From the Farmer

• We will continue to grow the Farm, Rural Care, education partnerships, and school visits, which currently employ over half the team.
• Pub, Café, Food Production and Catering improvements are planned, as we are investing in a new team headed by Becca who is overseeing in a new post.
• Recruited for new post of customer experience director – Claire will be joining us 20^th March to oversee all aspects of shop, retail, visitor experiences, events, reception, and meet and greet.
• Camping and glamping is expected to be the same number of people as last year but higher spend per head with us providing luxury tipi tents and glamping extras.
• Improving the farm trail and membership offer.
• Online Farm Shop, Farm Box Delivery, Meat for the Week, Wholesale outlets—We are opening up Free Friday delivery to all of Hertfordshire and North London.
• Developing and continuing to grow the market for our food and produce at Aldenham Country Park which we run, and has 200,000 visitors a year.
• Developing the Café and Farm Shop at Aldenham.
• Creating additional apprenticeships following on from recent successes.
• We will increase number of breeding cattle from 34 to 60 between Church Farm and Aldenham.
• No increase is planned for other livestock and poultry.
• We aim to grow 2 acres more field vegetables—extra pumpkins, carrots and parsnips.
• Growing Maris Piper spuds this year.
• Corporate Days out in the week—real activities for team building events helping on the farm.
• Quiet Family Camping – we will continue to ensure that neither fellow campers nor neighbours are disturbed by amplified music and aim to have zero complaints on this again.
• We are giving up the weddings and music events that we did up to 2016, which has resulted in a £60,000 revenue reduction. Plans this year include addressing this.
• We will be planting 2 acres in plots of the farm this year for butterflies and bees: Sainfoin, Winter Vetch, Alsike Clover, Red Clover, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Lucerne, Black Knapweed and Musk Mallow.

—Tim

 

Lucerne