Farm shops thriving during coronavirus pandemic
The coronavirus outbreak has affected large parts of the economy across the region as many businesses have had to close their doors.
The announcement of tighter restrictions on public movement by the Prime Minister led to many businesses having to close after being deemed to be selling non-essential goods.
Other businesses, such as food retailers, corner shops and hardware stores, were deemed essential and have stayed open for public use, with some flourishing through increased customer footfall.
One example of this is Essington Fruit Farm, one of a number of farm shops in the region which has stayed open during the outbreak.
The farm has adapted its cafe and restaurant to provide extra space in the shop, allowing people to follow the social distancing rules by giving them enough space to stay two metres apart.
Will Simkin, one of the directors of the farm, said adapting to the outbreak had been difficult, but they had adapted better than some of the supermarkets had.
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He said: "Obviously, we've had the same problems with things like staff being off sick, but we've managed to adapt better than others.
"That's because it's a farm and we've got our own produce and our meats, so we can make sure we've got supply better because our supply chains are so much shorter.
"We're buying directly from our own farm or other neighbouring farmers, so we can get that stuff into our shop quickly."
Will said the restaurant staff had been reassigned to working in the shop, so there were no job losses at the farm and 70 people remain employed there.
With many supermarkets having struggled to keep shelves stocked due to panic buying, more and more people have been buying fruit and vegetables from farm shops.
Will said he believed buying from a local farm shop was easier because of availability of supply and a trust in where the produce was coming from.
He said: "There's no need to drive half an hour to a supermarket where there are loads of people, when you can drive five minutes and buy straight off the farm.
"We've seen loads of new customers come into the shop and they're all very appreciative of the measures that we put in place when we're busy.
"We limit the amount of people in the shop, just to make sure that we keep two metres between them, so it provides a safe and comfortable shopping experience."
Despite working longer hours and having to adapt to the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus outbreak, Will said the shop would be there for customers both during and after the outbreak.
