IAN McMurray is no work-shy owner, waltzing in for his morning latte and nibble of lemon drizzle before leaving his dutiful busy bees to pick up the slack.

Shaking his head at my suggestion we sit down, he plants himself firmly by the butchery section; a vantage point from which he can survey virtually every corner of Three Trees Farm Shop, ready to swoop in to chop this, bag that or, as he does within seconds, rearrange a few askew cakes on the otherwise perfectly lined-up pastry display.

Nothing escapes the gimlet-eyed farmer and he is a tough act to follow - literally.

When not hunching down behind the counter to reach for sausage links, he paces around the meat block reeling off the list of ingredients for his next Christmas banger (cranberry and port) - with a segue into the difficulty of gauging the right fortified wine to meat ratio - all before disappearing into the walk-in freezer, home to half a dozen Bronze turkeys.

He spent 40 minutes hand-plucking each bird the previous day, he adds by the by amid the frigid air, but was back at work, reporting for duty at 6am sharp that morning to tend to his beloved swine herd.

This is as far as he will elaborate on the matter.

The no-nonsense entrepreneur is not one for praise and does not own up to his achievements easily. Each snippet of information has to be cunningly coaxed out of him. When the subject turns to his never-ending list of chores, though, he is more forthcoming.

"I’ve got three or four jobs on the go at any one time,” he relents, but only after a thorough grilling. “When we’re short-staffed I do the butchering. I'm learning on the trade but I have a good team of butchers here,” explains the 35-year-old. “But I do very little in the café. I'm just a pot-washer every now and again. I cut the hedges and grass around the shop. I'm quite hands on, I like doing things myself. But I'm getting better.

“I’m a jack of all trade, master of none,” he deadpans.

His wife Beth is equally publicity-shy, and only too happy to return to shelf-stacking after a brief, but warm, welcome. Three Trees Farm Shop is no vanity project; that much is clear.

"I don't do proud," says Ian matter-of-fact. "I'm always looking to the future, at what I can do better."

Three Trees Farm Shop and Café is undoubtedly a labour of love. Ian, after all, built it from the ground up, with the help of his father, who, as luck would have it worked in construction before joining his wife’s family business at South Farm.

Growing up on 300 acres of land amid cattle and swine, from a young age Ian developed a passion and appreciation for farming - especially pig rearing, he points out. Though it was not quite enough to convince him to join the family business, not at first anyway.

After a few years working for a supermarket chain, he enrolled at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester to train in rural estate management.

There he met Beth, who was studying sustainable farming - something which is at the core of the business to this day. Eventually after a spell as a rural surveyor, he returned to the fold with his wife.

"When you farm, you don’t really join the family business,” he hastens to add. “You slowly evolve back into it.”

They dreamt up the shop in 2012, as a means to diversify and secure the farm's future.

Within a few months, the shop with its modest little café had reached capacity. Two years ago, Ian and his father slipped back in their overalls to raise a purpose built café extension.

Three Trees now boasts a large butcher's section and shop, selling South Farm’s lamb, beef, pork and turkey and local produce sourced from nearby suppliers, and a spacious café, headed by pastry chef and manager Nuala Hammond. The coffee shop, with its freshly baked cakes, mounds of scones and heart-warming soups, and burgers has become Three Trees' biggest draw.

The butcher shop is faring equally well after scooping a bronze award in the National Sausage Competition 2016 in October for its Railway Sausage; a smoky banger inspired by the farm’s proximity to the old railway line in Chiseldon and the old custom of cooking sausages on a shovel in the engine on steam locomotives.

“Next year we’ll enter a ‘joke one’ which is called Old Fart Sausage,” says Ian with a deep belly laugh. “It’s got Brussels sprouts and bake beans.”

The shop and café are his and wife Beth's domain, though Ian is still involved in farming. But for the most part the animal rearing is his mother Sarah McMurray and father Gary’s remit. South Farm, which has been in the family since 1936, is home to around 40 cows, 120 sheep, 50 pigs and now, ahead of the festive binge, a rafter of Bronze turkeys. In fact the café is preparing to unveil a new two or three-course lunch menu, available throughout December, featuring Three Trees' signature turkey roast stuffed with sage and onion and served with all the trimmings.

While many would be content to take stock and smell the roses, Ian's thoughts are firmly on the future. And his to-do list is only growing.

"We're in the middle of working out what we want to do next. We want to have our own deli, educate children and show them around the farm, have live lambing and our own commercial kitchen to make our own range of frozen meals and we’ve already started doing our own range of cakes,” he catches his breath. Time allowing, he has his sight set on building a ‘hobbit house’ for his wife and four-year-old son Sidney.

“There is so much we want to do: it's either the beginning, or the beginning of the end,” he chuckles to himself. “Actually I think it’s the end of the beginning."

Three Trees Farm Shop and Café will hold a special Christmas shopping bonanza tomorrow between 5.30pm and 8pm. Loyalty Card holders will receive double points at the event. Cards will be on offer on the night. Three Trees Farm is based at The Ridgeway, SN40HT. For more details go to www.threetreesfarm.co.uk or call 01793 741436.