Chesterton Farm, Chesterton, Cirencester

Chesterton Farm is a 600 acre mixed arable and dairy farm boarding the South West outskirts of Cirencester in Gloucestershire. We grow wheat, barley beans for combining and grass and maize to feed our 150 cow dairy herd. As long ago as the early sixties we were growing potatoes to sell at the farmhouse back door, by the early eighties we were growing and selling a range of vegetables including sprouts, cabbage, leeks, swede and a great favourite at the time, purple sprouting. The fruit and vegetable farm shop opened in 1988 offering customers a full range of local vegetables and a wide range of fruits and in 1993 a Butchers Shop was opened where customers could buy high quality well hung local meat and game.

Our farm shop offers a wide range of local vegetables, varied fruits, free range eggs, Winstones Ice cream and an impressive selection of jams and pickles. We recently decided to stock 'scoop' frozen foods to run alongside the fresh section. This has really taken off as customers can choose such things as fruit salads, croissants, Yorkshire puds, stir fries and breaded mushrooms, to name but a few. We also sell olives and pre dinner nibbles, nuts and crisps, a real temptation!! The shop has an old world atmosphere where people can browse and share a joke with our friendly staff.

In 1993 we decided to expand our retail business by opening a high quality butchers shop selling quality meats from local producers.

In 1994 we were approached by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust with a view to becoming the first RBST accredited butcher in England, selling a range of Beef, Pork and Lamb. The idea behind this was to promote a market for naturally reared breeds that are allowed to grow at their own pace without growth promoters, hormones or unnecessary antibiotics.

By selling rare breed meat we are giving our customers the choice to enjoy the varied tastes, flavours and textures of meat from a bygone age, from breeds that were almost extinct. It was obvious from the first few months that people could tell the difference as sales of our major rare breed, the Gloucester Old Spot Pig, soared. Since then sales have continued to increase as our customers appreciate the variety and delights of the Rare Breed Meat. We were thrilled over the years to be in the top 9 butchers since the beginning and to top sap sales in the UK for Rare Breed Meat.

We have a happy team of four butchers here at Chesterton Farm headed up by our Manager David Freeman. Our butchers have a wealth of experience and employ traditional methods of butchery. We dry cure and smoke our own bacon to unique age old recipes using traditional pork breeds such as Tamworth and Berkshire. We make all of our own sausages and beef burgers and bake our own faggots and home made pies. We cook our own hams, either honey roasted or plain and pride ourselves in giving the sort of service and advice to our customers that they were used to before the supermarket invasion.

Why not come down to the farm and experience for yourself the real taste of quality meat as it used to be. You’ll never buy meat from a supermarket again!

It is very much a family run business, with Peter, Ruth and Edward very involved with the shops, and Nicholas running the arable side of the farm.

Contact: Telephone: 01285 642160 / Fax :01285 653133 / Website: www.chestertonfarm.co.uk / Email: info@chestertonfarm.co.uk

The Organic Farm Shop, Abbey Home Farm, Burford Road, Cirencester

(we are 2 miles from Cirencester off the Burford Road GL7 5HF - no access off the Stow Road so don’t use satnav!)

Come and find a completely different shopping experience at this relaxed and friendly multi award winning Organic Farm Shop and Café!

The Shop and the Farm

We are proud to be producing/raising the following on farm for sale in the shop. It is very labour intensive and not at all good for 'economies of scale' to have a lot of 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 absolute 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 and pigs, vegetables and soft fruit, running a farmshop and cafe and conference/education space.

Lately, we have started to pasteurize our own milk. We now have our own whole and semi-skimmed milk, yoghurt, cream and cheeses for sale in the shop and also our own chicken. 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.

Gift buying at the shop

Lots of organic, Fairtrade, recycled and ethical presents, with quite a bit of cargo thrown in, much of it under £10.00 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.

Sunday Opening

The shop and cafe are now open on Sundays after much deliberation, from 11am to 4pm in the shop and 3.30pm in the cafe. Book for lunch if you want to be sure of a table. We will for the first time be offering a meat from the farm option specially for those long suffering customers who have been asking for it for nine years!!! Vegetarians do not despair, all meat will be cooked in the back kitchen with the door shut.

Our Food Buying Policy

In the middle of a circle is Abbey Home Farm. Here we grow and raise as much food as we can, soil type and climate allowing. We then move out from the middle of the circle slowly and carefully. First to the local area, then the neighbouring counties, across the rest of the UK and then on, still with great care, across the channel to Europe and the wider world. Air freight is rarely used, but we do often choose imported vegetables that are in season in their country of origin and brought to the UK by lorry and ferry rather
than UK vegetables that have been grown in heated polytunnels using massive amounts of fossil fuels. (We are always looking for research done on energy use. Any comments are welcomed).

The Price Perception Issue

But 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 don’t 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.

Produce for sale

We have a very wide range of products and prices vary tremendously with the seasons and groceries have special offers coming and going.

We also have a great campsite which lots of local people come to, you dont have to travel miles to go camping! Multi award winning cafe and shop, and great walks.

Opening Hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9.00am to 5.00pm
Friday 9.00am to 6:30pm
Saturday 9.00am to 4.00pm
Sunday 11.00am to 4.00pm
Closed on Mondays

For more information, please see our website at www.theorganicfarmshop.co.uk
Email us at: info@theorganicfarmshop.co.uk or Telephone 01285 640441