Located on the A27, about 10 minutes east of Lewes, East Sussex is Middle Farm, a family-run farm with a tearoom, farm shop (including a deli and butchery) and open farm. I love farm shops because they’re a great way to discover new local producers and buy produce that is hard to find anywhere else, for example, sheep milk.
Ever since I first discovered Court Lodge Organics I have wanted to try their products and to my delight, I spotted their ‘Live Set Natural Yogurt’ at Middle Farm!! Whilst in East Sussex, I was also planning to stop by Springs Smokeries but unfortunately, as it was a Saturday they were closed. So happy, therefore, to find their Finest Oak Smoked Salmon stocked at Middle Farm.
It’s a popular and quite established farm shop with a large range of local fruit and vegetables, cheeses, meat, dairy products, ciders, beers, and wines. They have a cider and mead room which is packed to the gunnel with local beers, ciders and wines. The collection has been built up over 30 years and is really astounding in its variety! One of my favourite wines is the Bacchus white from Bolney Estate (blog post coming soon), and I found it stocked in Middle Farm’s ‘Wine From Sussex Vineyards’ room along with other local wines including Tickerage.
The amount of jams and preserves they stock is endless, not just ‘own brand’ but other small family-run businesses including Martha & Ed’s Preserves.
The selection of cheeses at Middle Farm is extensive with a counter displaying cow cheeses and a fridge with both goat and sheep cheeses. They try to stock as many local varieties as possible and mark the most local cheeses with small gold stickers to make them easily identifiable. Such a great idea!
And last but not least, the fresh fruit and veg, all beautifully displayed in wooden crates are also marked when from East Sussex. They have a mixture of all sorts of seasonal produce – on the day I visited, there was a large selection of tomatoes, rainbow carrots and graffiti aubergines.
