A FARM shop from Lifton is a finalist in four categories of awards from the National Farmers? Retail and Markets Association (FARMA). Lifton Strawberry Fields Farm Shop is in the running for the top title of Farm Retailer of the Year, plus Best on-farm Bakery and a new award, Own and Local, and a candidate for the UK?s top Pick-Your-Own farm. The family-owned farm, well-known for its scarecrow population that greets every visitor, opened the farm shop alongside its existing pick-your-own fields in 2002 The vision of opening the farm shop was to sell as much as possible from own and local ingredients. The farm produces soft fruit, apples and pears, vegetables, eggs, beef and poultry, and from these it makes a large range of foods. The shop is a hands-on experience for Jo Mounce, joint-owner and farm shop manager. Jo said: ?We produce as much as we can ourselves which means that when customers come to our farm they are getting foods that are really fresh, really tasty. ?Foods from the farm shop are home-made by one of us, not in an anonymous factory.? In the stages completed so far, a detailed entry was submitted, followed by FARMA sending in a ?mystery shopper? to produce a report. For the next stage the shop will be visited and assessed by others from the farm retailing sector.
