Cornwall Living
Food yards, not miles
By reconnecting us with our food, Trevaskis Farm provides a sustainable solution for those seeking to shop ‘local’.
Now under the captaincy of brother and sister, Giles and Serena Eustice, Trevaskis Farm is famed for its restaurant, for offering families the chance to immerse themselves in the ‘farm park’ experience, and now, for its on-site farm shop. At the core of the business is a determination to achieve food yards, not miles, but it goes deeper than that. Via the farm shop and butcher’s counter, Trevaskis Farm provides visitors with a viable alternative to the supermarket, reconnecting them with food that has, in many cases, been growing only minutes before purchase. There is a refined focus on ‘local’, too, not only in terms of the produce on the shelves, nor the meat on the butcher’s counter, but in terms of the money spent here and ensuring it’s retained within the local economy. “We specialise in what we do really well,” says Giles, talking about the 100-plus various crops that are grown on-site. “But we’re really keen to share that wealth out through to our producers and let them do what they do really well, too.”
On the butcher’s counter, which is led by long-time Head Butcher and master of his craft, Peter Davis, Giles explains that the approach is very much the same as that of the wider farm; to remove the disconnected relationship that, as a society, we have tended towards in recent decades. “Our butchery is very traditional, the kind of which is increasingly rare nowadays. Here, you’ll see meat in its true splendour, cuts on the bone, and what we want to encourage is for visitors to communicate with the friendly team behind the counter and learn about the products they’re buying. If you come in and talk to us, chat through what you want to do, you’ll be amazed at what you can learn. It’s not an intimidating environment here.”
On the counter, you’ll find the native South Devon Breed beef – a product that has a huge following and on which Trevaskis Farm has been able to hang its hat. You’ll also find British Lop pork, a rare breed for whom Giles chairs the society that’s dedicated to protecting its lineage. In fact, the Trevaskis drove goes back in the family for generations, and anybody who’s tried it, be it in the restaurant or from the butcher’s counter, will understand why it’s garnered such a following among discerning Cornish foodies!
In short, Trevaskis Farm is the embodiment of what more and more families have been searching for in recent times – a way in which to shop sustainably, affordably and, perhaps most importantly, in a way that supports the farmers, producers and makers that underpin Cornwall’s culinary spirit.
Trevaskis Farm