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ASTON MAR
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Fordhall Farm
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Formerly in recruitment,
Helen Webb has run the
farm shop and bistro at
Aston Marina from day one
The solution was to service
customers on the decking with
a reduced menu of snacks and
sandwiches from the deli counter in
the shop while the bistro dealt with
the more manageable courtyard.
Although the “diehard chipeaters
of Staffordshire” were disappointed
that they had to have crisps with their
sandwiches, Webb says the move has
evened the load and generated more
traffic in the shop.
That deli counter – which was
named in the Top 10 of the inaugural
Le Gruyère Best Cheese Counter
competition – accounts for a solid
12% of the shop’s sales, with a
spectrum of Continental and British
cheeses, supplied by Carron Lodge
and Rowcliffe. Local varieties like
those from the Staffordshire Cheese
Co and Berkswell sit alongside
classics such as Le Cret Gruyère and
Camembert de Normandie.
The curved counter snakes along
the wall, with cheese giving way
to a range of homemade pastries,
followed by the butchery counter,
which accounts for a whopping 35%
of takings. The star of the show is
the locally reared beef – which Aston
Marina’s team hangs for 28 days – but
every cut and joint, including some
goat and venison, on the counter
comes from nearby farms, with the
exception of free-range chickens from
Norfolk.
The