In the Orchid office we’re avid readers of the “Farmer’s Weekly” and we’ve noticed that there’s alot more diversification and value-added enterprise in the farming sector these days. Farm shops seem to be proving a big success story as consumers look to buy more local food.
One such enterprise is located in the village of Ashley on the Leics/Northants border near Market Harborough. Sue Robinson and her family have successfully begun retailing their home-reared beef and lamb through their farm shop. The shop stocks a wide range of everyday grocery items as well as local food specialities.
The beef cattle are slaughtered locally and the sides of beef are returned to the farm to hang in cold storage for 21 days before being prepared in a purpose-built butchery next to the shop. Sue is fortunate to have a long-standing association with a master butcher from Market Harborough, who spends two mornings a week at the farm.
Many new customers come from word-of-mouth recommendation, but there is still a need to advertise the shop locally. A simple, clean-looking website was created by Orchid to help attract new customers, and also inform existing customers about seasonal special offers. Having a website offers a 24/7 shop front at a fraction of the cost of traditional print adverising. These days, it’s becoming second-nature to consumers to search for products and services using Google, in much the same way as they used to reach for the Yellow Pages book. The Ashley Herb Farm website uses other free tools provided by Google to monitor site visitor numbers and also help web users find the shop when they are searching with Google (see below).
