The owners of Canalside Farm, Shop and Café have been presented with a prestigious lifetime achievement award.
Chris and Wendy Barton picked up the accolade at this year’s Farm Retail Awards held in Harrogate and run by the Farm Retail Association (FRA).
The pair bought the farm in Great Haywood near Stafford in 1983 and have been there since the start of its journey from becoming one of Staffordshire’s first farm shops to the popular attraction it is today.
Over the years it has been extended twice, had a new café built alongside the Trent and Mersey Canal, developed the ‘pick your own’ experience to include pumpkins for Halloween, established a seasonal plant centre in the main glasshouse and created a programme of family events.
Planning permission was granted for a £500,000 revamp of the site in 2024 and a car park extension has now been completed, with work on extending the café due later this year.
Wendy said: “We are so thrilled to have received the Lifetime Achievement Award, it was a total surprise! We honestly feel like there are so many worthy members of the Farm Retail Community that we weren’t expecting for our names to be called out when the award was announced.”
Chris added: “It is such a fantastic feeling to have your hard work recognised in this way, especially when a lot of the time you are ‘head down’ in the business and don’t get the time to reflect on how far things have come.”
Ben Loughrey, chair of the FRA, said: “It’s a real privilege to recognise and celebrate the outstanding businesses from around the FRA that continue to achieve so much. Often independent and family-run, these businesses sit at the heart of their communities, connecting field to fork and championing fresh, nutritious produce with minimal food miles. This commitment is something we truly believe in. My heartfelt congratulations to all of this year’s winners.”
