It was never our intention to open a shop, it just happened in April 2017. It just so happened that we were walking past the estate agents one weekend when a vacant shop caught my eye in the window. Darren said he had seen it available for quite a whilst but we might as well take a look, so we wandered down to Tilly Mead to find it. Initially, we were concerned that the shop wasn't on the high street, in fact, it was tucked away in a courtyard that neither of us knew even existed. Darren grew up in Swanage and had never been in that courtyard before but we really loved the pretty corner of Swanage which really was a "best-kept secret" |
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| We had a coffee in Java Independent Coffee shop just opposite and watched the world go by. I think it was because of Java that swung it for us, Java is quirky and had a constant supply of customers looking for an artisan coffee house rather than the corporate chains you find on the high street. We decided to have a word with Corbyn's and arranged a viewing. Little did we know it was owned by Bloom florists on the corner and I know Victoria (Tor) well, she is related to one of Darren's best friends so we knew we would be in good hands. The deal was done and the excitement began. |
Darren booked a week off work, we had only 1 week before Easter and we wanted to be open in time for the influx of visitors (or grockles if you talk in Purbeck tongue). It was a bit of an ask, the shop used to be a hairdresser's and didn't exactly have that "Farm Feel" about it. It just so happened that our friend James was frantically renovating the old Williams Bakery into the new Salt Pig and we stopped in to see how things were going. James told us that he had bought about 140 scaffolding planks to clad the walls, so the plan was born. | |
| James gave us the number of a scaffolder and Darren rang him on Monday morning. It just so happened that they were dismantling a scaffolding job in Swanage and we arranged to meet up. Darren bought 30 planks on the spot and the lads said they would help us carry them around. Luck was really on our side and we were ready to get going. It only took Darren 3 days to build the shop, helped with Late's from Jave which he exchanged for renovating some outside seating! |
A week later, and with a frantic stock build we were ready to open. We were assisted by two lovely lady's, Jenny and Julie who I know from the artisan yard in Wareham. We were really pleased to see new and current customers popping in and we arranged to have a grand opening just 2 weeks later where we could thank everyone for making Lucy's Farm Swanage a success. | |