Broomfields Farm Shop, Worcestershire
Fiona Broomfield of Broomfields
Broomfields helps save the nation with farm fresh produce with the minimum carbon footprint
The next time you walk around your favourite supermarket, or neighbourhood convenience store, have a look at the fresh produce … and see just how far it has travelled to get on that shelf. Then drop into your nearest farm shop and compare the difference.
Fiona Broomfield, who runs the family farm shop at Holt, near Ombserley, in Worcestershire, can list well over a dozen suppliers within a six or seven miles radius from her tills. She even has three or four within a mile and a half. Not even Waitrose, who have to be our greenest grocers, can get anywhere near that!
As farmers and fruit growers over many years the Broomfileds found that at harvest time they had an abundance of superb quality produce. So they turned a part of a barn on an orchard into a farm shop that only opened when they had anything to sell. Convenient for them, but not for the loyal customer-base that they were gradually building up. So bit by bit they started adding things they could buy locally to sell … and like Topsy it just grew until it became a destination attracting customers from as far afield as Leicestershire and Shropshire.
“ Fifteen or sixteen years ago we only sold apples and pears”, explained Fiona, whose husband Colin runs the orchards,” today we sell everything and anything you need to feed the family”. This now includes locally produced chickens, game and meat, cheeses, milk and cream, as well as exotic herbs and spices, exceptional quality olive oils and vinegars, proper bakers’ bread and home-made cakes and biscuits. Oh, and the freshest vegetables for miles around The list just seems to go on and on. They even stock French apples that ripen long before our own season opens. Convenience is not forgotten as chill cabinets of fruit and prepared vegetables help make it all easier for the busy mother whose cooking time has to be fitted in between ferrying her children to school, friends, scouts, guides and the myriad of activities that they enjoy.
At one time presentation of the produce was not considered to be of any importance. Just shove in it apple crates, supply some paper bags and let the customers select their own, we’ll weigh it up and take the money. Today customers are used to buying with their eyes, they are attracted to neat and tidy displays, they want to enjoy the shopping experience. And farm shops are having to keep up and match the very best retailers. But at the end of the day they have something that no multiple retailer can offer – fresh local farm-fresh produce with lowest possible carbon footprint.
Mind you when farm shops like Broomfields attract customers from 50 or more miles away they aren’t doing all that much to save the nation are they?
More on Broomfields Farm Shop HERE