A newcomer’s guide to the country village
The farm shop
The name is something of a misnomer. The uninitiated might think that the farm shop will merely be a source of fresh veg still dewy from the local farmer’s fields, but they tend to be the countryside’s answer to Planet Organic and Whole Foods, too (although without the hemp Parmesan, chia seeds and heart-stopping prices). Everyone wins; you have a brilliant source of fresh, locally sourced meat and veg and local producers don’t have their margins squeezed until their pips squeak by a supermarket.
The community-run store
‘It’s unlikely that ads from a rogue roofer get past the rector’s all-seeing eye’
It was Jack Woolley who saw the writing on the wall; running a village shop was a struggle even before a cavalcade of Ocado vans loomed onto the horizon. In many villages, the community shop has helped to
