Crossroads Farm Shop - Leicestershire

A Farm shop in Eastwell, near Melton Mowbray, has become one of the first local businesses in the county to benefit from the recently launched Rural Retail Development Grant Scheme. This initiative is operated by the Rural Community Council (RCC), and funded by the Leicestershire Economic Partnership and the Leicestershire Rural Partnership.

Crossroads Farm Shop (run by Jane and Alan Hewson) is, however, not just your normal farm shop. They sell the usual array of vegetables and fruits, together with eggs and an assortment of preserves, but a visitor will soon find there is much more to Crossroads than meets the eye.

Firstly, the shop shares premises with a museum. This is not a collection of glass cases with indecipherable labels, but real pieces of solid agricultural heritage hung from the walls and rafters. Hand tools and farming equipment share space with freshly dug potatoes and free-range eggs!

Venturing further into the building the air is filled with the smell of home made cakes, pies and sausage rolls. In the bakery the oven never seems to be switched off. It might be a batch of meat pies or a new recipe chocolate cake for sale in the shop or by the slice in the attached coffee shop.

Finally, within the butchers, meat raised on the farm is proudly displayed, allowing locals and visitors to choose the thickness of their bacon and the size of their Sunday joint.

Kevin Butcher, Rural Officer at the RCC, is delighted to have been able to assist the Hewsons invest in their shop - “this new equipment will enable the business to increase both production and its range of products for sale, helping to meet the ever increasing demand for locally produced goods.