What we like most is to produce foods ourselves from start to finish - from farm to table, the Riverford way. Food should tell a story and, because we know what it is, we can tell you.

Mass production of food has meant adulteration, in the form of additives, chemicals, techniques and processes. Favourable publicity for organics and farming in general has highlighted some of the health, environmental and welfare problems associated with modern agriculture. Between farm and retailer, in the form of transport and food processing there are vast areas, virtually unknown to the public. Adding air, water and emulsifiers was unheard of fifty years ago. Now they are normal practice. By making so many products ourselves we are able to avoid this abuse.

The core of the Riverford Farm Shop business has always been the Riverford kitchen and butchery.

We have been baking bread at Riverford since the business began in 1983 and now we have joined forces with Town Mill Bakery to offer not only great bread but a great number of breads - and now, their cakes and pastries too!

By the time you read this baking should have started again at Riverford, Hole, as a Town Mill Bakery franchise. I know some of you have been unhappy with the bread on offer but most of the adverse comments have centred around the lack of a tinned loaf for sandwiches and toast - that has now been resolved by its recent reintroduction. Denser wholemeal and sunflower seed loaves are being worked on. All of these things we hope to put right but one thing that won't be changing is going back to putting the industrially accepted amount of salt and fat in the bread. Like many, I found the basic bread bland for the first week but now my taste buds have adjusted the true flavours really come through. All the bread benefits from a long fermentation, first overnight as a 'sponge', then after mixing into a dough and finally after being scaled and moulded. This lowers the acidity, breaks down the gluten and makes it far more digestible. Some of the fancier breads, particularly the rye and wheat sourdoughs are a meal in themselves. Cheese on toast with a splash of Worcester sauce becomes a gastronomic treat rather than a quick snack. Now we are onto stage two and the delicious cakes and pastries are in the shops with a whopping 20% off offer to get you tasting. The croissant are packed with butter; polenta cakes are gluten-free; sambosas filled with spinach, chick peas and spices for a satisying lunch - and in Ben's humble opinion, the oatcakes are 'simply fantastic'.

A day in the Riverford kitchen...

The day starts early in the kitchen. The baker, Ian Fordham gets in at 3am and sets the ball rolling. The sponges for the dough will have been started the night before. This slow fermentation allows the flavour to develop. Mark Mellish turns up at 6am, help finish off the bread and gets started on the croissant, flapjacks and cakes etc and, with Paul Goss (the head honcho in the kitchen) start planning and preparing for the rest of the days production. If we're lucky, production stops at 6pm.

Paul gets on with the slightly more specialised stuff like preserves and frozen meals while Emma and her team of helpers crack on with the hams, pies, pasties, scotch eggs, quiches etc). The kitchen is also kept busy with producing marinades, sauces and stuffing for the butchery - and regularly tries something new to surprise the meat box customers (who receive a free 'taster' in their box that is often straight from the Riverford Kitchen). Late in the year the delicious smell of spices and fruit waft from the kitchen as the team produce brandy soaked Christmas cakes, countless trays of mince pies, puddings and brandy butter - when they're not basting hams that is...

The list of things we do changes and increases as we go along, and we strive to add and perfect new recipes to keep our dedicated customer base well supplied with baking and cooking that's as honest and close to homemade as you're ever going to find.

There's no place for colourings and flavourings here, all is made with the best, predominantly organic ingredients and we would be insulted if anyone compared it to processed food.