Latest News 

We had a lovely day at FRETTENHAM FESTIVAL on Sunday, 8th August.  Our cherries and plums were particularly popular and we enjoyed meeting lots of people who will hopefully become new customers!

On Weds 9th June we visited CATTON GROVE PRIMARY SCHOOL and talked to two Year 3 classes about locally produced food and farming.  We all had a great time!  The children asked some really interesting questions.  They have written us a fantastic thank you card which is in the shop.....have a look next time you visit us.  We hope to see you all again soon.

Our SPRING FOOD FESTIVAL ON 22nd May went with a real swing!  The turnout was great and everyone enjoyed tasting the delicious flavours from around our region.  The childrens activities were a real success and hopefully eveyone left with a bit more knowledge about food, farming and the countryside!  Thank you for bringing the sunshine with you!

FACE TRAINING DAY - HFG joined forces with Easton College on 5th May to work with farmers and teachers at HFG Farm Shop.  The day was about how to organise school visits.  The speakers included Sally Bendell from Hollow Trees Farm Shop in Suffolk and the Deputy Head of Acle High School.  The day was sponsered by FACE.  A very successful day full of ideas!

The COUNTRY TRUST have approached us to work with them on a wonderful new project called Norfolk Food Discovery.  This is to encourage healthy eating in Norfolk's primary school children and their families. It will enable children from 18 schools in disadvantaged urban areas of Norwich and Great Yarmouth to spend time on their own growing patch: growing food, then harvesting and cooking it in a grand harvest feast for their community and friends.  Some of the children from Norwich schools will be working on three growing areas at HFG Farm Shop.  We will be able to work with the children and teach them more about food, farming and the countryside. Hopefully the children will be able to enjoy eating more heathily together with their families as a result. It is so exciting to think that this opportunity will enhance the work we already do with local schools and help more children make the link between the food they eat and the countryside that produces it.  The project hinges on a successful bid in the Big Lottery's Local Food Programme which goes in this week....fingers crossed - we'll keep you posted! 

We are pleased to launch our delicious EXCLUSIVE range of products (see below) made for us by Tavern Tasty Meats to our own special recipes!  They are going down a storm already.....have you tried them yet.......

BEESTON BURGER - grillious!

BEESTON BEEF & STILTON PIE - small, medium and large sizes.  This one is cooked in red wine and is simply scrummy - selling like hot cakes....or should we say pies!  Look out for it!

BEESTON BACON - especially cured for us - smoked and unsmoked back and streaky - really tasty!

The BEESTON BANGER! our scrummy sausage...... they're selling REALLY well and we have had some great feedback. 

Let us know what you think!

BRAMLEY APPLE WEEK - 7th-14th Feb - stock up on Bramleys and try some of our delicious Bramley apple recipes

VALENTINES DAY - 14th Feb - chocolates and recipe ideas for that 'special evening in'

SHROVE TUESDAY - 16th Feb- come to HFG Farm Shop for all your pancake needs including flour from Letheringsett Water Mill, and  Silver Spoon sugar from our region plus locally produced eggs and milk....we will have lemons too of course!

LOVE CHIP WEEK - 15th-21st Feb - have a go at making healthier chips with our recipes...otherwise why not spoil yourself for once!

NEST BOX WEEK 14th-21st Feb - 10% off our nest boxes all week!

BURNS NIGHT - 25th January - don't forget your haggis from HFG farm Shop!

FARMHOUSE BREAKFAST WEEK - 24th-30th january - lots of tastings going on all week - enjoy a LOCAL start to the day in 2010!  See our activities and events page for more about Farmhouse Breakfast Week!

WOODLAND VIEW SCHOOL SPIXWORTH - THANK YOU to the children for the wonderful Christmas decorations - our customers LOVED them!  We hope you enjoyed our talk about healthy eating and hope to see you all again soon!

NATIONAL SAUSAGE WEEK - 2nd-8th November - come and try delicious sausages from Norfolk before you buy!

REDUCED SUGAR CONSERVES - come and meet the producer!  Finalist in the Country Living 'Britain's Best Food Producers' competition.  Saturday, 31st October 2009 - 10.30-3.30

PINK FRIDAY - 30th October as usual we will be celebrating PINK FRIDAY and collecting for breast cancer.  Come and see our 'pink witches'!

FACEBOOK find us on FACEBOOK to find our up to the minute news!

PRIZE DRAW WINNERS - each winning a delicious HFG fruit basket - congratulations to Jill Brighten who wins the June prize draw and to and the Whitehouse family who have won the draw which they entered at our stand at the Norfolk Show.  We hope you enjoy them!

WELL DONE to Francesca Zagni who won our DO YOU KNOW YOUR ONIONS quiz at the Spring Fling on Thursday, 16th April.  Francesca answered all the questions correctly and guessed that there were 21 onions in the jar!  Congratulations and we hope you will enjoy your prize.

Our Easter Extravaganza went with a swing - thanks to the unexpected sunny, dry day!  Well over 1,000 peolle supported the event.  The children loved sitting on the BIG John Deere tractor, making Easter cards and the Easter Egg Hunt.  The 'foodies' enjoyed chatting to our suppliers and growers and tasting some of their wonderful wares.  A great day with lots of new faces!  A special thank you to our suppliers for all your support.

 EASTER EXTRAVAGANZA - HFG FARM SHOP BEESTON ST ANDREW - SATURDAY 4th APRIL 10am-4pm

A day of FREE family fun!   Come and meet the suppliers and growers - learn more about their wonderful products and TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!  See our rare breed bull - Peppermint Lump and the Norfolk Horns from the Sallowes Flock, find out more about food, farming and the countryside, healthy eating, make Easter cards, join in our Easter egg hunt, ice creams and lamb burgers......and MUCH MORE!

DO YOU KNOW YOUR ONIONS QUIZ?  CONGRATULATIONS to Mrs Horne from Blofield!  We had lots of entries - so well done everyone.  No one got full marks - but Mrs Horne got 29 out of 30!  Mrs Horne wins one of our delicious fruit hampers.  The answers are in our shops from week beginning 30th March 2009

November 27th  Thank you to everyone who nominated us for the Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards 'FARMER OF THE YEAR AWARD'.  We reached the final three nationally - but unfortunately didn't win, but had a thoroughly good time at the awards ceremony at the NEC on Wednesday evening.  We are very proud to have come so far among such strong competition.  

October 31st  Thank you to everyone who gave so generously to  PINK FRIDAY at HFG.  We raised £103 for breast cancer research.  A special thanks to Sharon who arranged this and to the girls for looking so fetching in their pink attire......in particular Pauline....the pink nightie went down a storm!!  All good fun in aid of such a serious and worthwhile cause.

Thank you to everyone who came and enjoyed such a wonderful day with us on Saturday, 20th September at our 'Food, Farming and the Countryside' Open Day at  Blofield.  We hope you all enjoyed yourselves as much as we did!  The sun shone and it was fantastic to see the children having so much fun milking Betsy, apple bobbing, making apple juice, meeting our rare breed farm animals, enjoying tractor and trailer rides, our trail....and lots more!    Around 600 people attended which was fabulous! 

Come and enjoy tastings and meeting our local suppliers in our farm shops over BRITISH FOOD FORTNIGHT (20th September-5th October).

We have just heard that we are one of three finalists in the 'Best Farmer' category in Radio 4s Food and Farming Competition........we'll keep you posted!

September 2008 We were delighted to take second place in the EDP Food Awards 'Plough to Plate Championship' on Monday 15th September....just pipped at the post by Norfolk Farmhouse Ice Cream.........we sell their delicious ice cream in our shops!  Congratulations to them - deserving winners!  Our thanks go to all our customers who nominated us.

A great time was had by all those 4,500 people (mainly children) who attended the Spring Fling on Thursday 27th March.  It was wonderful to see so many happy and interested faces. 

Well done to all those who entered our 'Fruit and Veg competition'  The winner was Josh Sculfor from Great Moulton.  WELL DONE Josh!  By the way..................there were 209 onions in the jar!

Photos of the day to follow.

 AWARDS UPDATE!

THANK YOU to all our customers who nominated us for the Eastern Daily Press Shop Here 'Shop Here Hub Award'. We were delighted to learn this week that we are one of the finalists.  The winner will be announced in the EDP on Monday 24th March.

 

Best Rural Retailer

7th February 2008 FANTASTIC NEWS!  We have WON the Countryside Alliance's 'Best Local Food Retailer' category in their NATIONAL 'Best Rural Retailer' competition.  We are over the moon to have received this very prestigious award in the face of very stiff competition over the whole of the UK.  A big thank you to all those customers who nominated us!  Judy, Nick, Neil, Carol and Pauline went to a reception at the House of Lords on Wednesday to hear the results.  It was a great day!   Photos to follow

..................and as if that wasn't enough..........did you see us on the Alan Titchmarsh Show?  We were invited on following our success in the Rural Retailer of the Year Awards to talk about the importance of eating locally produced food.  It's official - HFG is now an 'Alan Titchmarsh National Treasure'!  Our thanks to everyone at the BBC Television Centre, Shepherds Bush for such a great day.

We are thrilled to tell you that we were one of the finalists in the EDP Norfolk Food Awards 2007 in two categories 'Plough to Plate Champion' and 'Best of Norfolk Award'.  We were just pipped at the post, but are nevertheless delighted to have done so well.  We are also really please to tell you that we were one of 10 UK finalists in the national FARMA (Natinal Farmer's Retail & Markets Association) 'Own and Local Award' and one of 8 UK finalists in the 'Farm Retail of the Year Award'.  A real achievement.

  

FARMHOUSE BREAKFAST WEEK 20th-26th January

We celebrated this special week at our farm shop and and our customers learned more about the importance of eating a good breakfast.  We visited Thorpe House School in Norwich and explained to the children where and how the food they eat for breakfast is produced.  It was great fun!  Thank you for having us!

Breakfast, or literally 'breaking the fast'   Is it really the most important meal of the day?  81% of us think so and 40% of those spend less than 10 minutes preparing and eating it!  Farmhouse Breakfast Week is a campaign to encourage us all to enjoy a healthy lifestyle with 'A Great Start' to the day ahead.  The campaign highlights the nutritional value of breakfast as part of a balanced diet and also provides a wonderful opportunity for us all to enjoy the delicious flavours from around our region.  You can look at it from another angle too - a time to spend a few minutes together as a family................or a bit longer if you go down the full English route!

During Farmhouse Breakfast Week farmers and retailers are being encouraged to hold events and celebrate the wealth of high quality local produce in their areas.  It is so important that we all cut down on our food miles, so helping the environment and make the link between the food we eat and the countryside that produces it. 

So why is breakfast so good for us?  By eating just a bowl of cereal each morning you will be more alert, less tired and perform better all day and that goes for your children as well.  Recent research has shown that children who eat breakfast are less likely to suffer from memory or attention span difficulties.  For those of you who over indulged during the festive season there's good news too - you're much less likely to snack!

Bread and cereals provide energy, vitamins and fibre, whilst just one serving of milk on your muesli provides around half your recommended daily intake.  Ever heard the saying 'Go to work on a egg'?  Eggs are packed with goodies - vitamins, protein and minerals.  Did you know that in the UK we eat a phenomenal 27 million eggs each day?  One third of those are eaten for breakfast!  Part of your 5-a-day can be incorporated into breakfast as well - a glass of apple or orange juice or a grapefruit perhaps?

So go on make another New Year's resolution - eat breakfast.................it's good for you, it's fast and it's local!  It really is 'A Great Start'!

SCHOOL AND GROUP VISITS

We have welcomed many many children and adults to our farm,  and farm shop over the summer and autumn including hosting a conference about how to develop a farm shop last week.  75 children from Falcon Road First School joined us at HFG Beeston on 17th October.  They really enjoyed learning how to make a Jack a Lantern, how to grow things, all about sugar beet, tasting raw fruit and veg and generally learning more about food, farming and the countryside.  It was a great morning!  Hopefully we will have some photos soon.

If you would like us to organise a group visit for you, please let us know!

FARMING FOOD AND THE COUNTRYSIDE OPEN DAY - HFG Blofield - Sunday 20th May 2007

A beautiful day which went with a swing!  The aim of the day was for children (and adults!) to learn more about traditional fruit and vegetable production, the importance of eating a healthy diet, farming and the countryside.  The tractor and trailer rides were a real hit with the youngsters - the trailer was full all day!  We hope that those of you who strolled round our fruit and vegetable growing site and orchards enjoying the warmth of the spring sunshine and peace and quiet of the Norfolk countryside learned something new. Hearing about bee keeping and seeing the inside of an actual hive, was particularly fascinating.  Our quizzes were a further opportunity to learn more about fruit and vegetable production and we had lots of entries - the winners will be announced soon!

Acle Young Farmer's Club spent the day washing cars and raised money for YFC and Down's Syndrome Norfolk and Roger Human from Tavern Tasty Meats cooked a BBQ, with a little help from his step sons, and raised money for the 2nd Brundall Scout Group and Down's Syndrome Norfolk.  A huge thank you to them all! 

All in all a very successful 'community spirited' day and one we would very much like to build on next year.  Photos of the day coming soon!

HFG went to The Spring Fling at the Norfolk Show Ground on 12th April. 


The Spring Fling is a day of learning and fun about food, farming and the countryside.  We taught the children more about fruit and vegetables and how we grow them.  The theme this year was 'taste' so we took some sugar beet for them to try!  It was a great day!
HRH at HFG!  On 27th March His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales visited HFG Farm Shop and met our team, customers and some of the producers and suppliers we work closely with. The Prince congratulated us and said that our efforts had "warmed his heart" and that he was thrilled to witness the succes of the initiative and stressed how important such schemes are. 

What a day!  In the late afternoon sunshine His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales arrived at HFG Farm Shop accompanied by Richard Jewson, the Lord Lieuenant of Norfolk, to frantically waving Union Jacks, screams of excitement and a Welsh song from the pupils of our local school, Woodland View Middle, at Spixworth.  They use our vegetables in their cookery lessons.  

In January 2006, I wrote to His Royal Highness to tell him about the positive way in which we farm - family farms working co-operatively- and about our ethos to supply fresh, locally produced food in our farm shops and PYO sites, and suggested that if he were passing, he might like to call in, which is exactly what he did to the delight of our staff and guests! 

A great ambassador and advocate for good food and agriculture in the UK, Prince Charles, was a truly fabulous guest in every way - interested, relaxed and obviously very knowledgeable and enjoying himself, he said that our efforts had "warmed his heart" and that he was "thrilled" to witness the success of the initiative and stressed how important such schemes are. 

Richard Gurney, Director and Chair of HFG thanked His Royal Highness for championing farming and the British food industry and encouraged the Prince to "keep on a mardlin"!  HRH replied by saying "I have felt for a long time that what you are doing with this shop and supporting local farmers is so much what is required in todays world; people collaborating together to produce high quality products.  You are telling a story which is so important.  In this age of globalisation, paradoxically, people are searching more and more for a local identity.  It warms my heart to see the degree to which you all work together.  All power to your agricultural elbows!"

From the arrival of our guests to waving goodbye to His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, Tuesday, 27th March 2007 was a magical day and one we will always treasure.  The Royal heart wasn't the only one to leave 'warmed' that evening!                                                             JUDITH TAYLOR - FOR HFG


 

 

 

 

 

  


Pupils from Horning First School visited HFG Blofield in February

The children came to look around our fruit and vegetable growing fields.  They eat our fruit and vegetables for lunch everyday, so wanted to see how and where we grow it!  They bought some fruit and veg, which they cooked and invited top chef Richard Hughes from The Lavender House in Brundall for lunch!  Apparently he had a great time!  Hopefully the children will come back to visit us again in the summer to see how everything has changed with the seasons.

HFG were visted by the President of the Women's Food & Farming Union.  

      

  
  
  
  



BBC Radio Norfolk came to find out about pumpkins.
  
Wednesday 25th October 2006

Radio Norfolk's Wally Webb and 'Andy' chat about pumpkins!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easton College came to visit

Friday 20th October 2006

Students from Easton College's 'Working Skills for Life Course' joined us to learn about the difference between farm shops and supermarkets.

 

 

 

 

  

HFG visit House of Lords                                                         Tuesday 17th October 2006

HFG were invited to represent Norfolk at the Parliamentary Food and Health Forum at the House of Lords. Alexia Robinson talked about British Food Fortnight, which she founded five years ago, and the benefits of buying locally produced food.  HFG took lots of locally produced produce with them and took part in the debate.