A family farm is continuing to grow, thanks to a long-standing relationship with its law firm.
Oakes Farm in Balsall Common has been owned and operated by the Oakes family since 1923.
With its roots in arable farming the business diversified into free range eggs 20 years ago and ten years later looked into the possibility of establishing its own farm shop.
Now, with the help of its Leamington-based solicitors Wright Hassall, it has opened its farm shop and café, stocked with the highest quality, local produce.
Gary Oakes runs the business with his wife Jayne and their four children and is delighted to have opened the latest addition to the farm after years of groundwork.
Gary said: “We have been diversifying the business for a number of years but we have been working towards the farm shop for the last ten after noticing the demand for it.
“We wanted to create an outlet for local producers and have built up a loyal, local customer base.
“From our experience, people enjoy the added quality that comes with local produce and our lamb is reared on our land, the honey is from hives and our cheese and bread are delivered daily from a local source.
“There are so many local producers that are desperate to get their produce out without the mass production that is required for supermarkets and we have built up a great relationship with them over the years.
“Wright Hassall was able to take care of all the legal aspects of the set-up.
“The only problem we had on our first weekend was that our car park wasn’t big enough to deal with all the people we had coming in!”
So determined were the Oakes to support the local community in this latest venture that they used only local tradesmen to construct the farm shop.
Wright Hassall has been the Oakes’s law firm for 30 years and for their solicitor John Rouse, the completion of this project has personal significance.
He said: “Given how long the firm, and myself, have worked with Gary it is fantastic to see the farm shop up and running.
“When you see the amount of work that has gone in over the years to establish their name and build up their customer base, you are desperate for it to be a success.
“We looked after all the loan agreements and land registrations that were required and were delighted to be able to deliver the desired results for Gary.”