She is behind the biggest expansion project of the last decade at Lotmead and the success of its cafe and gourmet shop and yet Sue Meaden remains an enigma.

Marion Sauvebois cracks the riddle, at last.

SUE Meaden is a woman of few words. But when push comes to shove the capable, level-headed, if inscrutable, matriarch is the one you want by your side.

Actions speak louder than words as the old adage goes.

So when time came blow an enterprising wind over Lotmead, owner Norman Parry enlisted go-getter Sue, whose husband John is the farm's pick your own manager, to overhaul its shop and launch a dedicated cafe.

Over the next four years she single-handedly transformed the dinky shed into a thriving coffee shop with its own covered terrace and temptingly-stocked farm store - or as she describes it, not without humour, "a bigger shed".

"I didn't have any experience of running a shop, or cafe but I was prepared to give it a go,” she says. “And I think what we have now really works.”

Resolved never to set foot again in an office after a short spell paper-pushing behind a desk, she left her native Yorkshire at 19 to become a farm worker in Somerset.

"I had no experience but that’s what I wanted to do," she says matter-of-factly. “I wanted to work outside. It was a steep learning curve. It was hard physically I started in hay and I would to move it all by hand. They got cut to shreds and I was shattered. It was hard for someone who had just come from working in an office.”

It is during these early farming days 36 years ago that she first set eyes on the farm boy who would become her husband. The bushy-tailed young man, employed by the neighbouring farm sidled up to her before engaging her in conversation about manure. This proved the winning ticket.

“He came up to me looking for the dung spreader,” she deadpans. “We worked on two small farms and they used to borrow each others’ equipment every now again.”

Together they moved to South Glamorgan in Wales and Hannington before settling down at Lotmead 27 years ago - John working the land, while she raised their three children. She later joined Wanborough Primary School as a dinner lady.

Famous for its pick your own, which sees no fewer than 35,000 strawberry plants alone being planted each year over 7.5km, Lotmead attracts 70,000 visitors each year, ever one of them in need of a bite and cuppa after a hard hour’s work stripping row after row of luscious raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants.

While the shop had already been established when Sue took the helm, the cafe was altogether a different tale.

Hot drinks were available but only to be consumed on picnic benches scattered at the farm’s entrance. Sue immediately set her sights on building a menu of sandwiches, pasties and quiches brought in fresh each. She also recruited a former colleague at Wanborough School Maxine Cheeseman to bake cakes for visitors. Last year she went a step further, launching a dedicated cafe area complete with a decked terrace adjacent to the shop.

“I realised that we could do a lot,” she says. “A cafe and proper shop were really missing, especially a covered sitting area. We have 12 tables now and people can have paninis, pasties, quiches, sausage rolls or sandwiches. We do afternoon teas and we sell Maxine’s cakes. Her lemon drizzle cake flies off the shelves and her cupcakes are amazing. We have a lot of child minders coming for their morning coffee and afternoon tea. We wanted to make it family-friendly.”

At the shop, she eagerly assumed ordering duties, amassing an impressive selection of pickles, chutneys, jams and biscuits. Over the years the store has become Sue’s fantasy larder.

“They are all things you can’t get in the supermarket. People come here for a treat, not to buy their weekly shopping. They want something a bit more unusual.

“I just choose things I want to eat. We update what we sell here a lot. There is no point always buying the same things - it’s not as much fun for me. Obviously you’re always going to stock things like strawberry jam but you change the rest.”

Among the more unusual offerings are grapefruit marmalade, passion fruit and mango curd, not to mention a range of frozen pastries and the shop’s latest arrival, speculoos spread – a breakfast table staple across the Channel.

When the farm closes its doors, leaving the cafe deserted for a few months, Sue does not have the leisure to take a sabbatical from farm work. Instead she has pruning and planting to look forward to – the pick your own does not take care of itself.

“People think that when we lock the gates we go on holiday for six months but there’s always work to do. Farming is a way of life. The gooseberries are my job to prune in February. They are very prickly and it’s freezing. I added it up and it took 50 hours this year. It’s not easy. But I don’t mind any of the land work; that’s where I started.”

Despite the rows of beans, carrots, rhubarb, blackcurrants, raspberries and potatoes as far as the eye can see, the firm favourites at Lotmead and what the farm has built its reputation remain its juicy strawberries. But Sue has a confession to make.

“I prefer raspberries.”

Lotmead is open every day from 9.30am to 7pm until the end of October.

For more details go to www.lotmead.co.uk.