Local strawberries land instore

“We only offered ‘pick your own’ at first, but, because the strawberries were so good, more and more people wanted them ready-picked!” says David Pridgeon, owner of Willows Farm in Chapel St Leonards.

Today, the family-run farm grows 12 different strawberry varieties, producing around 150,000 punnets each year between May and October.

Every strawberry is hand-picked, and during the hottest weather each plant is checked every two days to ensure the fruit is harvested at its peak ripeness.

Our Chapel St Leonards Food Store is only a five-minute drive from the family farm, and colleagues there have been excited to see local strawberries hitting our shelves.

Jason Cupit, Team Leader at Chapel St Leonards, said: “Willows Farm is right on our doorstep, and they grow the most amazing strawberries. I’ve been buying them for years!

“Now that we’re stocking them in our shops, it’s even more convenient to pick up a punnet, and more of our customers can discover how good they are. Plus, I love that we’re able to support another local business.”

At the recent Lincolnshire Show, we encouraged visitors to sample the locally-grown fruit, and handed out 140KG of them.

Head to your local food store to bag a punnet for yourself!