Farm shop is off the market (From The Oxford Times)

Farm shop is off the market

5:00pm Friday 3rd February 2012 in Witney

THE owners of Foxbury Farm Shop have pulled out of plans to sell the facility and are now planning its long-term future.

The shop, based in Brize Norton, sells locally-produced food and boasts the largest display of local meat in Oxfordshire.

It has become a centre for farming in the county and regularly hosts farming and food demonstrations and educational events.

But last year owners Colin and Di Dawes decided the gruelling hours spent between farmland from Minster Lovell to Burford had become too much.

They hoped to sell the business they had built up over 20 years as a whole for £3.5m, but could not find a buyer who would guarantee the shop’s future.

An opportunity arose recently to consolidate the land into one block nearer their homestead, which will make their farming and retail operations easier to manage.

Mr Dawes, pictured, said the family had now decided to continue the business and was already planning to invest in new ventures.

He said: “We are relaunching the business in a different way and doing lots of things up here. We are here to stay.”

The family plans to open an educational centre in the old farm shop, which will teach students – from pre-school to university – about farming and food.

Mr Dawes said: “We will have groups coming here and, being a working farm, there will be hands-on education.”