Prince Charles visited the Organic Farm Shop at Abbey Home Farm, near Cirencester in July 2003 to officially open their Green Room as an educational space, where children and adults can learn about where their food comes from and experience their connection with the living world.
HRH Prince Charles tries some peas during the opening of The Organic Farm Shop’s Green Room. Photo © Gloucestershire Echo

Hilary Chester-Master is encouraging businesses to bring small teams out of the office for a day or two, devise menus that can be made nearly completely from the farm, pick and dig their lunch, even collect eggs from the chickens and flowers from the garden for the tables, then cook their lunch in the kitchen under the supervision of our chefs. It can be viewed as a team building day or just an experience out of the ordinary. “We want to get people out of offices,” explained Hilary. “It’s a great experience. The garden is the heart of it all.” The Green Room was built with green oak from the farm, milled on site. It has solar heating as well as woodburners, low energy lighting and was decorated with environmentally friendly paints. Since it opened there has been a conference, educational workshops and seminars including the Soil Association farming seminars and Elm Farm Research Centre talks. It hosted Cirencester’s GM debate in July and was packed out for the Soil Association’s AGM in October with 240 people attending.

“My prime objective is to give children and adults the opportunity to reconnect with how and where their food is grown. To help encourage this, the Green Room is available to anyone with an interest in food and the countryside,” said Hilary.
The Farm Shop originally grew out of Hilary’s desire to feed her family a healthy diet. When she and her husband came to Abbey Home Farm to grow organic food, she still found herself shopping at the supermarket for all her organic vegetables. She decided to create a garden so that her family could eat healthy, organic food grown locally. That was 13 years ago and the garden has grown abundantly supplying the Organic Farm Shop and cafÈ, set up in 1999, with wonderful fresh vegetables and fruit. The staff of five when they first took over the farm has grown to 21, some from as far afield as Australia. The shop has expanded to include books and magazines, organic cotton goods and natural cosmetics.
Outside there is a woodland walk through Yellow School Wood where you might be lucky enough to see a spotted flycatcher and it is also a favourite place for primary school visitors to let off steam during their educational visit to the farm.
FURTHER INFORMATION : The Organic Farm Shop, Abbey Home Farm, Burford Road, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 5HF. Tel: 01285 640441
WEB SITE : http://​www​.theorganicfarmshop​.co​.uk EMAIL: info@​theorganicfarmshop.​co.​uk