| | "I couldn't believe the taste.." | | Mrs Snowzell-Wakefield | | "..even my 5 year old commented on how tasty the sausages were, and now won’t settle for any other brand" | | JULIE P – Pontefract | “ Farmer Copleys meats are second to none, and I have the added assurance from the owners Rob and Heather on how they reached the shop” | | CHRIS PATTERON – PURSTON |
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| | |  | UKTV Local Hero
You can vote for us in this competition - just click to go to the site! |
|  | Yorkshire Post/ Harvey Nichols Taste awards
Farmer Copleys has made it to the final three in this prestigious competition. |
|  | Great Yorkshire Show
We were very pleased to win the Great Yorkshire Show Farm Shop of the Year competition |
| BBC News
Farmer Copleys opened in the December of 2003 just two weeks before Christmas the busiest period of any food retail outlet. We started out as we meant to continue slightly mad but revelling under the pressure. Farmer Copleys was the brainchild of Robert and myself, we moved back to the family farm looking for an opportunity to diversify it and make it a viable business ready to meet the modern consumers needs. Gone were the days of farming as our parents knew it and with retirement on their doorstep it was a case of sell up or buck up. Ravensknowle Farm had one major asset that was its location right on the side of the busy A645 Wakefield to Pontefract Road, the buildings were relatively sound and access was easy.
Since Robert and myself had been living and working away from the farm as a breeding advisor and agronomist respectively we had found it difficult to get good quality fully traceable foods. We found this in both Dorset and Cheshire where we had lived and apart from the occasional farm gate farm shop we were often forced to the supermarkets (this was in the time when farmer markets had literally just started and many rural food businesses had been closed down by the aforementioned giants of retail). With this in mind and a family planned (not suitable profession to be a mother and agronomist), Ravensknowle Farm presented us with an opportunity to fill this need for well produced highest quality and fully traceable foods to the general public and so the seeds of a farm shop were planted.
We tested the market initially by selling Christmas trees and turkeys just to see if people would stop to order and collect, advertising here involved a turkey made from a round bale named Mary. The people did stop and so the plans progressed to the next level. We were in a slightly different position to most farm shop owners in that Robert and myself didn’t own any of the farm and thus approached E. Copley & Sons as potential tenants, they eventually agreed, although who was going to stop at a farm shop in Pontefract the youth of today with these harebrained ideas (now they all think the farm shop was their idea and who are we to argue with them!) Funding for the project was our next major hurdle; we only had the collateral in our home to borrow against which amount to 80K we needed double this. Luckily for us DEFRA were running the Rural Enterprise Scheme and we decided to apply after much work and many meetings we submitted our application with accompanying mountain of paperwork justifying our case and dealt with the planning authority and highways to boot which again was interesting. It paid off we were awarded 50% the additional 80K that was needed to do the project. We had put in an education centre which is free to local schools and community groups with a small open farm and I believe that’s what gave us the edge and thus the grant. We have numerous school visits every month during term time and they really love it as do we.
Building work commenced on the 1 st October 2003, using all local builders, electricians, carpenters etc our ethos was spend local and keep monies circulating locally. We had numerous problems to overcome including raising a 1 year old son who had just learnt to walk and loved building tools, cows and diggers, I leave the rest to your imagination. Product selection was continuing throughout this time and was Butcher selection, what a rare commodity a real bonifide butcher is. Food hygiene training for all staff was taking place, EHO visits and Trading Standard visits common place. However we were all set to open on the 12 th of December for a preview launch evening.
Trouble Hits – 10 days prior to launch evening my EHO rings on my mobile whilst looking at a beautiful pair of shoes in Leeds, the news is bad we cannot open without a HACCAP certificate, my reply ‘OK how and where do I get one’, reply ‘February is the next course’, I burst into tears, it’s that bad I leave The Farm Shop without purchasing the said shoes. Once home I pulled myself together sat on the phone all afternoon, used all our old contacts throughout the agriculture and food industry and eventually found a lady called Christine who used to run the HACCAP course for the Meat Livestock Commission. We arranged for her and her business partner to come to our house that weekend to do the course and exam (4 days into 2) including the HACCAP folder. We passed and the EHO was shocked to say the least and we were back on schedule for the launch date.
Launch date arrives, BBC’s Changing Rooms didn’t have a patch on us it was hectic but it worked and all had a good evening, so much so that the electrician was found asleep in the dog basket the next morning! The Farm Shop was a great success and continued to grow until we needed to build and open an extension in the November of 2005 again in true Farmer Copleys style just before Christmas.
The Farm Shop offers a full butchery counter including a full game licence and with two master craftsmen butcher and one trainee any requests can be met. The beef is ALL Aberdeen Angus heifer beef reared out at grass for 2 years and then hung/matured for a minimum of 3 weeks on site – it is absolutely spot on. Much of the beef is produced at Ravensknowle Farm although due to demand we have another farmer who rears more for us under our management system near Leeds. The lamb is all local minimal food miles is a major criteria a Farmer Copleys. The pork is all from Milford and is Duroc cross Large White and actually tastes of pork (we are however about to start producing our own outdoor pork). The poultry is also from Milford with no water injected in it so the chicken actually tastes of chicken quite a novelty these days. We have chickens on the farm but they are for egg production only and children (and adults we’ve discovered) love to go to the hen house and collect their own eggs, and if they get a warm one they’re as pleased as punch. We cure all our own Bacon on site with salt rather than brine, so there’s none of that white watery rubbish in your frying pan. All sausage is made on site using only quality cuts of pork and seasoning. Our liquorice sausage recently won Bronze at a Meat Livestock Commission Competition, it is really nice honest. Pork pies, meat pies, potted meat, cooked meats and some homemade ready meals are all made at Ravensknowle Farm ensuring quality and traceability throughout.
Products that we don’t make but buy in from other local cottage and farm diversified industries are scrutinised for quality and traceability etc prior to entry into The Farm Shop. We also sell fresh bread, cakes, dairy produce, lots of cheeses, sauces, jars, teas and coffee, honey, fruit and vegetables including the new Pluot, the list goes on. Tastings are carried out weekly, without the hard pressure sales – the products sell themselves. We also have a panel of customers who help via honest input into what’s right and wrong. There is a strong emphasis on customer service the customer is number one. Our excellent staff ensure that customer service, quality and cleanliness is paramount.
Liquorice is what Pontefract is famous for and this is something which we have got really involved with to the extend where we are planning to plant a liquorice Garth as Pontefract no longer has one. This will again be an educational tool for school children and adults who visit, eventually we will be able to harvest the liquorice root and sell it in The Farm Shop. We have our own Farmer Copleys Pontefract Cheese which is available nationwide via the Little Yorkshire Cheese Company and is liquorice in flavour, we also make liquorice pork pies, liquorice sausage and this year liquorice bacon and anything else we can think of.
We have lots of plans for the future including building a 200 head beef unit commencing in February 2007 to enable every piece of beef to have been grown on Ravensknowle Farm. We plan to rent more of the arable land and revert it back to grassland for the beef animals that will happen this year prior to the building of the barn and stocking of the land. An internet next day delivery anywhere in the U.K. is about to go live any day. We are also about to start funeral teas, well we are right next to the crematorium. There is also a catering side to the company which does hog roasts at Pontefract Castle in medieval costume! Yes that’s right medieval costume.
I hope this has wetted your appetite and look forward to meeting you.
Kind regards
Robert and Heather |
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| Delivery Costs | | FREE | - orders over £100 | | £7.99 | - orders over £50 | | £12.99 | - orders under £50 |
| GUARANTEED | | Money back if you are not fully satisfied" |  | Managing Director |
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MOST innovative butchers 2007/08
Best farm shop in the UK 2007/08
Best Speciality Sausage in Yorkshire 2007 
Winner of Harvey Nicols Taste Awards 2007
Best Tasting Steak Pie Harvey Nicolls 2007 
