Last month I said that I would have some news for you on wines and sherries. A technical hitch has put this on hold, but with a following wind we should have something for you in June. New this month will be a range of fruits, nuts and snacks from Julian Graves, who you may know from their shop in Shaftesbury (and elsewhere). We also now have a really DELICIOUS range of ice creams from Purbeck Ice Cream. If you don’t do anything else new this spring, I urge you to try these quite exceptional delights. We have all the usual flavours plus one or two surprises – Mango Sorbet, Honeycombe Hash and even ChilliRed – yes, chilli ice cream. We also sell them in the café in 125ml tubs for £1:40, so you can try the smaller sizes before splashing out on a half-litre tub (£3:95).

We have been attending the Anonymous Travelling Markets in Shaftesbury Cattle Market on the last Saturday of every month, so come and see us on Saturday May 29th when we’ll be selling burgers and sausages, meat, cheese and eggs.

Not quite the start to Spring that we were hoping for, but we do have cheer of another sort to offer you. As you can see from the pictures we have started selling fruit and vegetables again. We hope you like the range we are offering, but please let us know if there is anything that you would like us to stock.

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Well thank goodness January is over.  Cold and wet, snow and ice, not a little rain and not enough of the things that make us happiest – CUSTOMERS!  A heartfelt thankyou to all of you who braved the conditions to get here.

You wouldn’t have seen many changes in January in the Farm Shop, but February you will, I promise. The start we made before Christmas will continue with an increasing range of straightforward store cupboard lines – tinned tomatoes, pasta and rice will all be appearing with oils and vinegars as well.  If there is anything you would like us to stock please let us know, especially if it is from a local producer.

We now have butchers here five days a week (Tuesday to Saturday) who prepare the meat that is raised and grazed at Park Farm, just yards from the garden centre.  They can produce just about everything imaginable for you, but may sometimes need a bit of warning for the more unusual cuts. At the moment the beef is from British White cattle, the lamb is Wiltshire Horn and the pork from Large Black pigs.  All these are traditional breeds and well worth trying if you haven’t done so before.

A quick word about our prices.  We don’t try to compete with the supermarkets, but sometimes we surprise ourselves! We will get you the best prices we can, and for some items – eggs, meat and vegetables for example, we think that we provide value for money that can’t be bettered.

PRICE OF THE MONTH

For February our Beef Mince will be £4.49 per/kilo (that’s just over £2/lb. if you’re like me) down from £5.99 per/kilo (just over £2.70/lb).

Next month I’ll be introducing you to the Farm Shop staff talking a bit more about our suppliers and their products. In the meantime, if there’s anything you want to tell us about, either come and see us or email me at matthew@orchardpark.uk.net