Countryside Alliance Awards
Date: 23 January 2009
Newlyns Farm Shop is pleased to announce that they have won the Best Local Food Retailer category in the Countryside Alliance Awards 2008. The fourth annual awards were handed out at a Parliamentary reception in London yesterday. The Awards, nicknamed "The Rural Oscars" honour the countryside through people who work so hard to preserve its communities, traditions and enterprise.
Countryside Alliance Board Member Baroness Golding and Chief Executive Simon Hart presided over the fourth annual House of Lords reception which was attended by regional award winners and Parliamentarians keen to congratulate rural Britain's best. The Countryside Alliance Awards run over five categories, and the national winners have been drawn from those who won their regional title.
The awards received thousands of applicants and Newlyns Farm Shop beat of stiff competition including Briddlesford Lodge Farm Shop, Wootton, Isle of Wight, Farmhouse Fayre, Newport, Isle of Wight and the New Forest Farm Shop, Salisbury, Hampshire to become the Best Local Food Retailer. The Countryside Alliance said that Newlyns are "A family run farm, farm shop, cookery school, community hub and charitable fundraiser, Newlyns is straight out of the top drawer and Hampshire is lucky to have it. The commitment to top quality produce is total, and it's impossible to list how much this family does for farming and for its community, and all with a great sense of enjoyment, which is as it should be."
The Janaway family who own Newlyns Farm, Farm Shop and Cookery School have been farming in the heart of Hampshire for four generations. The family operate a 500 acre traditional mixed farm producing beef cattle, outdoor pigs, sheep, free-range chickens, free-range turkeys and geese at Christmas, as well as growing cereal crops. This type of mixed farm with its diverse range of enterprises, many of which compliment each other, is a dying breed as many farms become specialised or are forced to streamline their operations by rising costs and lack of available labour.
Their award winning sausages, bacon, hams and barbecue specialities are made by their team of resident butchers. Newlyns beef is hung for a minimum of three weeks and is fully traceable. Using their own meat and locally sourced fresh produce they produce their own range of 'Newlyns ready-meals', desserts, soups and stocks. In addition to fresh meat and delicatessen fine cooked foods, the shop stocks locally produced seasonal vegetables, fruit, sauces, conserves and dairy products.
Newlyns are already the proud owners of many awards including the Inspire 2008 Rural Business, Supreme Champion from the Two Counties Sausage & Pie Champion Challenge, the Hampshire Life Best Butcher/Meat Producers 2007 and the Hampshire Life Best Farmshop 2005 and 2008.
The Newlyns Cookery School prides itself on showing pupils how to get the best out of the seasonal foods that are produced and sold in their farm shop. Cookery courses are held for anyone wanting to learn the basics, to preparing impressive specialist menus. They offer Hands-On courses for up to 12 people or Demonstration courses for up to 20 and all of the courses are designed to be fun and interesting.
Newlyns chefs inspire their pupils to cook with imagination, passion and enjoyment. Whether a complete novice in the kitchen or wanting advanced training, they will guide you through fundamental techniques and at the end of the course you will relax in our dining area and enjoy your finished creations.
The cookery school also offers courses for young chefs, as they understand that for many parents the pressure of finding exciting and interesting activities to occupy children, especially during the school holidays, can be daunting. The cookery school offers courses for varying age ranges which are guaranteed to educated, inspire and exhaust even the most unlikely junior chefs!
For further information please contact: Louise Irvine louise@spincitypr.com
Tel: 07786 062008 or 01256 861196