Speciality Food Magazine

I can’t believe it’s been two years since we opened. To mark the occasion we held a few birthday celebrations, including face painting, a BBQ and a bouncy castle. Ironically, the same day I had a visit from someone who’s opening a new farm shop in the West Midlands.

He was keen to pick my brains about what had worked well, how we’d have done things if we were starting over again, and any other advice I could offer. I was happy to help – we visited several farm shops ourselves before opening Croots and I like to think the advice we received at the time has helped us to avoid some of the pitfalls!

This month we’ve been putting the finishing touches to our new playground and picnic area. The centrepiece is an old grey Ferguson tractor, but we’ve also added a sandpit, slide, see-saw and a few ride-on tractors for the little ones. It’s in a great spot, overlooking the valley and we hope it will make the business more of a family destination. The introduction of the play area and picnic spot is the first step in developing the outside attractions. Next year we hope to open up our herb-growing area to the public.

Our World Cup range of sausages and burgers has been popular, and we reckon we’ve now raised about £100 for Derbyshire children’s charity Treats. Ten percent from the sale of our Bangerooney, WAG and Three Lions sausages, and our Johanna’s Burgers, is going to be handed to the charity.