The first of the plums are now available at our shop and the farmers’ markets. We’ve got Victoria plums today and marjorie seedlings very soon.

We’ve now had our shop in Notting Hill open for 10 very busy weeks. We’ve just started stocking our new season apples - our first three being Discovery, Bramley and Worcester Pearmain. We’ll soon have our full range of apple & pear varieties in the shop - 28 types of apples, 4 types of pears, quinces and medlars.

Over the last few weeks we’ve had the first of our vegetables grown on our farm - courgettes, cucumbers, some huge lettuces (see photo) and rocket. More coming soon!

Edwin

Today has been a busy day at our shop. With the opening on Monday, we’ve had a lot to do. We’ve had our sign painted on the shop’s front - we think it looks great!

We’ve also had much of our stock delivered today as a lot of it is coming from farmers from Notting Hill Farmers’ Market and Borough Market. We’ll have more delivered tomorrow and on Monday morning. We’ve got some great looking teas from Ceylon1; eggs from Rookery Farm Eggs and cream, yoghurts and smoothies from Hurdlebrook and tomatoes from The Tomato Stall. The last three you may know from Notting Hill Farmers’ Market and Ceylon1 you may have seen at Borough. We’ve got some amazing crisps from Pipers Crisps (which you won’t find in the Supermarket!). We tried them today and we loved them - their Sea Salt and Somerset Cider Vinegar crisps are particularily good. Like us, Pipers support small producers, with the seasoning of each crisp variety coming from a named producer. We’ve also got some delicious looking cakes, salad leaves, vegetables, plants (that look great!) and flowers all ready to go.

We’ve been very pleased with the response from everyone we’ve talked to. We’ve had many people knock on the door while we’ve been in there to give us their support and an amazing number of people stopping to just have a look through the window. We look forward to seeing everyone at the shop soon!

With only three days to go until we open the shop, there’s a lot of work to do. We’ve had our cracked front window replaced today which took a lot of work. First we had to have the internal security shutter removed as it blocked the glass, then the old glass had to be removed by 12(!) men and the new glass put in, followed by the shutter being put up again. All it all, a lot of effort on a very tight deadline. We’ve still got to have our front fascia sign put up - this should be done over the weekend, and we’ve got to do some more internal painting and rearranging.

The first stock arrived today - some delicious ice cream, cheeses and asparagus. The ice cream is particularly special - it’s from Taywell Ice Creams, which you may have seen on The Apprentice on BBC1 a few weeks back. They produce a wide range of ice creams from traditional varieties such as Strawberry to Rhubarb and Ginger and White Malteser. They also have a range of diabetic friendly ice creams. The cheeses come from Lincolnshire Poacher who some of our Farmers’ Market customers may already know. Of course, we also have our own juices here waiting to be put up on the shelves. We’ll be having a lot more stock arriving over the weekend and on Monday morning. I’ll try to find a moment to update the blog as they arrive.

We look forward (with some trepidation!) to seeing everyone when we open at 8am Monday morning!

Good progress has been made with the shop - we’ve got most of it painted and fitted out. We’re now focusing on sourcing stock and arranging all that area. We’ve now got a date we’re pretty sure we can meet - 2nd of June - only a bit over a week from now!

We’ll have some special opening offers so if you’re nearby pop in and see us - we’d love to know what you think!

If you’ve got any suggestions for products you think we should stock, get in touch!

Just a quick note to say we’re opening our very first shop in a few weeks time, on Notting Hill Gate. We’ll be stocking all our apple juices, mixed fruit juices and fruit (apples, pears, strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants etc!) as well as a wide range of produce from other farms - vegetables, milk, bread etc. We’re currently very busy getting everything ready - decorating and fitting out the shop, and we’re working on a new website that will let you order all the produce from the shop for delivery anywhere in London.

Visit the Chegworth Farm Shop website for more information and to sign up to get invited to the opening. If you’ve got any produce or products you think we should sell, contact us and let us know!

Here’s the leaflet we’ve been giving out at markets. Note that the opening date may change, depending if we get everything ready in time!

Edwin