Reinventing any business is difficult to get right. What are the best bits to keep, what needs to be changed, how do you stay open while changes take place, how do you pay for it all… There are a lot of questions to answer.
For the Brocksbushes team, the biggest development in the business’ history also had to unpick more than 45 years of organic growth.
Having purchased the farm in 1977, by 1979 Billy Dickinson started the family’s pick your own fruit operation. In 1982, Billy married Caroline, and in 1983 they started their small shop – which was open for just nine weeks of the year. Today Caroline continues to shape the business with her son, Harry, and his wife, Rose.
By 2023, Brocksbushes had grown enormously in terms of what it offered, the livelihoods it supported, and what its customers had come to expect. The pick your own farm is now home to more than 300,000 fruit and pumpkin plants – spread across the equivalent of 36 football pitches. From June to August the fruit picking season offers strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, plums, blackcurrants and redcurrants. Then there are pumpkins in October. In 2023, the farm welcomed more than 50,000 visitors to pick fruit and pumpkins, enjoy the best of the farm and local producers in the farm shop and tea room, and take part in events ranging from summer fayres and family activities to Christmas markets.
Having maximised its potential in its timber buildings, the biggest change in the business’ history got underway in 2017 when Harry joined the business. Work on securing planning permission took three years, then came Covid. Work eventually got underway in July 2023.
“The buildings were not going to last another 40 years, so that was one of the starting points,” says Rose, who joined the business fully in 2023 having spent years working with Harry on its future development. “Demand was growing too and we’d maxed out what we could do with what we had. The time was right to move into the next generation of the business.”
The new Brocksbushes occupies a space four times larger than what was here before, and encompasses a far larger shop with dedicated Butchery and Deli, a big dining operation as well as a courtyard, Play Barn and function space.
“One of the big tasks was working out what people come to Brocksbushes for – and I think that will continue to evolve as we move forward,” says Rose, who spent months visiting farm shops with Harry to learn from different businesses and see what they specialised in.
“I think every farm shop is different. We always wanted the Play Barn and a bigger shop, and the plan hasn’t changed too much from the initial one. We’ve made some tweaks and we’ve got no doubt we’ll develop it further. We’ve already learned so much in the first few weeks.”
Having taken 16 months from breaking ground to opening the Farm Shop and Play Barn, today Brocksbushes is home to a 5,800sqft Farm Shop, the 140-cover Courtyard Kitchen with a 60-cover function room and courtyard space, and a four-level children’s Play Barn with its own café.
The team has also grown from 30 to 60-plus in the Farm Shop, Butchery, Deli, Courtyard Kitchen, Play Barn and behind the scenes.
“At its core, the new Brocksbushes is still very much a family-run North East farm shop,” says Rose. “We want the whole family to enjoy being here while staying true to the Brocksbushes brand that has been built over the last 45 years.
“The old shop had so much character and we wanted to keep elements of it. People are a huge part of that and some of the team have been with us a very long time, while the new members have embraced what Brocksbushes is all about.”
For shop manager Margaret Turner, part of the team for 23 years, the change has allowed her to work more closely with North East producers.
“The changes have been huge and while there’s not lots more shelf space, we can showcase local food much better than we have been able to before,” says Margaret. “With more space, we wanted to prioritise our own produce and things which are local to us – whether that’s on the shop shelves or in the Butchery and Deli. Developing the relationships with the producers in our shop, building on what we’ve done in the old one and with events, has been so much fun. The feedback on what we now offer has been fab. I’m so excited to have everyone onboard for this journey.”
As well as the new shop space, the Brocksbushes Deli is far larger and more diverse – and the new Butchery showcases produce from two local farms.
“I had a few months to learn what Brocksbushes was all about, and then got right into creating our new offering,” says deli manager Katie Livingstone-Evans Lowes, who joined the team in May. “It’s very different and a lot bigger. Seeing people enjoy what we now offer after all the hard work which has gone into it has been so rewarding.”
“Creating the new Butchery has been an exciting opportunity to build on everything I’ve learned,” adds head butcher Daniel Burton, who has joined the team having spent 22 years in the industry. “Working with Jeff and Laura at Walwick Grange, and Philip Nixon at Little Whittington, has been fantastic – their beef is phenomenal. Butchery has come a long way and the modern offering has to be high-quality, well-presented and diverse. I think the team offers that, and we have a fantastic setting to do it in.”
With the work almost fully finished – there are a few refinements to come in the next few weeks – the team are very happy with the feedback they’ve received.
“There have been real highs and lows, as you’d expect creating something this big, but I think we’ve created something we can all be very proud of,” says Rose. “There has been blood, sweat and tears – and we’ve all been roped into doing everything from fixing loos to scrubbing floors – but seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces on the opening day was amazing.
“We have more to come with the opening of our function space and with our events programme. The demand has been there for a while and we’re so excited to have the opportunity and space to grow.
“We’ve retained all the staff we had and grown the team so much. We’re lucky to have so many passionate people involved in what we’ve created. We’re one big family and we appreciate each and every one of our team members.
“We’ve also learned so much from so many different people along the way, and we can’t thank them all enough,” adds Rose.
While the last 16 months have been challenging, what the Dickinsons and their team have created is an incredible space celebrating the very best of North East food. With the farm’s biggest ever pumpkin season coming up along with a busy Christmas events calendar, we can’t wait to see what’s next for the next-generation Brocksbushes.
