Moorhouse Farm Shop

Date Published:: 07/08/2008

Pat added Moorhouse Farm Shop just north of Newcastle city centre to the Map saying: "lovely fresh foods in the shop and the staff and the farmers are all very friendly." She was right, on both counts

The mark of any good farm shop I believe is that it contains things produced by the farmer who owns it and that there are enough raw ingredients to make anything. Moorhouse scores well on both these counts as there's a well-stocked meat counter, featuring pork, beef and lamb all reared on the farm.

I'm chatting to Victoria and Ian Byatt over a lovely hot pork stottie (a regional name for a soft chewy bread roll) from the café. Victoria's father originally had the farm located a few miles away. "It was a traditional farm for Northumbria - beef and arable," she explains.

They bought the current site because of its location and set up the shop five years ago. It acts as a hub for the Byatt's produce and other producers in the area, such as Nick Craig, who as we're talking pulls up with some freshly harvested cauliflowers. "Nick's unusual in that he does veg, and people are always after it as there's not many doing it round here," says Victoria. As well as the farm shop the Byatts have been doing farmers markets in the area since the concept started in the late 1990s.

Meet the meat

"Our core product is the butchery," says Victoria. To this end they've been running a series of events during the summer in a specially built marquee to the side of the shop. Last weekend was a hog roast with a demonstration on how to glaze a ham and artisan bread baking from Castle Bakery. Next Saturday they're running 'magic with meat', where the shop's in-store butcher will give a talk on steak; where the main different types of steak come from and how to cook them. There's also a demo on how to make your own burgers and the kids can have a go at sausage making. Later in the month they're having a strawberry day.

"People want to know these things. They're interested and keen to find out more," says Victoria. "Also this is a very price-conscious area and we're teaching value for money." "These demos are something that smaller shops and supermarkets just can't provide, they offer something new and remind our customers and people in the area that we're here, and that we're farmers," adds Ian. "They're also a great day out," says Victoria.

Ian sums up his business: "We're not organic and we haven't gone down the rare breed route. We're just keen to prove that you can be a successful commercial farmer serving the local community and make a success of it." And by the looks of it, he's doing just that.

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