Stuart Gooderham, the owner and founder of Goodies gives an insight to the history of the farm shop. Believe me, its not all plain sailing.

''My late father bought French's Farm in 1959 as a small mixed farm growing wheat, barley, sugar beet and potatoes. Pigs and cattle were reared and then fattened for local markets and butchers throughout the area.
'It seemed to me that diversity was the way forward, so, on leaving school I bought 25 turkeys to sell, as a solo enterprise over the Christmas period, and eventually ended up supplying 600!!!!!'

One time in the 1980's potatoes were only selling for £20 per tonne and my father (who recognized and always encouraged my entrepreneurial spirit) said that if I was to take a tractor and trailer, loaded with bags of potatoes, to a nearby lay-by then he would give me 50p for every bag that I sold. It was not the most pleasurable work standing about in the cold weather but fortunately I was selling between 6 and 8 tonne every weekend and more importantly for me I was meeting customers and listening to what they wanted.

Soon local suppliers wanting to supply me approached me; I also started sourcing suppliers for customer’s requests. From new potatoes to strawberries and asparagus to bedding plants, if someone asked for it I would find the finest quality locally and make it available for my customers.

My knowledge of supply and demand was gained in the invaluable early days of the tractor and trailer and I always listen to my customers who teach me everything I need to know about what they want (and what price they want to pay).