The Farmers Mart Apr-May 2018 - Issue 56 | Page 44

44 REDCLIFFE FARM APR/MAY 2018 • farmers-mart.co.uk SEASIDE ROCK WITH EGGS, BEEF AND REDCLIFFE FARM SHOP Chris Berry talks with Martin Brown at Lebberston. HITTING the high notes and making waves 71856 - PeterRhodesFeedServicesLimited - 8TH.pdf 1 24/04/2018 10:54:43 C M HOME MILL & MIXING Y CM Improve Performance & Profitability by Utilising Home Grown Cereals MY CY CMY We wish to thank Brown Eggs Ltd for their business over the years and wish them continued success. K www.feedservices.co.uk Michael Rhodes, Melanie Clark, Peter Rhodes, Theresa Rhodes and James Rhodes [email protected] I 01759 318 230 71680 - Asquith&Co - 8TH.pdf 1 04/04/2018 14:38:29 C M Proud to be associated with Redcliffe Farm and wishing them continued success Y CM MY CY CMY K E-Mail: [email protected] Website: www.asquithand.co.uk Rowan House, 7 West Bank, Scarborough 01723 366102 is how Martin Brown will be hoping to spend at least one weekend this summer with his second Yorkshire Coast live music festival YC18 at his family’s Redcliffe Farm at Lebberston between Scarborough and Filey from 20-22 July. He’s also pushed the boat out, fittingly being at the seaside, and will have two internationally known acts Utah Saints and The Wedding Present play- ing alongside local bands on the bill. Attracting the public to Redcliffe Farm has been Martin’s aim ever since the move was made to open a farm shop and café 11 years ago this Easter. Martin’s brother Dan runs the farm that focuses on eggs and beef cat- tle. It’s the eggs (not of the Easter variety) that brought about the idea of a farm shop as Martin explains: ‘The farm shop wouldn’t have happened at all without the wholesale egg business, which is traditionally where our income is generated. What convinced me over taking the plunge (at the seaside remember) was that on coming back home after being away from the farm for 15 years I was delivering to new customers towards York who were run- ning farm shops – particularly Farmers Cart and Balloon Tree. I was impressed by how busy they were. It was also around the same time that headage payments were coming off cattle, which meant that there wasn’t the incentive to keep as many as we had been.’ ‘Single Farm Payments along with new schemes and European Development Funding grants were coming in place and we applied for development of what used to be the dairy operation here years ago to transform into the farm shop. Roughly a quarter of our outlay came from the grant we received, and we probably wouldn’t have undertaken it otherwise.’ ‘It’s difficult for us to compete on price with supermarkets, but that’s not why cus- tomers come to a farm shop. They come for the experience, to have a coffee, if they are caravanners they’ll come for breakfast, they’re after meat that they know where it has come from and freshly baked bread. If your farm shop is near Harrogate or closer to York you will have more of a market with a more affluent population. Our customer catchment isn’t quite the same, but they are wonderful people who we’ve got to know as friends because many visit very regularly especially during summer months.’ ‘I was surprised how quickly we reached the level where the tills kept ticking over and although we obviously have a much