Croots Farm Shop helps put Great British family businesses on the map

Derbyshire farm shop Croots was a stop-off point on this year’s Family Business Road Trip.

Representatives from Family Business United, who have been touring some of the UK’s most successful family businesses, dropped in to visit the farm shop in Wirksworth Road, Duffield, during the journey.

Kay Croot, who runs the farm shop with husband Steve, said: “They were very interested to hear the story of Croots Farm Shop and how we’ve got to the point we are now at, as a popular farm shop and a place to visit for coffees, lunch, afternoon tea and more. We gave them a tour around the shop, café and the farm, and explained how the business has grown in the nine years since we launched.”

The Family Business Road Trip celebrates the essential contribution family firms make to national GDP and regional economies. In the UK, the family business sector accounts for more than 4 million firms, £1.1 trillion in turnover (almost a quarter of UK GDP) and employs more than nine million people. In addition, the top 20 family owned firms in the UK generate turnover in excess of £49 billion.

Paul Andrews, from Family Business United, was joined by Ruth Chapman, from PwC, one of the trip’s sponsors, for the visit to Croots.

Family firm Sturgess Jaguar provided the car for the trip and the event is being sponsored by PwC, Farrer & Co, Western Pension Solutions and Close Brothers Asset Management. The Family Business Road Trip 2017 runs for six weeks covering Yorkshire to the Lake District and the Midlands to London, East Anglia, Sussex and a whole host of counties in between.

Croots Farm Shop is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm (Shires Eatery until 4.30pm) and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays. Croots runs Fresh Fish Thursdays between 9am and 1pm on Thursdays.

For more information, visit http://www.croots.co.uk Find Croots on Twitter @crootsfarm_shop or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Croots-Farm-Shop-127012538821/

Press release issued by Nottingham-based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Croots Farm Shop cultivates wedding party plans after double anniversary

A double wedding celebration sparked a new business idea for husband and wife team Steve and Kay Croot.

The couple, who run Croots Farm Shop in Derbyshire, celebrated their silver wedding anniversary on 1^st September. This came two weeks after Kay’s parents Jim and Sue Yates marked their golden wedding anniversary.

When planning a joint celebration at the farm near Duffield, the couple decided that it was such an ideal place to hold a wedding reception that they should open it up to others.

“Steve and I had our own reception in a marquee at the farm in September 1990, and over the past few years we’ve had a couple of other wedding receptions in the fields in front of the farm shop,” said Kay. “It’s a beautiful location overlooking the Ecclesbourne Valley. We’ve now got our hearts set on creating a unique country setting for other happy couples who’d like to celebrate their big day on a farm.”

Croots Farm Shop is staging an open day on Tuesday 8^th September from 10am to 7pm to give couples planning their wedding the chance to find out more about what the Croots team can offer.

“We can do buffets or table service, picnics or banquets,” said Kay. “We offer drinks packages, locally sourced beers, homemade foods and can organise wedding cakes, marquees, DJs, toilets and everything else that’s needed.”

Croots Farm Shop, which is based at Farnah House Farm, Wirksworth Road, opened in June 2008 and is well known for its butchers counter, deli and Shires Eatery, which has doubled in size due to demand since it was first launched. A play area has also been added, and the farm shop regularly holds activities for children, as well as tastings, promotions and events for customers.

Situated overlooking fields of Shire horses, the farm shop was built at the farm owned by Jim and Sue Yates, the latest in a long line of generations to have bred the gentle giants of the horse world at Farnah House Farm.

For more information visit www.croots.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk