My Local Unmanned Farm Shop

This is the till at my local farm shop. It’s unmanned. It’s in a warehouse in the middle of a field with a greenhouse next to it. Inside the shop there are rows of produce, some scales, a calculator and a secure moneybox where you insert your cash. If you have an account you use the envelopes that are pinned to a noticeboard. If you don’t have the right change you can write an IOU and pay it next time.

The usual veg, fruit, nuts and plants (snowdrops this week) are for sale. Also bird feed and cider! It’s great. When I was there this afternoon I saw the farmer. He raised his hand to me and went about his tractoring.

It feels real. Mainly, because it is.

10 Comments on “My Local Unmanned Farm Shop

  1. I love this idea. Hopefully a dishonest person won’t ruin it for the rest! So nice that there is still trust in the world! And farm shops! Only just found your blog and loving it.

  2. That’s fantastic; I was musing about a lost world of trust while walking the dog this morning and remembering how when I was young the front door was only for best – every one went in and out of the backdoor, including visitors and deliveries.

  3. What a great idea and a lovely trip to take the little ones, if only there were more places like this

  4. What a blast from the past…reminds me how in the seventies we’d all just chuck our bikes on the front lawn (no tiresome locks needed!) before running in the house (keys permanently dangling from our front doors!) – sadly, such everyday innocence would be unimaginable nowadays. So how charming and reassuring to see that sometimes, in some places – some things really haven’t changed that much…makes me go ahhh!
    BTW – simply love, love, love MTP :)

  5. Yes our door was always open too, and my Wendy house stayed up in the front garden from June – Sept. Every year without getting nicked :)

  6. This is great – we have exactly the same kind of set up near us. It’s in a big garden shed in the growers front garden (the glass houses are out back!).

    It make shopping so much nicer than a trip to the supermarket and it seems refreshing that the honesty box still works in this age.

    Support you local growers!!

  7. Is that the farm shop near the Batheaston roundabout? If it is, we had a great time singing Christmas carols in their cafe last year. The food’s good too!