Journey to the Centre of a Farm Shop: Part 1 – The Peak of Mount Farm Shop

The Brit Stops Pint Chasers are on the road with a mission to stock our picnic hamper with local produce exclusively bought from Brit Stops hosts. And no, we don’t mean beer and packets of pork scratchings and mini cheeses. As we’ve been making our journey, we have made the happy discovery that many Brit Stops hosts happen to be farm shops. This presented us with the perfect opportunity to stock up for our ‘Picnic in the Peaks’, and also made us wonder at all the different ways the lovingly made products of small local producers find their way to their customers.

In this three part series we’ll be looking at three different farm shops (all of them Brit Stops hosts) at different stages of development, and take you on a journey from what we call ‘The Peak of Mount Farm Shop’, all the way to the humble jar of chutney in a hut at the end of a driveway.

Running at Full Potential

Picture a farm shop running at its full potential.

Its solar panel-covered roof sits amongst wide green fields on a spot of British farmland. Its yard has room for dozens of vehicles. Children play in its green outdoor spaces. Its shelves are stocked with some of the best strawberries in the country. Its café serves delicious breakfasts 7 days a week. The lunch menu boasts dishes with meat from the on-site butchery and pies and pastries from its own bakery. It hosts hundreds of small brands from the surrounding villages and counties. Local cheese makers vie for a coveted spot as the ‘guest cheese’. Its shining deli counter stretches as far as the eye can see … I’m beginning to exaggerate, but you see what I’m getting at. This is a serious farm shop.

Those who have visited Brit Stop EA113 don’t need to work hard to imagine the above - they just need to bring to mind the image of Goodies Food Hall.

Humble Origins

Goodies Food Hall had its humble beginnings, once just a man, a tractor and a trailer selling potatoes in a lay-by on the side of the road, Stuart Gooderham was eventually approached by local suppliers wanting an outlet for their wares, and by customers with requests for fresh produce.

“… if someone asked for it I would find the finest quality locally and make it available for my customers.” Finding growing success, he eventually added a refrigerated unit to his trailer and from there he was just a hop, skip and a jump away from running a successful and bustling hub of activity in the Norfolk countryside.

Sampling the ‘Goodies’

Once we had picked our jaws up off the floor, we thought we had better fuel up before we embarked on our adventure about the aisles. We headed towards the Goodies restaurant and had a delicious breakfast of a sausage bap (with sausage meat from their butchery, of course) and avocado toast in, snapping pictures and sipping tea all the while.

We had a chat with the managers, and asked why Brit Stops members should pay them a visit. “Because of the quality of food we produce here, and also they can get a fabulous breakfast,” – their restaurant is open from 8:30, “we’re also famous for our sausage rolls.” We asked for recommendations for our picnic, “pork pies, scotch eggs, if you’re having a fry up, our sausages.” After our chat and after a wide-eyed browse about the shelves, we settled on a caramelised onion pork pie, a sweet chilli scotch egg and a handsome wedge of the guest cheese ‘Jiffler’.

Now, I know earlier in this blog I said we weren’t buying pork scratchings, but Goodies stocks Proper Pork Crackling which does a salt and vinegar pork scratching and … well, road tripping is snack-heavy work, so we picked up a tub for the road.

The next stop on our Journey to the Centre of a Farm Shop is only a few miles down the road from Goodies. Set on a chicken farm, this farm shop is a tenth of the size of Goodies, but certainly has no less character. See you there!

Cheers, Lois and Asa – The Pint Chasers