MONKSHILL FARM AND WHITSTABLE PRODUCE STORE FEATURE IN 2014 OBSERVER FOOD MONTHLY AWARDS
Two Produced in Kent members have been successful in the 2014 Observer Food Monthly Awards – the only Kent businesses to be successful in this year’s awards
Monkshill Farm won the Judge’s Award for Best Local Farmer and Whitstable Produce Store was voted as one of the Runners-Up in the Best Independent Retailer Readers’ Awards decided by the public. The results were announced in the October edition of OFM (published Sunday 19 October).
Richard Stephens, Manager of Monkshill Farm won the Judges Award for Best Local Farmer. Monkshill Farm – Best Local Farmer
Speaking to The Observer, Stephens said “So many people are fed up with the blandness of food … in summer [our sheep] are grass-fed, not an ounce of other feed, just what grows on the marsh … if you treat an animal properly, give it a good life, the results will be on the plate.
Stephens manages Monkshill Farm for the Royal School for Deaf Children Margate. Part of the John Townsend Trust, it has been owned by the School since 1995 and is managed as a working farm with an educational centre. He has been managing the farm for 11 years.
johntownsendtrust.org.uk/monkshillfarm
Whitstable Produce Store: Runner Up – Best Independent Retailer
Whitstable Produce Store was a runner-up in the South for Best Independent Retailer.
Whitstable Produce Store opened in December 2013. Owner Steve Jones says: “It feels like a great achievement in Whitstable Produce Store’s first year (following three years in our tiny juice bar at the other end of Harbour Street). We are so grateful to everyone who voted for us – we have a great group of Whitstable “regulars” as well as many visitors from outside Whitstable – and it’s one of the readers’ awards so it’s all thanks to them.
We are proud of how much we’ve done this year: we opened the Store in December and since then we’ve opened our courtyard “edible garden”, expanded from eight seats to over forty including the garden; employed five local staff. Most of all we are delighted that we now work with over twenty makers, producers and suppliers from Kent- which is exactly what we wanted to do. Looking ahead, Whitstable Produce Store will be celebrating its first birthday in December by inviting its suppliers and to create some special “first birthday” limited editions.
