Eastington Farm Shop

The family behind the farm and what’s on offer:

Eastington Farm Shop is a family-run business and farm nestled in the Cotswold countryside. Owned by Hannah Clarke and Ed Spencer, the Spencer’s have been dairy farming the land for generations. They saw a new emerging opportunity to help solve some of the challenges we experience in the 21^st Century. They did this by taking things back to grass roots and using their connections within the local area to help locals access good quality food without having to rely on big supermarket chains, ultimately helping to support the local economy. The family took the plunge to make their long-imagined dream a reality and opened their doors to the public in August 2019.

With over 350 cows located in a beautiful location and supported by 7 skilful staff, the farm has gone from strength-to-strength offering a range of fresh produce to visitors both near and far.

They pride themselves in providing the freshest and top-quality fruit and vegetables and offer a wide range of cheese from various local and sustainable producers.

To tie in with the opening on the farm shop in 2019 they decided to start rearing Angus cows to provide beef for the shop. Over the past few years, they have developed a small herd and have great success in selling the meat direct to their customers.

In early 2021 they decided to take the plunge and invest in their very own pasteuriser and dispenser so that they could sell their delicious milk straight from the farm, supporting their aims of minimising food miles.

The award-winning farm fresh milk in 1 litre or 500ml quantities and offer reusable, screen printed glass bottles which can be used time and time again, thus reducing plastic use.  

Recycling is a big part of what they do at Eastington and so far, they have saved 4000-pint poly bottles from landfill, and they aim to keep this number rising! 

Their Farming Ethos:

They farm in a way that will have a positive impact on the environment and wildlife around the land, such as planting cover crops, till drilling, diversifying crop rotation and the species of plants they grow together.  They are also planting lots of new trees and hedges and restoring old ponds.  The land they farm around Eastington all goes into producing crops to feed the cows to produce the well-known milk.  

They grow a range of feeds including grass, maize, wheat, lucerne and clover.  In the last few years Ed has moved the farm towards more regenerative farming practices by reducing chemicals and eliminating synthetic fertilizer use.

 

Their core driving principals:

Local Low Food-Miles –

Caring for the environment and so go out of their way to source the freshest and most local produce available all year round, so customers don’t have to.

Earth Friendly & Sustainable -

Keeping sustainability at the forefront of everything they do on the farm.  They know that, unless everyone does their bit, they ultimately won't have a farm shop to run.

Fresh Quality Guaranteed -

Customers will find the support needed to make sure that things run smoothly.  The staff are on hand to help with any assistance needed.

 

Regenerative Farming:

On the farm they try and work with nature as much as possible, always thinking what implications each decision they make has for the environment and the wildlife on the farm. 

Leaving the sunflowers so that they don’t get picked to set seed and over winter these provide a useful source of seeds for the birds as well as some cover from the rain and wind. This has supported an increase in the wild pheasant numbers around the farm, as well as smaller songbirds. 

Over the last few years, they have also planted many native trees on the farm, some on field edges as well as some in awkward field corners that will create small pockets of trees in areas that are not very economical with today’s larger equipment. This also provides good hunting habitat for barn owls as the longer untouched grass around the trees is perfect for mice. 

They also manage the hedges on the farm with wildlife in mind not cutting them until the berries and fruit are off the bushes except on fields that are newly planted and will be too soft to travel on over winter.

To try and encourage a few visitors they have also installed different size owl boxes around the farm for little owls and barn owls although there are already resident little owls.

There are lots of plans over the next few years to improve on all this including more trees, bird seed plots, wildflower and pollinator strips to help support the environment and wildlife around the farm.

A word from the owners:

"We love what we do, and hopefully it shows! 

With more than 3 generations of experience in the field, our family know the farming and food industry like the back of our hands. 

We've seen first-hand the challenges that modern life has created and the disconnection between farm and table that has occurred as a result of mass production and industrialisation. As a result, health problems are rising quicker than ever. That's why we decided to create Eastington Farm Shop to help reconnect farmers with the table, so consumers can appreciate their food in a meaningful way. 

 We believe that when there's better transparency about where your food comes from, you're able to make better decisions for you, your family and loved ones, and ultimately the planet." 

- Hannah & Ed 

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