Dales star takes on farm shop with plan 
to keep local flavours on store’s shelves

Couple Chris and Jane Hall, who are themselves third generation Dales farmers, set up Town End Farm Shop & Tea Room in Airton 10 years ago this month and are now concentrating on their Town End Farm Cottages holiday letting business.

Mr Wildman, of Church End Farm, Kirkby Malham, already supplied Town End Farm Shop through his on-farm butchery and charcuterie business, Paganum Produce.

Mr Wildman said: “Town End Farm Shop & Tea Room is already an established and successful business, so I won’t be changing anything until I get the hang of things. I have lots of ideas, but am holding back until I learn more about how the business works.”

Mr Wildman said he was fully committed to continuing the farm shop’s long-held tradition of sourcing local produce from local farmers and other on-the-doorstep producers, craftspeople and artists. Mr and Mrs Hall reared their own prime lambs for sale in the shop.

“Our supply ethos will remain fiercely local, with traceability and provenance key words throughout the meat side of the business. I am also utilising my heritage and experience as a butcher. It is fantastic that I am carrying on the tradition,” said Mr Wildman.

“I will also be looking to develop the butchery and delicatessen side of the business with lamb, beef and pork raised on our own farm, along with our renowned artisan butchery and charcuterie products such as Yorkshire chorizo, Yorkshire salami and dry-cured bacon from our own rare-breed Oxford Sandy & Black pigs.”

Mr Wildman’s wife Jennifer, along with son William, 17, and father-in-law Bill Bland, will now oversee the farming and livestock side of the business.

Town End Farm Shop, which has an annual turnover of around £250,000, also incorporates a gallery and gift shop.