What a day! We had a superb turnout on Saturday with producers and customers in the courtyard, an entertaining cookery demonstration from Thomasina Miers, then speeches from Sam and I, our local MP Gillian Keegan, and finally a warm and welcoming speech from the great Prue Leith as she cut the ribbon and offically opened the farm shop.
Prue Leith C.B.E could not have been friendlier and more gracious, and we loved her speech.
It is Beautiful, I have seen many, many farm shops but few with quite the love and the dedication and the professionalism and the shared obsession that these guys have done. Fred and Sam, you are heroes.
That’s a first!
Despite the weather, everyone seemed to have a fantastic day, well fed by Gavin and the team with a delicious pulled pork sandwich and scrummy salads for all 300 visitors.
With 14 producers in the courtyard offering tastings of all their lovely food and drink (gin, beer, wine & sparkling covered the bases) and the superb Jamie West and his band knocking out some great tunes, it was exactly the sort of celebration we had hoped for.
Thomasina Miers kicked off proceedings with a delicious cookery demonstration using the Big Green Egg and seasonal local ingredients including East Marden Lamb, purple sprouting broccoli, Trenchmore wheat berries and other goodies. Her recipes can be found here…
This was a day of celebration, but our aim was also to raise the profile of the shop and get new customers to our door. We’ve been bombarding social media and have some great articles in the Chichester Observer (with a video), the Horndean Post “The eyes of the culinary world were on Stansted Park Farm Shop…” and The News.
Thank you to all of you for coming along on the day and for your continued support.
