About

Jonathan & Anwen Hoskyns

Land on which our orchards grow has been in the Hoskyns’ family since the 1740’s, when Jonathan’s ancestor William Hoskins (sic), first started purchasing land in the area.

The first orchards were planted in 1930 by Jonathan’s grandfather Henry (Hal) Hoskyns, to provide employment in the village in a time of depression. William (Bill) Hoskyns, (Jonathan’s father), ran the farm from the late 50’s until 1990. Jonathan returned from farming in Kent in 1991 and has run the business since then.

Jonathan and Anwen met in Kent and were married in Anglesey in 1994. Their twin daughters Harriet & Isabel were born in 1996.

Hal and Bill had built the farm shop in 1970 to sell their own farm produce, at that time consisting of apples, pears, strawberries, blackcurrants, vegetables, milk, cheese, cider and apple juice. Business was good in the the 1970’s but the arrival of the supermarkets in the 1980’s meant the beginning of the end of seasonal produce and the popularity of “farm gate sales”.

Instead, Bill started a nursery and the farm shop added a plant centre. Profits were thin and he decided to sell the business at the end of the decade. The 1990’s saw the business flourish into a small garden centre under different ownership, while still selling produce from the farm and functioning as a basic village shop.

By 2005, the “small” garden centre trade had been eroded by chains of larger stores, in much the same way as in the 1980’s, when the supermarkets had taken trade from farm shops and green-grocers.

It was time for another change and in March 2007, the retail business returned to the farm. Anwen took over managing the farm shop full time the following year.

Following a modified business plan, the farm shop now sells not only our own farm produce, but also showcases produce from friends and neighbouring farmers & producers in the local area. Development has been steady but continuous. 2012 saw the addition of a small coffee shop and 2019 was the arrival of Holy Cow Organic and 24hr vending of their organic whole milk. In 2020, the business had to react quickly to the new COVID-19 regulations and changes in the marketplace. With help from community volunteers, food and essential deliveries were made to vulnerable households in all the neighbouring villages. The coffee shop had to close and the garden centre trade moved online. In May 2021, the coffee shop reopened and business returned to a “new normal”, abet with social distancing and other COVID-19 regulations still in place, to maintain a safe shopping experience.

The entire shop inventory moved online in 2021 and enabled us to continue to serve customers safely with food and garden centre products. At the end of lock-down, it became clear that our customers expected to shop face to face and so the online shop morphed again to it’s current form, just selling our own products online.