Farm Shop Sweeps the Board

The Uttoxeter-based retailer won nearly half of the awards presented at the event, a number not won by a company before. The team were awarded Best Farm Shop 2014, Tea Room of the Year, NFU Local Champion of the Year and Local Grower of the Year.

Employee Colette Malburn won the shop’s fifth award, the Best Personal Service Award, following her work at the site’s tea room.

The site has recently undergone a major expansion, to include a larger shop space, gift shop, an enlarged butchery and kitchen, and a terrace with views over the local river.

It has enabled the couple, who have created 10 extra jobs as part of the expansion, to grow their range of locally sourced products, offer a wider range of food in the café – including fresh home-made pies and pizzas - and introduce a range of gift items.

Rupert said, “Over the last 10 months everyone at Denstone Hall has worked tirelessly to get our new premises ready and winning these awards is the ultimate reward for the entire team. Although our new home is four times the size of the previous building, we have worked hard to ensure that our focus remains on food, family and farming and these awards prove this is still very much at the heart of everything we do.

“Naturally we are incredibly proud of all five awards, but we were particularly pleased to receive the Best Farm Shop accolade twinned with the Local Food Grower prize because we believe our home made produce, local meats and own-produced beef are the very best you can get. We set out to create a farm shop that serves both the community and local producers, and one that can rival big chains and supermarkets, and we couldn’t be prouder that our hard work has been recognised.”

Rachel Jones, spokeswoman for Taste of Staffordshire said, “The judges found the quality of the products in Denstone’s farm shop clearly visible – they are innovative and of excellent quality. They are produced in keeping with the company’s ethics and image - local, home produced, free range/organic. It is a fabulous environment, bright and modern, with an excellent range of produce and products.

“They have worked very hard to refurbish the site – it has a great atmosphere and buzz, but has still retained its values. There is a huge emphasis on local, home-sourced produce. The working farm and butchery provides excellent meat to the open kitchen where staff could be seen preparing dishes to order. The owners have an obvious passion for their business and they have recruited some lovely staff. The welcome we received was outstanding.”