree :(
WHAT IF MY TREE DIES?
We will do everything to avoid this, but it can happen. If this is the case, we will replace your tree, like-for-like free of charge. We do not intend to sell all of our trees so there should be trees of all ages ready to be transferred to you. Of course, this is still subject to availability but we will always do the very best we can for our customers.
WHEN CAN I EXPECT TO RECEIVE MY TRUFFLES?
Truffles take a while to get established. Usually between 5 and 10 years. Once your tree is producing, you can expect some truffles every year in November - March depending on the weather conditions. Of course there is no guarantee.
ARE TRUFFLES A SOUND INVESTMENT?
It may be a relatively slow investment with truffles not likely to be produced for 5-10 years. Once producing, however, you can expect the yield to increase for the following 10-20 years (although smooth increase is unlikely due to the number of contributing factors such as weather etc). Of course, while we can do our best to encourage the truffle, it is not a simple beast and there are no guarantees. However, a single tree is capable of producing up to 10kg of truffles in its lifetime.
The price of the black truffle rose steadily over the second half of the 20th century (Sourzat, 2002) and truffle production has been in decline since the early 1900s (Courvoisier, 2001). With demand far outreaching supply, the price is only set to rise still further.
CAN I VISIT THE TREE?
Of course! We would love for you to visit your tree at any time of the year. We can recommend places to stay and other sites around to visit. We are also working on the renovation of our beautiful farm house, so it should be rentable fairly soon.
CAN I PURCHASE THIS AS A GIFT FOR SOMEONE ELSE?
Absolutely, just send us a message to make it clear who you would like the certificate to be sent to and in whose name. We will not post a receipt unless you ask for one.
AS AN INVESTMENT IF I WERE TO INVEST IN A SMALL TREE AND THEN MAKE THE ANNUAL PAYMENTS WHAT DO YOU PROJECT THE INVESTMENT RETURN TO BE?
Let’s say someone buys one tree for £200 and pays £60 a year for 30 years. That is a total investment, per tree of £1800. Now, each tree is capable of producing anywhere between £0 return and approximately £10000 return (at today’s truffle prices which frankly are only looking to increase). Now, it is impossible to say how much an individual tree will produce which is why there is the option to ‘pool’ your truffles with other growers as to hopefully ensure at least some return. So, it is clear that for an investment of £1800 you may receive a return of up to £10000. To us, that sounds like a great investment. However, it could yield nothing. Although with a fee of less than £1.50 a week we feel it isn’t any major loss whatever may happen. Also, anyone who adopts one of our trees will be entitled to discount on renting our beautiful 16th century farm house with a stunning infinity pool with one of the best views around.
SHOULD I BUY A GREEN OR WHITE OAK?
We have planted the truffière with a combination of white and green oak trees as it has been proven to increase yields of tuber melanosporum. We have a majority of green oak - holm oak or quercus ilex. It is an evergreen form of the oak tree with spikier leaves. It copes better with the summer heat that we have here and has been shown to have greater longevity. We would recommend this 'green' variety, but there isn't much in it.
YOUR QUESTION NOT HERE?
Feel free to contact us with any query you may have and we will gladly respond to you as soon as we can.