Rowberry's expands with £25,000 grant
A Worcestershire farm shop has expanded with the support of a £25,000 grant from the Rural Enterprise Grant Programme. Rowberry's Nurseries has opened a butchers and will refit its farm shop with the investment.
The company has already expanded to include a restaurant. The grant has also contributed towards a refit of part of the farm shop building and installing new equipment.
Rowberry's, which was set up in 1977 by Chris Rowberry and his wife Maria, now employs 30 people.
Maria Rowberry said: “Almost everything we sell in both the restaurant and the farmshop is produced ourselves and our meat had been very popular but we had to sell it vacuum packed.
“Now we’ve got a butcher as part of the farm shop, we are able to sell fresh meat and it’s been a real hit with customers so far.
“The Rural Enterprise Grant has made a huge difference, enabling us to go ahead with the plans far quicker than we could otherwise.”
The grant was funded through the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) which is managed by regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands and administered by Herefordshire Council. Rural Enterprise Grants are available for farmers and micro businesses developing and diversifying into food and drink, environmental technologies and tourism improvements.
