A FAMILY is opening the doors to their new farm shop this weekend.
Abbey Farm in Rhuddlan, owned by Rob and Celia Williams, will welcome customers to their new shop on Saturday, July 5.
It will be stocked with their own beef, lamb, pork, and free-range eggs – all reared at Abbey Farm – alongside a carefully chosen selection of quality local produce from “amazing” small businesses across North Wales.
Celia said: “Since opening our campsite in 2021, we’ve often been asked: ‘Will you ever open a farm shop?’
“At first, we weren’t sure. Running a busy family farm and campsite leaves little time for anything else, and the investment felt like a big step. But over the past year, we’ve seen the challenges facing UK farmers grow from everchanging government policies that are destroying farming and rural communities and supermarkets importing cheaper, lower-quality meat from abroad.
“Quite frankly, it has made us angry, so we decided to channel this into something positive and opening a farm shop felt like the right thing to do.”
“We believe the UK farming industry is the best in the world, with leading animal welfare standards and quality you can trust. Our animals are grass-fed, well cared for, and raised to the highest standards, and we believe that should matter when it comes to the food you put on our family’s table.”
The family at an agricultural show (Image: Abbey Farm) “When meat is imported from countries that don’t meet the same rigorous standards as we have here in the UK, there’s no real way of knowing what the animals have been fed, what diseases they carry or how they’ve been treated.”
Celia said that alongside their own produce, the family was keen to stock items customers would usually expect in a farm shop – such as jams, chutneys, cheese, honey, and biscuits – but not brands typically found in local shops.
“North Wales is home to some of the finest makers, growers, and producers, it was important to us to offer customers these amazing products,” Celia said.
“It’s been a great experience to find these little gems and we’re excited to bring their incredible work together under one roof for our guests and visitors to enjoy.”
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“We don’t expect to get it right first time but it’s a start.”
The farm shop will be open to both campers on-site and the wider community.
The idea for a farm shop began as a seed last April.
Celia said: “After chatting to our close friend, who happens to be top builder, he made us an ‘Abbey Farm shop’ sign that has taken pride of place in our kitchen since then – teasing us!”
“We started work in March after lambing so, three months later, we are finally ready to open the doors to customers.”
Rob is the fourth generation of the Williams family to farm Abbey Farm, which has been in operation for more than 120 years.
The site began as a dairy farm. Today, it is a mixed farm spanning about 350 acres, home to 300 store cattle and 550 sheep.
Celia said: “We grow our own crops to feed the cows and sheep over winter.
“Rob and I have been together 27 years and moved into the farm 11 years ago when his dad passed away, with our two sons, Lewis, now 20, and Owen, who is 17 [Lewis and Owen have shown a keen interest to carry on the family tradition].
“I had a successful career in construction and over the years felt happier during weekends and holidays working with Rob on the farm.
“Five years ago, I gave up my career, opened our caravan and glamping site a year later. I have never looked back.”
Speaking about the inspiration behind the shop, Celia said:
“Over the last few years, the conversation over where food comes from is always a topic of conversation with anyone we talk to. I think that with the increase in farming programmes such as Clarkson’s Farm. It has really helped educate people and portrays the reality, highs and lows of farming.”
“People are sympathetic to our community and more importantly, they want to know the provenance of their food. Many talk to us about the annoyance with the government on what they are doing to farmers.
“When we hear that we are importing lamb from New Zealand or beef from Uruguay, it just makes us so frustrated as we have the best local produce in our fields, grass fed, fully traceable – surely this has got to be healthier.”
“Wales and the UK are made up of hundreds of family farms like ours and you are born into it – who would go into farming to make money – seriously. It is a lifestyle – long hours, hard work for little return and with our sons wanting to continue the family’s tradition, we must be adaptable and diversify to support the farming business to secure their future.”
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