A NEW farm shop selling locally sourced products has opened just outside Winchester.

Hampshire Pantry, which sells a range of home-grown products and enjoys views over rolling green hills, is located at Bushfield Farm on Badger Farm Road.

Its owners are Annabel Terry and Patrick Young, the publicans in charge of Meon Valley country pubs The Shoe Inn in Exton and The Bucks Head in Meonstoke. 

They are using produce from their own farm for the shop, which also has a cafe, coffee roastery, pot shop and picnic patches.

READ MORE: Cobbs Farm Shops nominated for national business award

Hampshire Pantry tries to source as much of its produce locally as possible (Image: Dre Da Silva)

The shop was previously called Compton Down Farm Shop.

Hampshire Pantry's manager, Alice Denham-Smith, told the Chronicle: "Everyone's been saying some really lovely things. We've definitely still got a lot of things we want to do and we've been working on."

We also spoke to owner Patrick Young, who told us how getting the site ready for business was far from simple.

He said: "We've been in planning for the best part of nine months. The building took six months."

Patrick has also been relishing the challenge of persuading farmers to work with the new business: "It's been quite difficult to find local Hampshire products. We've been pushing behind producers to do a little bit more. We've been up to a spelt [wheat] farm near Basingstoke because we want to use their produce for our bread."

Baking is a central part of Hampshire Pantry's operation, not least because their baker, Tamas, is a "bit of a secret find", in Patrick's words.

Tamas took up baking as a hobby during lockdown while he was working as a delivery driver and now bakes bread for all Patrick's pubs, as well as his new farm shop.

This sort of community feel is what Patrick hopes will form the basis for the new business – local people working on local produce.

Camilla Jackson, manager of the Shoe, told the Chronicle about the farm shop's ethos: "It's a farm co-operative and an additional side-business. Hampshire Pantry started at The Shoe selling croissants and other home-made products. Now it has its own business. I think they've been very busy – they only opened on Monday."

Another of Hampshire Pantry's suppliers is Worthy Earth, a "collection of regenerative no dig market gardens aiming to rebuild community around food again", according to their website.

Other local businesses providing food for the farm shop are Vale Farm eggs, based near South Winchester Golf Club, and BEK bakery in Eastleigh.

SEE ALSO: Hampshire country pub to close three months after reopening

One reviewer posted: "Excellent setup and community on the rise. Felt very welcome and we all enjoyed our stay. The espresso on the tasting flight was a highlight."

The shop is open Monday to Friday from 9am until 5pm and from 8am until 5pm on weekends.

Those interested in finding out more about Hampshire Pantry can visit their Facebook page.