Latest news with #2025CountrysideAllianceAwards
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The gem of a family butchers and farm shop named the best in the South East
It's the family run New Forest butchers with a difference, an award winning farm shop where local produce takes centre stage. And now The Farmers Butcher, at Swallowfields Farm in Bramshaw, has been named the best in the South East. Owners of eight years Michael and Sarah Alexander are thrilled with their latest accolade, from the 2025 Countryside Alliance Awards. (Image: The Farmers Butcher)READ MORE: Restaurateur to turn his late Dad's beloved former Indian into Texan Smokehouse Described as a gem by judges, who are set to announce the national winner next month, The Farmer's Butcher champions, supplies and delivers high quality, local farm products, at reasonable prices. Foodies visiting their new shop and picket fenced outdoor café area, which opened just over a year ago, can also treat themselves to a wide range of fresh vegetables, cooking sauces, chutneys, and other deli items. Specialising in quality, local meats there's pork from the Commoners Larder, chicken from Noah's Ark, lamb from Parsonage Farm, and beef from other Hampshire and Wiltshire farms. All products, wherever possible, are sourced from local businesses, mostly in the New Forest. If unavailable locally, The Farmer's Butcher buys from small ethical producers, including a few in Devon. Mike told the Daily Echo: "When presented with such an abundance of quality produce on our doorstep, it seems an act of treason to look elsewhere for suppliers. "I can turn up and see exactly where it comes from whenever I feel the need." (Image: The Farmers Butcher) The premises include an on-site kitchen where a chef produces their ready-to-cook range. That's stocked alongside fresh bread, local cakes, ready-to-go hot food, such as homemade sausage rolls and pies, and coffee to takeaway or enjoy outside, using sustainable packaging wherever possible. The Farmer's Butcher, a former Taste Awards winner for its bacon, hosts local product tasting events, pop up cafés and hands-on butchery masterclasses. There's regular barbecues, meet the producer events and a web shop with local deliveries available. The shop will now represent the South East at the UK-wide Countryside Alliance Awards final at the House of Lords in London on June 18.
BBC News
27-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Shropshire pub nominated for award six months after reopening
The manager of a Shropshire pub has said she was left "gobsmacked" when it was nominated for a regional award six months after Castle Inn in Bletchley, near Market Drayton, was closed until local farmer and long-term pub regular Adrian Marsh bought the building last initially tried to run it himself but realised he was too busy with other commitments, so he enlisted the help of Davina Warmer and her husband, was closed again for refurbishment before it reopened in August, and it has since been nominated in the best Midlands pub category in the 2025 Countryside Alliance Awards. Mrs Warmer told BBC Radio Shropshire: "We were gobsmacked. A lot of the contenders have been running for 10, 15 or 20 years, and we're very new to the game after opening six months ago."All of the staff have worked so hard since day one to get to where we are now. It's really very difficult to make a good reputation in this industry when you bring something back that's been closed for a long period of time." The refurbishment involved £45,000 worth of improvements to the interior, including new flooring, repainted walls and new furniture."It's a beautiful building, architecturally very nice, and it catches people's eyes as they go past," Mrs Warmer said."It obviously needed quite a bit of work to get it up to a nice standard, but we're getting there."Mr Marsh said he had been going to The Castle Inn for 31 years and had a lot of happy memories."It used to be a tremendous drinking hole for people going to the sea," he added."It's been a really, really good place, and Davina and Dan are getting it back to being a really good place."The award winners will be decided by a public vote which is being run on the Countryside Alliance website until 6 April. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
