Meet the couple who run farm shops in three Yorkshire villages - all within miles of each other

Alison said their farm shop came about through what had once been actual strawberry fields behind the café.

“There was no farm shop when we arrived. The man who ran the café had sold strawberries. There had been a PYO field behind the café, hence the café’s name, but the couple who’d had the field had retired some years prior and the café owner had carried on buying from a local pick your own to continue selling them.

“When the café owner decided he wasn’t going to sell strawberries anymore I decided to give it a go and because the A19 has so much passing trade I started with strawberries from the same local PYO just using a pasting table, and this has now all grown from there.

“David had an idea that since the strawberries were from a local grower, why didn’t we also sell other locally grown produce that needed a local outlet. That’s when we stumbled on Colin Smith, who has since retired, from Cawood. Colin was a well-known quality vegetable grower and we soon found that people would come to us from far and wide for his vegetables.

Alison said she and David have no farming background, but that their commitment to local growers and local breeders then led them to starting up as a farm shop.

“We’ve never been farmers, but we have based our farm shop on stocking everything that farmers and growers produce from all around here. After so many years we are still only just getting to know some that are only a couple of miles away.

“David bought this old farmer’s cart from somewhere in West Yorkshire and we used to push the cart in and out every morning and night with the produce, just like a market stall.

“I was stood outside in all weathers with the customers and eventually, through increasing the amount of stuff we were selling, such as logs and eggs, we decided to convert a room in Lodge Cottage as a farm shop.

“We started off with one fridge and a bookcase to put some local jams on and developed it from there. That’s when David began really looking around for other produce from other producers and we were both surprised at just how many local farming and grower businesses there are in this area. We started selling an even greater number of different lines and added more fridges.

Alison and David named it Lodge Cottage Farm Shop, but most now refer to it as Crockey Hill Farm Shop because of its location.

Alison said the location sounds great, being on a busy road, but that prospective customers are often passed it before they see it, and that because of the parking, it can be problematic for some to get in and out of easily.

“This road is not too easy. A lot of our less-young customers love what we stock but find that because of the sheer bulk of traffic using the road, and because of the angle they have to take to get on and off the road to us, can make things really dodgy.

During the years that Alison and David have grown their business they have become popular with local residents in the numerous villages within a 3-4 mile radius and recently the parish councils of Naburn and Escrick approached Alison and David about opening up a village shop in their respective villages.

“Escrick Parish Council asked whether we would open a shop in the village because they used to have one at the post office. We were looking into it, but then that idea had to then go on the back burner because of some investment that was needed by the parish council.

“In meantime one of our customers in Naburn said that their part-time post office had closed down and that where it was situated in Naburn Reading Room, was only used once a month for parish council meetings.

“Did we want to come to some agreement over setting up in the village where they hadn’t had a shop for years? We were told that the villagers would love to have our food and produce in Naburn.

“We said yes and opened there in November 2022. We spent a great deal of time from August last year totally stripping it, rewiring it and buying display units.

Alison said the response to their opening in Naburn has been wonderful and it has also introduced them to new, village customers and also new suppliers who they then found out had been on their doorstep all the time.

“It has been amazing. We now have two new suppliers. One is Sam Dilcock of SD Farming who has fields up at Skipwith and grows seasonal vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts and another who we’ve just had come in who grows potatoes. You think you know most of the producers in your area, but even after over a decade of doing this we are still finding there are even more. You sometimes wonder why you’ve not seen these people before.

“The way I look at it is that our customers in Naburn used to have to get in their cars to come to us. This way we’re taking ourselves to them. I’ve been over in Naburn most of the time since we opened to get a proper feel for what people want there. We are now stocking more for different dietary requirements, which was not something we thought about at Lodge Cottage. We now stock a lot of Gluten free produce and other things we’d never had before. When you are in a village you get to know people, you chat with them because they’ve more time to chat and you can then supply what they want.

“We are already involved with the Naburn community, things like helping to sell raffle tickets for village and school events and everyone keeps popping in for a chat.

While Alison was decorating the Naburn shop in November prior to opening, Escrick made a call.

“I was up a ladder at the time when I got a phone call from Escrick Parish Council saying everything was now all set for going ahead. We’re just going with it all, three shops all within a few miles. We’ll see how it all goes. Come and see us!