The Organic Farm Shop
OPENING TIMES BETWEEN CHRISMAS AND NEW YEAR
Thursday 29th 10 - 4 Shop open, Cafe serving lighter meals than usual; soups, cakes, coffees and teas.
Friday 30th 10 - 4 Shop open, Cafe serving lighter meals than usual; soups, cakes, coffees and teas.
Saturday 31st 10 - 4 Shop open, Cafe serving lighter meals than usual; soups, cakes, coffees and teas.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Tuesday 3rd jan re open as normal
The Price Perception Issue
PLEASE do not just think we are more expensive than the supermarkets. Come and try us out. Like for like we are often up to 20% cheaper. And so many people tell us that when they start doing a full shop here their weekly bill goes DOWN. Less distraction buying things they dont really need, less waste as they can buy one of something, more attention paid to what is cheap at the moment rather than sticking rigidly to a shopping list. If necessary to fit the budget less meat, more of a treat.
Enjoy a different shopping experience. The farmshop can be used in different ways.
If you have some time, there is so much to look at in the shop, take your time and relax as you shop, look at the cookery books as you go round, checkout the fair trade trolley, the reduced section, the large household and skincare areas, the organic cotton textiles. Or you can shop in a flash. 10 minutes can be enough if you know your way around, to fill a trolley for the week. No long aisles, no reading labels to see if it is organic. Every foodstuff here is certified organic. (except the honey, from the farm but the standards need 4 miles around the hives....) So many customers say it is reminiscent of shopping in the old days, seeing what looks or smells good before deciding what is needed, shopping more than once a week if they live near enough.
Gift buying at the shop
lots of organic, fairtrade, recyled and ethical presents, with quite a bit of cargo thrown in, much of it under ten pounds for easy present buying on the purse and the conscience. Great books, bits and pieces, silvery jewellery on special offer, organic textiles, old embroideries, old and reclaimed boxes, chests, iron lamps, scarves made from recycled silk sarees and much more.
The Shop and the Farm
We are proud to be producing/raising much of the food for sale in the shop from the farm. It is very labour intensive and not good for 'economies of scale' to have many small enterprises but we are working our way towards becoming a really sustainable farm which can feed the local community with all its fresh food. Our aim is to grow everything we need for a full meal. This is not easy. To make a farm pay, most farmers concentrate on one enterprise. We are doing the opposite. When we took over the farm in 1990, it was sheep, dairy (sold off farm) beef and arable. We have introduced and learnt about laying hens, table birds and pigs, vegetables and soft fruit, running a farmshop and cafe and conference/education space. We now have our milk (unhomogenised), yoghurt. cream and cheeses for sale in the shop too. These small new enterprises are challenging, labour intensive and financially risky for us. But we believe farms are for feeding the local population, not for growing one thing that is sent all over the country or the world, often benefiting the middleman more than the producer.
Produce for sale
See Textiles for our online organic cotton bed and table linen shop.
INDEX OF PRODUCE
- Fruit & Vegetables
- Bread and Cakes
- Jams and Preserves
- Breakfast Cereals
- Crisps
- Cheeses
- Dried Fruit, Nuts and Seeds
- Poultry and Fish
- Frozen Foods
- Home Baking/Grocery
- Dairy & Chilled Foods
- Hambleden Herbs and Spices
- Our Own Meat Fresh and Frozen
- Drinks
- Alcohol
- Cleaning Products
- Toiletries and Skincare
- Tinctures
Fish
Selection of fresh and frozen trout, salmon, fish fingers........
Groceries
These are sourced locally and fairly traded when available. Breads, cakes, croissants, flapjacks, jams, marmalades, chutneys from Gloucestershire.
Also oils, pasta, pulses, herbs, juices, ice-cream, chocolate …and much more.
Alcohol and Fruit juices
We stock a wide variety - latest additions include gin, whisky and vodka!
Cut Flowers : april - october approx!
Daffodils, anenomes, tulips, foxgloves then sweetpeas, dahlias, cornflowers, nigella, cosmos, larkspur, rudbeckia....cut from our garden, but limited supply.
Childrens organic clothing and nappies.
We stock green baby, gossypium and much more.
Bed and table linen, made from organically grown cotton in Hilarys own small workshop in Rajasthan.
Skincare and cosmetics
Green People, Essential Care, Urtekram, Green Baby, and Dr Hauschka
LINEN -hardly more expensive than sprayed cotton, very soft, washes well, and fairly traded. Do tell your friends about it, we need to sell lots to keep the printers in work throughout the year in Rajasthan. They do depend on our sales here now as we no longer have Cargo in the market
place.
