The owner of a West Sussex farm shop renowned for its quality fresh produce and food festivals has netted a major award.
Stuart Beare of Tulley's Farm, at Turners Hill, West Sussex has been named Farm Retailer of The Year in the South East regional heats of the NFU Farming Excellence Awards 2004.
This prestigious award, sponsored by Asda in association with The Grocer magazine, recognises an individual farmer or grower who has helped to promote their industry to the wider public.
Stuart wins £200 and goes into the final with the chance of a £1,000 prize. The national winners of this contest, dubbed the 'Farming Oscars', will be announced at the NFU Annual Lunch in London on March 11.
An NFU SE spokesman said: "Judges were very impressed by Stuart's high quality fresh produce and exceptionally well-presented farm shop. But what clearly shone through is Stuart's dedication to helping people understand the origins of their food. Stuart really thinks out of the box when it comes to promotions!"
Seasonal festivities drawing almost half a million customers to the farm each year include:
• Easter Eggstravaganza
• Amazing maize mazes
• Sunflower "fun-flower fields"
• American-style pumpkin festival with haunted hay cart rides and creepy cottage
Stuart told judges on his application: "Farm shopping at Tulley's is an experience from the moment you drive through the gate, park and see a goat up a tree in 'Pettigoat Lane', to the point you leave and see farmer Den stuck in the pond. Every visitor to Tulley's arrives and leaves with a smile!"
Stuart has even made traditional activities such as strawberry picking a more unusual experience for all the family – particularly the little ones! He explained: "The strawberry farm was opened, a concept which mixed the experience of picking fruit with play. Straw mountain was built - its sand pits, mini-tractors, trailer rides and refreshments have helped create a new popular seasonal destination."
Tulley's Farm is a family-run business founded in 1937. In 1972, the farm branched out with a Pick Your Own that really took off thanks to the "freezer boom" of the 1970s. Since then Tulley's Farm has gone on to market 35 different fruit, veg and salad crops grown on its 120 acres. Stuart recalled: "PYO is the ideal method of bringing the consumer closer to the source of the product."
Stuart, who studied commercial horticulture, opened Tulley's farm shop in 1992. The shop was an outlet for the farm's surpluses and created new markets for its speciality produce - potatoes, rhubarb and asparagus were exceptionally well received. High class products that are not produced by the farm are sourced locally – such as eggs, bakery goods, meat, cakes, wines, preserves and flowers. A tea-room also serves produce grown on site. So Tulley's is much more than a farm shop, as its website www.tulleysfarm.com suggests.
Stuart has travelled extensively in the USA and Canada to study direct marketing. He shares his knowledge with fellow farm retailers as a guest speaker at conferences at home and abroad. Stuart is also the first non-American farmer to pick up a North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association award which he won last week.
