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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 shops 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 farms, PYO sites and farm shops 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.