Early 2024 we hope to open the doors to Market Field Farm
Our plans have been drawn up, our business plan written, our planning application submitted.
The plan and vision for Market Field Grows has the potential to become a pilot and model of how employment can be created for people with Special Educational Needs, alongside education and skills training.
With the support of our local community we can deliver a sustainable and ethical enterprise, which will serve the region and create much needed jobs. Working and collaborating with Lanswood as a development partner provides a gateway to essential funding to make real change where it’s most needed.
What we’ll be launching
Welcome to Market Field Farm
We have created an idea for an enterprise, which supports a broad sweep of job types from catering to horticulture to wood work and administration. These commercial activities will be incorporated into a landscape which promotes sustainable living, sees a biodiversity gain across the site, whilst ensuring we are commercially viable and successful.
We will welcome visitors onto our site offering a shop, café, bakery, library and resource centre, flower farm, upcycled furniture shop, craft barn and small animal petting area. We will grow our own produce for sale in the shop and to use in our kitchens. Working with experienced horticulturalists we will develop a flower farm across the five acres, which will supply local florists, venues and people looking for something beautiful for their homes, wedding or special occasion.
Library
An unusual addition to our site, but one which is much needed within the local community. Our library will focus upon providing a quiet, warm and welcoming
environment for families with young children to read, play and socialise. Likewise, somewhere for the older generation to meet.
The focus for teenagers and adults will be conservation, horticulture and wildlife. We would like to provide a well rounded selection of reference books to read in the library or borrow and take home; a selection of books which will spark interest in the natural world. Alongside our books, we will host talks, photography and art workshops.
Plant Nursery
Working with the team at Beth Chatto Gardens and Education Trust, Market Field Grows will be developing their own plant nursery. This element of the project will support an NVQ Level 1 and a RHS Level 1 qualification, which is to be delivered by the Beth Chatto Education Trust.
To get us off the ground, the plant team at Beth Chatto are donating seeds and cuttings so we can grow our own stock. Our plant sales on site will be limited (as to not compete with Beth Chatto who are located very close by), but this will enable us to grow all our own plant stock for the site and will also supply our flower farm, gardening and maintenance enterprise. The nursery will be headed up by one qualified and experienced, full time member of staff from day one.
Our team and Market Field College students will undertake skills training in the following areas:
- Crop rotation and planning
- Cultivation
- Harvesting
- Looking after the land
- Biodynamic / organic principles
- Bed preparation
Bakery, Cafe and Catering
Our catering and hospitality offering will be centred around our bakery. Already, six young people from Market Field College are receiving training within a professional kitchen at Zeelandia (the largest importer of commercial bakery goods in the Country). Every day we will bake and sell high quality bread, cakes and pastries to sell in our shop, serve in our cafe and deliver within the local area.
Our team and Market Field College students will undertake skills training in the following areas:
- Catering & cooking
- Food preparation
- Weekly & seasonal menu planning
- Kitchen tidying, cleaning & using the dishwasher
- Stock taking, inventory & ordering
- Bookings and reservations
- Taking food orders
- Waiting tables
- Clearing tables
- Using the till and cashing up
- Producing menus and marketing material
- Deep cleaning
- Event catering
Market Field Stores
Alongside our Market Field Food Cafe & Bakery we will run Market Field Stores. The shop will stock produce from our horticulture enterprises; seasonal produce,
flowers and items produced by our team and volunteers.
We will also be a platform for local producers and growers to merchandise and sell their goods. We are keen to introduce an eco-shop element so that people can refill containers with every day items such as washing up liquid, washing powder, coffee, tea, pulses and rice etc.
Our team and Market Field students will undertake skills training in the following areas:
- Merchandising and display
- Operating the till
- Stock taking and inventories
- Helping customers
- Cleaning and tidying
- Labelling and producing marketing material
- Gift wrapping and packaging
Community and Event Space
The cafe area and outdoor space will be used for community events, business meetings, parties and social gatherings.
We will be able to cater for events from our kitchens and this will support a qualification in hospitality and catering. The library will also be used for external groups - including playgroups, art workshops, photography sessions and community groups and gatherings.
Flower Fields and Floristry
As awareness grows of the environmental impact of the cut-flower industry consumers are looking for home grown alternatives.
Flowers are often at the centre of life’s biggest turning points, from birth to marriage to death, but, until recently, few would have asked questions about where those flowers came from and what the cost might be, beyond the price tag.
50% of British households bought cut flowers in 2021. The pandemic disrupted growers and florists, both logistically and when events, such as weddings, ground to a halt, but people still bought flowers to stay connected to family members and friends.
According to Defra, only 14% of cut flowers sold in the UK are grown in Britain. The remaining 86% come from the Netherlands, or from warmer countries, such as Ecuador, Kenya and Ethiopia. Supermarkets sell “seasonal” flowers, such as roses in February, without much explanation as to which country’s season that is, though it is safe to assume that roses are unlikely to be thriving in the cold British winter months.
Our main horticulture business will be home grown flowers and floristry. Selling to the public, florists and directly to venues in the area. We will also offer a delivery and events service.
Workshops
What can be saved from landfill? Our team will re-purpose, re-use, save and sell everyday items that would otherwise be thrown away. Working together to promote a sustainable culture through creativity, practical skills and ingenuity. Saving bottles, plant pots, bicycles, boxes, ornaments, chairs, tables, spectacles, cds, pens,
lampshades, bags, trousers, picture frames...... the list is endless.
Our team and Market Field College students will undertake skills training in the following areas:
- Drawing and sketching ideas
- Researching methods of construction
- Upholstery
- Woodwork
- Painting
- Spraying
- Bicycle reconditioning
- Marketing and merchandising
- Organising re-purpose events and pop up shops
The workshop spaces will also be used for our produce and flower processing and floristry workshops.
Market Field Grows Conservation
The new site will become the headquarters of our successful conservation and maintenance enterprise. Somewhere we can safely store equipment, our vehicles and provide training to new team members. Using our expertise, we can also deliver training to external groups.
Herbs and Spices
As well as some seasonal vegetables and flowers, the herbs and spices will be processed and then sold in the shop or delivered to local restaurants, cafes and pubs. We are also placing focus on the more unusual ingredients and intend to grow lemon grass, chillies and heritage varieties of vegetables and tomatoes in our polytunnels.
Support our work
Let’s come together to create
bright, productive futures.
Donations will go directly towards helping us establish a site to
transform the lives of many young people.