Fruit and Veg Britain has a rich variety of fruit and vegetables, yet many are dying out. We have listed growers on this website, many using organic methods, who have searched out unusual, or native fruit and vegetable varieties, and are successfully growing them.

In this article

Exotic healthy food

Additive free

Fresh produce

There are farmers out there who are demonstrating that there’s more to British vegetables than just potatoes, carrots and cabbage. They are growing exotic salad leaves, peppers and aubergines, a variety of fresh herbs and garlic. There are apple, pear, cherry and cobnut farmers, who, instead of ‘grubbing up’ their orchards and replanting them with more profitable crops, are maintaining the old trees, and in doing so, are conserving the biodiversity and heritage of our land. Instead of the three or four apple varieties you might find in the supermarket, these farmers can offer you as many as 40.

A further benefit of maintaining these orchards is that they provide the foundation of drinks such as cider and perry (a drink similar to cider but made from pears). Traditionally produced ciders and perries, particularly those made using old fashioned presses, made from apple and pear varieties grown for that purpose and made without additives, are drinks that have been in danger of dying out. They are labour intensive and don’t suit large-scale commercial methods, yet these drinks are a part of our cultural history, and without their production, many of the apple and pear varieties in this country could be lost.

The best thing about this cornucopia on our own doorstep is the freshness. Many of the growers we feature will pick their produce for you while you wait. A vegetable that has been grown half-way around the world and shipped to this country surely cannot compete with the vitality of a native variety, pulled from the soil as you watch. And when you compare the miles each of those vegetables will have travelled (‘food miles’), the environmental benefits of local farm shops are clear to see.

Some parts of the country are famed for specific produce: watercress in Hampshire, apples, plums and pears in Somerset and Herefordshire, raspberries in Scotland, cherries and cobnuts in Kent, plums in Worcestershire, garlic from the Isle of Wight and potatoes in Cornwall. By buying this traditional produce, we are supporting not just the small-scale growers in Britain, but the scope of variety that we should cherish.