EMMA DUNN reports on a farm shop where food miles are kept to a minimum

LOCAL produce doesn’t come much more local than at Three Trees Farm Shop.

The Chiseldon-based family business sells meat and eggs from its farm just around the corner, including dry cure bacon, which has become a particular favourite with the customers.

And to add to their local angle, the farm shop has just opened a new extension with a cafe serving homemade cakes, as well as sandwiches, baguettes, burgers and breakfasts made using their own meat.

The farm shop, which also sells produce from across the area, is run by husband and wife Ian and Beth McMurray and Ian’s sister, Clare Wood, who started the business together in May 2010.

It was formed as a way of selling produce from Ian and Clare’s parents’ farm, South Farm, on the old Chiseldon army camp just around the corner.

Beth, 32, who formerly worked in statistics and research, said: “We all had normal jobs but weren’t really enjoying them. I worked for the council doing statistics and research, Clare was doing planning for the council and Ian managed farming estates.

“Two years before we opened in 2010, we started selling our beef and pork at farmers’ markets. When we were there everyone kept saying ‘why don’t you have a farm shop?’ “There wasn’t a lot in the area and we decided to go for it.”

South Farm is home to about 75 cows, 150 sheep and 20 pigs currently, who roam over 130 acres of farmland.

It is owned by Gary and Sarah McMurray. Sarah’s dad, Fred Butcher, took the land over from the army when they left.

The family still live on the farm, and their house is next to the old railway siding where the pigs now live.

Ian and Beth, who are parents to 20-month-old Sidney, met at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, where Sarah was studying a masters in agriculture and Ian was studying a masters in land management.

Ian and his parents tend to run the farm side of the business while Clare and Beth tend to run the shop. Clare, who is pregnant with her second child, is mum to 15-month-old Samuel.

Beth said: “The shop is an outlet for all our produce. We also sell items made by other local producers such as Berkeley Farm Dairy in Wroughton and Stainswick Farm in Shrivenham. It’s important to know about the food and where it comes from.

“We’re trying to supply local food and meet the needs of the local community.

“The shop is full of things I like eating myself. If I don’t like it it’s not coming in!

“When we’re sourcing our produce we start as close to the shop as possible and if there is nothing in the area, we look further out.”

Produce available at the shop includes items from Marshfield Bakery, Stainswick Farm, soap and body butter from Bishopstone, Old Town honey, Berkeley Farm Dairy, Brinkworth Dairy and Wiltshire Tea.

“Sometimes it’s not possible to stock local produce, such as bananas, but we stock them anyway as the customers want them,” said Beth.

Since leaving her job at the council, Beth hasn’t looked back.

“I used to get paid quite well at the council but I just wasn’t enjoying it. Here you get your regulars and it’s a little family of people,” she said.

Peter John and apprentice Laura Moreland work at the store’s butchery, where they also make their own sausages, dry cure bacon and burgers.

Laura, 22, has been an apprentice butcher at Three Trees Farm Shop for three months.

“There is a lot to learn and sometimes I get worried I might cut the meat wrong, but Peter is a really good teacher. He is really skilled,” she said.

And if you want to try before you buy, head to the new cafe, which has replaced a much smaller one, to try the meat in a variety of dishes alongside other produce available in store.

The cafe is managed by Nuala Hammond, who started at Three Trees Farm Shop three weeks ago, and formerly ran the Town Hall Tea Rooms in Royal Wootton Bassett.

“The fact we can use such fresh produce is wonderful. You can make such high quality food when you have that available to you,” she said.

“Our cakes are all homemade and we get good comments about them too. It’s nice when people appreciate what you have made.”

For more information visit http://www.threetreesfarm.co.uk/ or phone 01793 741436.

Three Trees Farm Shop is open from 9.30am until 5.30pm Wednesday to Saturday, and 10am until 4pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays.