Our Story

Bob & Ann

In January 2011 we (Bob and Ann) bought a lovely house - built in 1792 - in Hexhamshire, Northumberland. However, with the house of our dreams, we got six acres. The question was – what do we do with six acres?

The answer came to us very quickly. Bob’s lifetime ambition has always been to be a Market Gardener. Here was the perfect opportunity to fulfil that lifetime ambition. The first step to achieve our goal was for Ann to sell the delicatessen she had run for 20 years, and so she became the first full time member of the Hexhamshire Organics team. 

The next step was to start the process to gain organic status through the Soil Association – it was always our aim to be organic – who would want fruit and vegetables that have been sprayed with chemicals and pesticides? We gained organic status in 2013 and have been certified ever since. 

After 37 years in the technology industry, Bob officially made the move to full time farmer in July 2016 - just in time for his 60th birthday! 

Since then, we’ve been very lucky to welcome two amazing members of the Hexhamshire team: Lucy and Graham.

Our Fields

We have four fields in total:

Two fields where we grow our fruit and vegetables and house our TEN commercially sized polytunnels

One field where we have an eighty-tree fruit orchard and our two propagation greenhouses

One field where we keep our Tamworth pedigree pigs

From 2021 we will have an acre of land under cultivation, including a quarter of an acre under cover – this is probably the largest area of covered, organically certified cropping in the region.

Our Produce

As well as the pigs, we have over 40 chickens and four ducks. We have a wonderful life living out our lifelong dream, and our aim is to grow, rear and sell lovely organic fruit, vegetables and pork.

The produce we sell here at Hexhamshire Organics is all organic. Being certified by the Soil Association is our badge of honour. It’s proof that how we grow, care for and distribute our produce is completely organic. We do not use anything which is artificial and our standards of animal welfare are of an extremely high standard. We also take great care of our soil and all of the wildlife living within our land. Please feel free to read the Soil Association Standards. They are available online.

Our Promise

We grow our produce with taste in mind. 

We harvest our produce as close to our delivery time as possible.

We clean our produce, but it may need washing again prior to preparation.

We may leave leaves on for you to use.

We do like to think our produce looks good enough to eat.

We deliver in cardboard boxes which we would encourage our customers to reuse.

We don’t use plastic for any vegetable, herb or fruit packing.

All deliveries are made in our electric van.