A YEAR ago, just as the UK went into the first coronavirus-related lockdown, Castle Farm in Bishton, near Newport, turned its hand to being a community hub.
The three generations on the family farm began the hub on March 22 last year and provided the community with fresh fruit and vegetables, using contactless collections and deliveries.
In September they took a further step and became a shop - Castle Farm Shop - providing a wide range of self-grown fruit, vegetables, meat and locally-sourced products including curry sauces, milk, alcohol, ice cream, preserves and much more.
Castle Farm Bishton
Deliveries are still taking place as before and they now deliver all across Gwent, with further afield areas like Caerphilly being delivered to one day a week.
Jen Bradford said: “We have about 1,500 customers. We’ve had mentions on BBC Radio Wales from customers.
“We open seven days a week and are open until 6pm apart from Sundays, when we close at 12pm.
“We’re a working farm too so we’re extremely busy with lambing at the moment.”
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They have recently bought and are refurbishing a horsebox which they will use to take their shop 'mobile' to the community, to enable more people to view and shop for their products.
“We are hoping to have several places where we can just park up for a day and allow the community to come and shop our products.”
Castle Farm, Bishton
The response from the community to the farm shop has been very positive, with children being very invested in learning about where food comes from.
“We make it known where all our products come from and since the pandemic started, it seems more people are becoming more aware of where their food comes from. We want to get the message ‘from our field to your door’ out there to people.
“Recently, we did a Zoom class with local schools to give them information about the shop and farm and showing where their food comes from.
“It’s really good to see them engage with it and as we only allow a couple of people in the shop at a time, its nice to see parents bringing their children in to allow them to pick their food. You can’t really do that at a supermarket and may not know where it comes from.”
For more information, you can visit https://castlefarmbishton.co.uk/
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