NEW FARM SHOP AND CAFE

Hundreds of customers have been pouring in to a new farm shop and cafe opened by a farming family in Peterborough.

Harvest Barn farm shop and cafe at Whitehall Farm, in Ramsey Road, near Farcet, has attracted some 200 customers each weekend since opening nine weeks ago.

The venture, which took three years to bring to fruition, will be followed by the construction of an educational centre this sumer.

The project was made possible after the farm, which has been run by the Briggs family for a decade, secured a £41,000 LEADER grant.

Lynn Briggs, owner of Harvest Barn, which stocks locally grown and sourced products, said: “We’d been planning to open a shop for three years but financing was always a barrier. Without support from the LEADER programme I don’t know how we’d have got this off the ground.

“It’s been a dream to sell direct to customers. The soils here create fantastic produce. Why would we want to give that to someone else?

“We want to inspire an interest in farming amongst school children and the shop’s visitors, alongside supporting older students of agriculture and environmental sciences. With that in mind the second phase of the grant will also help fund an educational centre.”

Steve Bowyer, chief executive of economic development company Opportunity Peterborough, said: “This shows how big a role LEADER funding can play in supporting the rural economy, and it’s a brilliant testament to the hard work of the Briggs family that Harvest Barn has achieved such success.

Harvest Barn owner Lynn Briggs and Ashley Holland, assistant manager, in the new farm shop.