A look back at the year we turned 30 and celebrated growing strawberries for 45 years.
We celebrated our 30th birthday on July 7th 2022. This coincided with the 5th anniversary of the ‘new shop’ rebuilt after the fire of 27th June 2016.
We invited a few of our fantastic local suppliers for an afternoon of tastings, including a few of our own homemade delights; Napton Cidery, Seriously Good Brownies and The Revel Bakery.
Tilly, Fran, Mark, John, Richard, Olivia & Chris Lea
July 2022 Rebecca’s Kitchen the onsite independent coffee shop celebrated their 5th birthday in the Farm Shop, holding a family fun day on 9th July in the garden area.
The commencement of this year’s strawberry season marked 45 years of growing our own at Malt Kiln Farm. We began planting strawberries in the autumn of 1976, back in those days’ strawberries went in the ground the year before they were to fruit. Spring 2004 was when we first planted our first crop of tabletop strawberries, increasing the number of tables in 2012 and finally in 2020, all our strawberries are now grown on tabletops. Benefitting the backs and knees of our farm team and PYO customers!
12th July 2022 another special date; John Lea the man that started it all at Malt Kiln Farm celebrated his 80th! John is no longer involved in the growing of the strawberries, handing the baton onto the youngest of his four sons, Richard, some years ago.
Other notable events.
Super Moo, the young farmers mascot
May 28th, we hosted a charity event The Fair, with Pailton & District YFC to raise money for Mercia MS Therapy Centre. A local charity which means a lot to us, they provide therapies for people with long term illnesses and conditions at affordable rates. The event included The Alpaca Pals, Mini Rovers and 40 or so local stalls. A fantastic £1965.50 was raised!
Along with the rest of the nation at the start of June we celebrated Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee, hanging our regal bunting inside the shop for the occasion.
Suzanne Lea 14th October 1943 – 23rd December 2022
We finished the year with the return of our Festive Shopping Evening, a lovely evening and great for those looking for Christmas gifts for foodies, with a handful of our local suppliers offering samples; Fowlers of Earlswood Cheese, Holt Hall Apiary, Mrs main’s Apple Juice, Rugby Distillery, Ringswood Ice Cream and Willow and Hive, leather goods. Our butchers and deli counter also offered tastings.
Sadly on 23rd December Suzanne Lea died. Sue was John’s wife and as well as raising four sons, through her support and hard work, helped establish the pick your own and early semblance of the farm shop.
Thank you to all of those who have supported Malt Kiln Farm over the last 45 years.
We would like to wish all our customers, suppliers, staff and supporters a healthy and joyful 2023.