Tablehurst Farm

Food deliveries for self-isolators and key workers. We have extended the range of products we are offering for delivery. The new list is below. Call 01342 823173 (option 2) to make your order. Order today for delivery on Easter Saturday.

Easter shopping hours at Tablehurst. We are open on Easter Saturday (butcher's counter from noon as usual), but closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday.
Our delivery/collection service will be taking orders on Thursday as usual, but deliveries and collections will be on Easter Saturday this week, not Good Friday. There will be no delivery on Tuesday 14th April.

I'm writing to you on behalf of the Tablehurst Farm shop team, not because they have asked me to (they haven't) but because they need our support in these exceptional times. Running a food shop in these circumstances is no easy task. For your safety and ours, we have put special measures in place regarding queueing, hand sanitising on entry, customer numbers in the shop, and social distancing at the counters. Maintaining these measures is a constant stress for the shop staff,... so a huge thank you to all those customers - the large majority - who respect our protocols without being asked and remain mindful of them while they are shopping. It also helps tremendously if you can think ahead about what you are going to buy and be reasonably speedy while in the shop, so the the next customer in the queue can take your place sooner rather than later. Keeping food supplies rolling is also a big challenge at the moment: demand patterns have changed a lot, and supply of bought-in goods is unpredictable. For the most part, we are maintaining a steady supply of most things, but it helps if everyone limits their purchases to reasonable quantities for their immediate needs. Some of you have asked why the butcher's counter has to remain closed every morning until noon. We put this arrangement in place when demand peaked a couple of weeks ago, and we are keeping it going for the time being, because it reduces the stress on our very busy butcher team and allows them to ensure a steady daily supply of meat for everyone. So, to conclude this rather long-winded diatribe, I have three simple requests: please follow our social distancing protocols; please don't ask for meat from the counter before noon, or request other special exceptions; and please show your appreciation to the team. We want to keep our shop open through this crisis, and we need your support. Thank you.
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You may have seen that we are currently offering a delivery service from our farm shop for self-isolators and key workers. We are now extending the service to cover all of East Grinstead up to the Felbridge traffic lights, Forest Row, Ashurst Wood, Hammerwood, Holtye, Hartfield, Coleman's Hatch, Nutley and Chelwood Gate. All the details including how to order can be found on our website.

Tablehurst Farm runs a small care home and, in these unusual times, we are looking for a very special volunteer. Every year, we have a young adult from Germany come and live and work in the care home in exchange for food, accommodation and pocket money. However, the German organisation which finds the candidates for us has instructed all their volunteers to return to Germany. At the same time, the three adult men with learning disabilities for whom we care are going to need... more support, because we cannot integrate them into the life of the farm as much as usual due to infection risk. So we are looking for someone who would be willing to come and live in our care home for a period of weeks, longer if willing, to help us through this difficult time. Experience of care work is not required, but this is a big commitment and would be subject to an interview and safeguarding checks. If you think this could be for you, please contact Jeremy at tablehurstcarehome@gmail.com in the first instance to express interest.
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Our local delivery and farm collection scheme is now up and running. Full details are here: https://www.tablehurstfarm.org.uk/local-d eliveries. First deliveries and collections will be on Friday this week.
If you know someone who is self-isolating, or a key worker who is struggling to shop, do please tell them about this service.
If you would like to use this service but don't fall into the groups described on the website, please send an email to tablehurst.farm@gmail.com with "Delivery" in the subject line. If there is sufficient demand, and if we feel we have capacity, we may extend the service to everyone who lives close to the farm.

In response to the current exceptional circumstances, Tablehurst Farm is launching a local food delivery service for those in need. Given that demand in our shop is very high and supplies are limited at the moment, the initial offering will be limited in range and only delivered to nearby locations. Most importantly, this service is intended for those who are housebound, vulnerable, self-isolating or doing essential work that makes shopping impossible, not for everybody else please – we just don’t have the capacity at the moment.
Full details including how to order are on our website at https://www.tablehurstfarm.org.uk/local-d eliveries

I'm sorry to announce that due to the current exceptional circumstances, we will now not be launching our pizza and barbecue season this weekend as we currently need to focus our resources on basic food supply. We are keeping the cafe open for food and drink, but we have moved some of the cafe tables away from the front of the shop to reduce crowding, and will be encouraging cafe customers to use the garden as much as possible. Please keep checking in with us, as this is a constantly moving situation, and thank you for your support during these challenging times.

We are facing unprecendented demand for fresh meat at the moment. To give our butchers time to catch up, we have decided to that the butcher's counter will only be open from noon each day until further notice. The shop will be open normal hours (from 9.00) each day, and we will endeavour to have a good range of meat ready-packed in the fridge each morning to keep you supplied until the counter opens at noon. And remember to be nice to our shop staff and our butchers - they are working under a great deal of pressure at the moment. Thank you!

LAMBING DAYS CANCELLED. In light of the latest government advice, we have decided to cancel our lambing days on 21st and 28th March. The current plan is that the farm, farm shop, cafe, pizza and barbecue will all continue to open as normal, but it is a fast-moving situation, so please watch this space for more updates. Our top priority at the moment is meeting your food needs in the farm shop. Please be nice to our shop staff because they are working very hard to keep up at the moment! Thank you.

We are delighted to announce that we have just been selected as a Grand Finalist in the "Butcher of the Year" category of the Sussex Food and Drink Awards. This means we are in the final three. Huge thank you to everyone who voted for us back in the autumn!

Ashley Ramsden is storytelling at 3pm today outside the Tablehurst sheep barn. The theme will be spring. This event is especially suitable for those aged ten and under, but it is open to everyone, so join us for a bit of Ashley's unique magic if you can.

Apologies if you came to the farm for the singing today. We had a mix-up over dates and only discovered the problem at the last minute. We will let you know here if we are able to reschedule.

Join us at Tablehurst tomorrow (Saturday) for an unusual double-bill of delicious food sampling and a very special musical treat! From 12.00, Lee will be offering barbecue tasters from our new menu including pulled pork, barbecue chicken wings, piri-piri chicken, campfire potatoes, and home-made falafels. Then at 2.00pm Kate Valentine of Singing Mamas will at the sheep barn to lead us all in singing to the "Tablehurst Mamas", whose lambs will be arriving very soon now! Do join us for what should be a lovely day. More details of both events here: tablehurstfarm.org.uk/community-events

Do you have any old garden tools you don't use any more? We are looking for tools that can be used by two groups:
1. Our adult volunteers 2. The Tablehurst Young Farmers group
... So we need both adult and child-sized tools, including spades, forks, trowels, hoes, gardening gloves, hammers, saws, wheelbarrows and (for adults) loppers and secateurs. If you have any of these languishing in a garden shed, we would love to put them to good use.
Please leave any donations in our "tool drop" box which is on the right of the track as you come into the farm, close to the enclosure with the miniature pigs. Thank you!
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Our entrance track is flooding again due to the very heavy rain today. Some vehicles are still negotiating it, but if you are in doubt about driving through the water, the access via Station Road and the Village Club car park has been opened for the afternoon.

Do you know the owner of this bike? It has been sitting outside the Tablehurst Care Home (on our track nearly opposite the vet) for about a week. If you know who it belongs to, please drop us a line to tablehurst.farm@gmail.com. Thank you.

Our search for an experienced butcher has so far not been successful. If you know of anyone who has experience in this trade and might be interested in working at Tablehurst, please can you put them in touch with us. Details of the vacancy are here: https://www.tablehurstfarm.org.uk/butcher . Please share this post wherever you can. Thank you.