Championing local: Cider Press Centre, Dartington

The wonderful thing about the network of regenerative enterprises we work with is that is doesn’t feel like a supply chain, but a family. We look after our suppliers because we believe in them – bringing their stock to the shop it feels like an honour to pass their produce on to our customers.

I’ve been buying for food for a couple of years. It’s a real passion. We’ve put a lot of work into moving our range on. TripAdvisor reviews used to say ‘You’re met with a wall of chutney and jam’. Not any more. We really have thought about the products we’re selling to local and visitors.

Take our olive oil: we were struggling to get something local of course, but the next best thing is a fantastic Portuguese olive oil shipped to Brixham under sail and delivered by electric van. It’s called Shipped by Sail - so it has a low carbon footprint and comes from small family growers in Portugal. It isn’t the cheapest that’s out there but it has a fantastic story and is a great product, so we see customers choose that over others.

Around 90% of the products we stock are local; it’s hard getting to that 100%. We share as much of that local information as we can with signage and shelf sitters…and of course through our staff. It can feel like a bit of a pressure getting those stories out there, so it’s fantastic when a local brand communicates it themselves.

For example, the Fresh Flour Company supplies us with fresh flour from grain grown on Dartington Estate land and milled nearby in Totnes. They’re absolutely aligning their principles with Dartington and have really striking contemporary packaging that tells the whole story, which is fantastic.

We have to be 100% with the details we’re passing on to the customer. When our local ice cream supplier looked at compostable and biodegradable packaging but decided not to go down that route we had to think again. We swapped to a local alternative with fully compostable packaging and since then our old supplier has told us it’s gone biodegradable too.

It’s wonderful to be able to say we’ve encouraged that change. As retailers we can push the boundaries some times, and really make a change.