WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY
"Everything looks as good as it tastes." Sylvia
"The shop means a haven of calm, a positive place for us to bring our son and to feel connected to our food, our lives and as a family." Lisa
"The farm shop is my supermarket! Most of our shopping is done here and with all our families allergies I don't know what I'd do without it. " Corinna
"The ambience is wonderful, the produce is superb, the service is exceptional. The whole place is a therapy." Jean
"A bright beacon of uncomprimised principles in an often gloomy commercialised world." Chris & Marilyn
"The farmshop is a calm haven of delicious goodness. I live far away and travel 1.25 hours to be here. I leave feeling refreshed. I wish I lived closer. It makes Tesco feel like MacDonalds!" Jenny
"I love your shop and cafe - I've been coming here for over 10 years as a retreat for myself but now many of my friends come- your food is delicious, homegrown veg is divine and the emporium is like heaven retail therapy." Jennifer
"The farm shop means ethical, soulful food,naturally grown, friendly face...its a happy place." Jill
"Our favourite farm shop by a mile. We've been to many and none come close. Great veggie food in the cafe and all the good stuff in the shop. We love it. Regular visitors from the organic desert that is West Bromwich."
"The shop is a welcome escape from the madness of supermarkets. "
"I first stumbled across the organic farm shop last summer and, organic zealot that I am it took just one glance at the overflowing boxes of every good thing imaginable for me to become a devoted regular customer.
But this wasn’t enough for me. Buckling from the vigour's of my Other Life as a secondary English teacher, it struck me with each weekly visit how remarkably bright of eye chipper of disposition, lithe of limb –sane!- the farm shop staff seemed to be. This, coupled with some soft -focus pink-tinted images of myself skipping around the poly tunnels in artfully patched dungarees like Barbara from “The good life”, or floating winsomely in from the garden with a teeming trug in the manner of Joanne Lumley in those ‘Mellow Birds’ commercials from the 70’s, impelled me to ask Hilary if I could come and help out once a week.
Well, it didn’t take me long to realize the true physical reality of work at the farm shop –more Fatima Whitbread than Felicity Kendall. Sarah says that for the first three months her abiding memory of me is straggling in from the veg shed like a drowned rat in a green kagoul as the rain poured and the wind blew. And I can envisage Keith’s reaction if I suggested going anywhere near his poly tunnels with a trug .
But I love it. There’s nothing like the excitement of the first of the season’s lettuces or discussing with the lovely customers the endless possibilities of Russian red kale ,to put the world back in perspective. And, after the months of exile in town, its truly uplifting driving up to the farmyard at the start of the working day.
I don’t think Hilary ever envisaged when she conceived of The Organic Farm Shop that it would serve as a half way house for the rehabilitation of the chronically stressed and, and indeed, looks frankly bemused when I comment on how blissfully calm and happy I am after a days work here. She’s under the impression that she’s a hard taskmaster but then she’s never met my bottom set year ten.
In fact, purely in the interests of Education-Industry links, I often, with increasing urgency, invite the farm shop staff to reciprocate by coming and relieving me of Year 10 period six on a Tuesday, but so far I’ve had no takers. Funny that… "
LOCAL HEADACHE CURE
"I just wanted to thank all at the Organic Farm Shop for curing my headache - figuratively speaking, that is! As a natural nutritional therapist, who believes in healing through food and not supplements, I always find myself trying to steer people away from convenience foods and, therefore, I have to spend a lot of time looking for, and recommending, different sources of natural, organically produced alternatives. Not an easy task - I've even resorted to recommending mail order organic vegetables from Norfolk. It's no wonder that my clients couldn't/wouldn't stick to their new diets! Was there any way to make shopping for things as diverse as linseeds, organic skin care products, spelt wheat and organic, locally produced vegetables, easy and pleasant? Well, yes - I've found it. I now simply direct them to The Organic Farm Shop and let them browse. The staff are always friendly and able to answer any questions about the produce.
So a big thanks you for taking away my biggest headache and inspiring my clients to continue!" Trish
WHY WE LOVE THE ORGANIC FARM SHOP
We find shopping at The Organic Farm Shop to be not only good for our health, but good for our bank account as well. In our first shop at The Organic Farm Shop, we spent about £30 less than we normally would buying organic food at Waitrose. The food from The Organic Farm Shop is also of a much higher quality - I've never seen or tasted celery as nice as yours!
It's wonderful to be able to buy fresh, wholesome, delicious food at reasonable prices. With the produce from The Organic Farm Shop we can be more in tune with the Earth and the seasons, and play a more active role in the promotion of organic growing and lifestyles, things about which we feel strongly.
We also find it very reassuring to know and see where most of our food comes from and we feel secure in the knowledge that we are giving our baby son the best food we can.
Many thanks to all at The Organic Farm Shop, and we look forward to more lovely food!
Kira and Martin, Cirencester
*The reason so many of you haven't found eggs to buy for the last few months is because the hens lay so slowly in the winter. Get more hens you say. Then we have too many in the summer. But we have just welcomed 200 more Black Rocks onto the farm and soon they will be earning their living happily, we hope!
*The wood burner in the café is hopefully a welcoming glow in the winter, but it is also heating the hot water for the kitchen and radiators in our store room, the two loos and the office. All the wood we burn is from the farms own managed woods. Thank you Will and Rob!
*The Green Room will also have a wood burner which will heat eleven radiators. In our efforts to reduce the amount of oil and gas used here, we have invested in solar panels on the roof of the shop to heat the water in the kitchen in the summertime. We have also put the wires ready for solar electric when the budget allows... ... ...