This guide compares five Suffolk farm shops spread across the county: Friday Street Farm Shop at Farnham, between Saxmundham and Aldeburgh; Grange Farm Shop at Hasketon, just outside Woodbridge; Alder Carr Farm at Creeting St Mary, by Needham Market; Hollow Trees Farm Shop at Semer, between Hadleigh and Bildeston; and Willow Tree Farm Shop at Glemsford, near Sudbury. Each one mixes its own produce with food from other local makers, so the useful question is which shop has the food you need, and where it was grown.
As a Londoner, I know it is not realistic for everyone to live on a farm. A farm shop, farmers' market or community garden can be part of a more direct food routine. Start with a reachable stop and a short list, rather than expecting to change everything at once.
Which farm shop or picking farm should you choose?
If you are on the coast, Friday Street at Farnham sits just off the A12 on the Aldeburgh road and is the obvious stop for pick-your-own fruit, home-grown potatoes and asparagus, a butchery and a fishmonger. Grange Farm at Hasketon is a short drive from Woodbridge and Ipswich and suits a deli-style shop with a café. Alder Carr, by Needham Market, is close to the A14 and good for fruit, ice cream and a family day out. Hollow Trees at Semer, in the Babergh countryside, is strongest for its own meat and vegetables, and Willow Tree at Glemsford serves the Sudbury and Long Melford side of the county.
All five have cafés, so you can make a morning of it. Hours change with the seasons and over Christmas, and pick-your-own depends on the weather, so check each website before a long drive. At every shop, ask which items on the shelves came from the farm itself.
Check the farm’s current crops, opening times and prices before travelling. Picking seasons vary, and a farm shop may sell produce without offering pick-your-own visits.
- Friday Street Farm Shop , Blyth family farm near Aldeburgh since 1976
- Grange Farm Shop , Longe family farm shop near Woodbridge
- Alder Carr Farm , Hardingham family smallholding since 1981
- Hollow Trees Farm Shop , Bendall family farm at Semer since 1929
- Willow Tree Farm Shop , Family farm shop at Glemsford, near Sudbury
Friday Street Farm Shop
Map and location
Friday Street Farm Shop, Farnham, Suffolk, IP17 1JX. View Friday Street Farm Shop on the map.
Contact: 01728 602783.
Pick-your-own fruit and Ore Valley potatoes
Friday Street is run by the Blyth family, now in their third generation, who say they have more than a hundred years of farming experience between them. The business began as a roadside stall in 1976. The farm grows on light, sandy soil in the Ore Valley, and its own crops include Stemster and Saxon potatoes (sold from late September to April), salad potatoes, asparagus, sweetcorn, broad beans and pumpkins. Strawberries grow in more than ten polytunnels and raspberries in the field, for a long pick-your-own season.
The shop was much extended in 2020 and reopened in spring 2021 with a butchery, a delicatessen and a walk-in cheese room. Fruit and vegetables, free-range eggs, milk and baked goods arrive daily, and there is a permanent fishmonger on site. The butchery sells roasting joints, sausages, burgers, mince and marinated kebabs. The Friday Street Kitchen serves breakfast, hot lunches, cakes and afternoon teas.
Visiting and buying
The farm's website gives the shop's hours as Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 5.30pm and Sunday 9am to 5pm. The kitchen is open every day from 8.30am to 4pm, with last orders at 3.30pm. There is plenty of free parking, and the farm is reached from the A12 and the A1094 Aldeburgh road, so it is easy to combine with a day at Aldeburgh or Snape. Check the pick-your-own page before you go, as the fruit depends on the season and the weather.
Friday Street Farm Shop: website and opening hours.
Grange Farm Shop
Map and location
Grange Farm Shop, Grundisburgh Road, Hasketon, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP13 6HN. View Grange Farm Shop on the map.
Contact: 01473 735 610.
A former apple farm with its own grass-fed livestock
Grange Farm belongs to the Longe family, who have farmed in Suffolk for generations; the website names William, Annabel, Matilda, Albert and Julia Longe. The farm was once an apple farm, and the family says the shop has been open for about 75 years. Today the farm raises grass-fed livestock, which is sold in the shop, and grows salads and vegetables for the café kitchen. The rest of the range comes from the Suffolk coast and the wider UK, with organic chosen where possible.
The shop sells seasonal produce, store-cupboard food, freshly baked bread and cakes, and deli food. Suffolk makers named on its site include Fen Farm Dairy, Maple Farm, High House Fruit Farm, Home Farm Nacton, Sutton Hoo, Giffords Hall, Adnams, Pump Street Chocolate and Stokes Sauces. The Barn Café serves breakfast and lunch seven days a week, with cakes baked in-house each day.
Visiting and buying
According to the farm's website, the shop is open Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 5.30pm, and 10am to 4pm on Sundays and bank holidays. The café is open Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 4pm, and 10am to 3pm on Sundays and bank holidays. Hasketon is about two miles north-west of Woodbridge and a short drive from Ipswich. Ask which meat is from the farm's own livestock, as the shop also stocks produce from other suppliers.
Grange Farm Shop: website and opening hours.
Alder Carr Farm
Map and location
Creeting St Mary, Needham Market, Suffolk, IP6 8LX. View Alder Carr Farm on the map.
Contact: 01449 720820.
Fruit, cattle and home-made ice cream
Nick and Joan Hardingham started Alder Carr as a smallholding in 1981, on land that was once part of a dairy farm. Their first crop was potatoes, sold by the sack from the end of the drive, and pick-your-own fruit and a simple farm shop followed in the mid-1980s. A big raspberry harvest in 1987 led Nick to make ice cream from his mother's recipe. Their daughters Stephany and Eleanor later joined, and the farm now keeps sheep and Aberdeen Angus cattle and grows gooseberries, rhubarb and damsons for the ice cream.
The farm shop sells fruit and vegetables, including local apples and seasonal asparagus and strawberries, over 60 cheeses and a deli with its own quiches, sausage rolls and pork pies. Meat comes from the farm's own butchery. Suppliers named on its site include Palmers of Haughley, Woosters Bakery, Baron Bigod, Marriages flour, Hodmedod, Nethergate and Calvors beers and Giffords Hall wine. There is also Alder Tree ice cream, a courtyard café, craft shops and a farm trail.
Visiting and buying
The farm's website gives the shop's hours as Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm, and 10am to 4pm on Sundays and bank holidays; it is closed on Easter Sunday. The butchery opens Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 4.30pm, so avoid Sunday and Monday if you want the meat counter. The Courtyard Café opens Monday to Saturday 9.30am to 4.30pm. The farm is just outside Needham Market, close to the A14, and the craft shops keep their own hours.
Alder Carr Farm: website and opening hours.
Hollow Trees Farm Shop
Map and location
Hollow Trees Farm, Semer, Ipswich, Suffolk IP7 6HX. View Hollow Trees Farm Shop on the map.
Contact: 01449 741247.
Four generations of Bendalls and their own meat
The Bendall family has farmed at Semer since 1929, when George Bendall became tenant of Sayers Farm. His son Granville bought the farm in 1974, and in 1986 Robert and Sally Bendall moved back, living in a caravan beside the hollow oak that gave the farm its name. In 1989 they started a roadside produce cart on ten borrowed acres, which grew into the shop. By 2021 the farm covered 140 acres, with the fourth generation at work. It grows vegetables, potatoes and pumpkins and rears its own meat.
A permanent brick farm shop and café were built in 2006, the Farm Butchery opened in 2012 and a deli counter followed in 2018. The shop sells the farm's own produce alongside food from local producers, and the butchery sells the farm's own meat, including its pork sausages. The café cooks with local produce and the farm's own meat and serves afternoon tea. Hollow Trees was named National Best Farm Shop in 2001 and National Best Farm Retailer in 2016.
Visiting and buying
The farm's website gives the shop and butchery hours as Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 5.45pm, and 9am to 5pm on Sundays and bank holidays; the butchery counter service ends at 5.30pm in the week and 4.30pm on Sundays. The café is open Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 5pm and Sunday 9am to 4.30pm. Semer is on the B1115 between Hadleigh and Bildeston. Autumn brings pumpkins and the Holloween festival, so expect it to be busier then.
Hollow Trees Farm Shop: website and opening hours.
Willow Tree Farm Shop
Map and location
Willow Tree Farm Shop, Lower Road, Glemsford, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 7QU. View Willow Tree Farm Shop on the map.
Contact: 01787 280341.
A family farm serving the public since the 1950s
Willow Tree Farm Shop is on the edge of Glemsford, in the Stour Valley a few miles north-west of Sudbury. The website says the same family has been farming and serving the public since the 1950s, and that relatives still work on the farm. It describes itself as an established, family-run shop offering old-fashioned service. Vegetables on sale are often grown on the farm, spray-free where possible, and the rest of the range is sourced locally where it can be.
The shop sells groceries and what it calls all the traditional fare and some unexpected extras. Its website does not list a butchery or named suppliers, so it is worth asking in the shop which vegetables are from the farm that week. The Cafe at Willow Tree serves home-cooked food and breakfasts, takes lunch bookings and offers takeaway orders. A hair salon, Rosehip, shares the site.
Visiting and buying
The shop's contact page gives the farm shop hours as Tuesday to Saturday 9am to 6pm and Sunday 10am to 5pm; it is closed on Mondays. The café is open Tuesday to Sunday, 9am to 5pm, and lunch bookings are recommended. Hours change over Christmas and New Year, when the website posts separate times. Glemsford is close to Long Melford and Cavendish, so the shop fits well into a day in the Stour Valley.
Willow Tree Farm Shop: website and opening hours.
Knowing a farm shop you can return to is also one of the most practical ways to be ready for disruption. Read The Be Ready Campaign: A UK Guide to Stocking Your Home With Healthy, Local Food, and use the Be Ready Map to find more local food across the UK.
Plan your farm visit, produce, quantities and picking dates
Choose one or two farms or farm shops that fit your route. Write down what you want, how much you need and what you will do with it when you get home. If one crop is unavailable, decide whether to choose a different farm, change the meal or return another day.
- Confirm the crop, public opening and any booking requirement.
- Ask whether you can pick yourself or buy already picked.
- Check the price unit, payment method and containers.
- Ask about access, parking and the correct visitor entrance.
Farm shop and fruit-picking questions
Where can I buy local food in Suffolk?
Good Suffolk farm shops include Friday Street Farm Shop at Farnham near Aldeburgh, Grange Farm Shop at Hasketon near Woodbridge, Alder Carr Farm at Needham Market, Hollow Trees Farm Shop at Semer near Hadleigh, and Willow Tree Farm Shop at Glemsford near Sudbury. Each grows or rears some of what it sells.
Are all these farms in the same town?
No. Suffolk covers a wide area, and this guide spreads its choices across the county. Each farm section gives its location so you can compare the journey before you set off.
Can I pick at every farm or market?
No. Farm shops and markets may sell ready-picked food without opening fields to visitors. Ask the individual business about picking access, the crop and any booking requirement.
Plan your farm shopping with My Shopping List and Harvest Checker
Open My Shopping List to record produce, quantities and estimated costs. Mark items as bought when you collect them and keep the plan for your next trip.
Use Harvest Checker after a grower gives you a picking window. Enter those dates and compare them with your visit date. The tool uses your entries; it does not fetch live availability from farms.
My Shopping List
Keep the produce you actually need in one place before you set off.
Use My Shopping ListHarvest Checker
Compare your visit with dates confirmed by the grower. This does not check live stock.
Use Harvest CheckerUse the tools with your My Ideal World account. Guest and free-account limits apply; paid members have unlimited tool access.
Explore more farm shops and picking farms in My Ideal World. Browse the Farm Shops app below or beside this article, then check the grower’s current crop and opening before visiting.
Sources
- Friday Street Farm Shop , contact and opening hours
- Friday Street Farm Shop , vision and ethos
- Grange Farm Shop , official website
- Grange Farm Shop , about the family
- Alder Carr Farm , our story
- Alder Carr Farm , farm shop and opening hours
- Hollow Trees Farm Shop , our history
- Hollow Trees Farm Shop , find us and opening hours
- Willow Tree Farm Shop , contact and opening hours
- Willow Tree Farm Shop , about
Research reviewed 25 October 2026. Farm and visitor sources support the descriptions above. Historical information is identified where relevant; no firsthand visit, current stock check or certification is claimed.