Shrine to good food in Norfolk
Pilgrims to Walsingham in North Norfolk are set to benefit from new facilities, including a farm shop, on the Walsingham Estate thanks to help from Defra's Rural Enterprise Scheme (RES) delivered by the Rural Development Service (RDS).
The Estate, based in the village of Little Walsingham, a place of pilgrimage since at least the eleventh century, comprises 11 farms, nine tenanted and two managed in-hand. The project, which has been awarded RES funding of over £200,000, will enable all of the farms to supply produce to the farm shop directly. Other local farmers and growers will also be able to supply the shop, which will include a butchery and a bakery.
Jamie Gwatkin, Consultant to the Project, said:
"The Estate Directors were keen to use the redundant grain store, a traditional building adjacent to the Anglican Shrine in Little Walsingham village, to support the small tenant farms. The RES funding will enable them to become shareholders in a new business, Walsingham Farm Shop Partnership, protecting their livelihoods and providing benefits to the community. It is hoped that produce from the farms will also be sold to the various catering establishments for use in their own refectories for resident pilgrims."
Other projects planned include a kitchen facility to enable cooked products and complete meals to be prepared on site, the conversion of the redundant butcher's shop to create a fish and chip shop and family restaurant; and development of a mail order service via the internet for sales of general produce, ready meals and hampers to self-catering holiday accommodation. Mail order will also be used to order ready meals and deliver produce to elderly and disabled residents, and those without access to private transport
Nicola Newell, an adviser for the Rural Development Service in the East of England, said:
"This is an excellent project for RES to support. It will benefit the Estate tenants and local farmers by generating income and has added benefits in reconnecting consumers with farming and the countryside.
Information leaflets about food production methods will be available, as well as leaflets about the extensive network of circular walks for visitors. Education programmes will be developed with local primary and secondary schools to include healthy eating, rural development and food production methods."
The Estate extends into the villages of Great Walsingham, Great Snoring, Houghton St Giles. Walsingham has been a place of pilgrimage, second only to Canterbury, for over 900 years and the Anglican and Roman Catholic Shrines continue to attract a large number of pilgrims from across the world.
