The Floating Farm Shop

I was enchanted last Sunday to encounter Pan, the 'Floating Farm Shop', near Kirtlington.  (Hmm - 'Pan the Floating Farm Shop' sounds like yet another character in a children's storybook!)

Jane Fanner-Hoskin and her family farm 30 acres between the canal and the River Cherwell, fully organically, with a few dairy cattle and assorted market garden plants in season.

They serve canalside teas, they sell eggs (free-range, natch), and she bake assorted home-made goodies.

They have their own sausages, cheeses, and pretty much anything else you'd expect. If they've got it live, they've probably got it baked, minced, wrapped, potted or bottled.

They announce it at each lock either side of the farm, and at every other tree as you approach.  You won't miss the signs.  The 'farm shop boat' might still catch you by surprise, though, as it's hidden on a long bend, and on a busy day you might struggle to stay tied up as hireboats in a hurry sweep past.

It's a trusting place - self-service, and with an honesty box and a calculator to tally your own bill - but Jane'll be quick to come out and help you if you want.  When I pulled up, she was stepping aboard with a new tray of cakes, and she help tie Granny Buttons abreast of Pan.

I loved Granny Fanner's Home-Made Whisky Marmalade (Jane's own granny's recipe).  Even though I don't eat much jam or marmalade I just had to have a jar and add it to my Granny collection.  I enjoyed the cumberland sausages and a small chunk of home-made cheddar, and her own home-made bread. 

A plastic bag of modern Hovis sat incongruously on the roof of Pan, for those who must have ready-sliced, but I loved her large home-made loaves. I'm not sure if all the fresh vegetables were farm-grown.   Out of the main growing season she must surely have to buy in much of her organic stock.

This is the 'Good Life' for real. They are happy as can be in their little smallholding.

But it can't be an easy life.  Thirty acres might be traditionally adequate for a family farm, but she says that 28 of their grazing acres are within the floodplain of the River Cherwell, and their cattle herd must be moved every time there's heavy rain.

A farm as small as this can't really support a family properly these days, so they have a couple of other remarkable businesses on the sideline. 

Their Wooden Wheelbarrow Workshop makes traditional Victorian-style wheelbarrows.  These are masterful works, but in the age of the lightweight plastic barrow they look to me a little heavy to trundle around.  I suspect they are more garden ornaments than anything. 

Meanwhile their Oxford Carriage Company supplies horse-drawn carriages for weddings and other joyous ceremonial occasions (hence they are often closed on Saturday afternoons in summer). 

Jane gave me a quick glimpse of one of the wedding carriages.  It all seemed so cute.  A quick tour around the vegetable garden showed that it was early season - few things (apart from the daily free-range eggs) were ready to harvest.  I'd love to see this place in a couple of months when it's more bountiful.

She also gave me a glimpse of her little vineyard, where she's planning to harvest grapes for home-made wine soon. 

I could imagine coming here with a lover on a midsummer boating holiday and enjoying one of Jane's canalside cream teas.  Bliss.  Very romantic.  Mooring up would be tricky though.  Best to tie up on the towpath side and walk over the bridge by the lock, and down Mill Lane to the farm's front gate.

I'm a sucker for cute, so I've uploaded a further batch of photos to my Flickr site.  Did I mention that I liked this place?  What a jewel of the Oxford Canal it is.

Is it easy to do this sort of thing?  There must be hundreds of smallholdings alongside the narrow canals, but this claims to be the only one that sells its produce from a boat, in such a friendly, open and trusting way.  It represents a dozen years of work for the Fanner-Hoskins, but are there any others of such character and charm?   If not, how difficult would it be to create them?

Maybe it's like the apocryphal story of the visitor to an Oxford college who asked the porter how they managed to make the lawn in the quadrangle look so wonderful.  "It's simple", answered the college servant.  "You just seed it, water it and fertilize it, and then roll it every day for six hundred years."

Granny's log supplemental:  Jane is also an artist and teacher, and does the occasional canal art tutorial course at the WI's Denman College near Oxford.

If you are driving, you won't be able to reach the Floating Farm Shop from the canalside, and I didn't ask about visiting by road.  It's just north of Pigeon's Lock at the end of Mill Lane.  Streetmap.co.uk link here.

Comments

[Donna]

this is the most amazing place - ever!! We went here for cream tea and got so much we couldn't eat it all :) Fantastic, just wished I lived nearer.. mmm on second thoughts it's good I don't otherwise I would have a serious weight problem! Cakes, scones, tea and the lady herself - all perfect! :)

[Kate Greening]

I visited Jane's last summer and was really inspired by her way of life. I espcially loved the wind-up gramaphone player, the chickens running around, not to mention the cream teas. Evocative of times past.

My dad is a coeliac and if we call ahead, she is kind enough to put something without gluten aside for him. A wonderful hidden gem!

[Andrew Denny]

Nanu,
I don't know Jane's address, sorry. I came by boat. But it's very close to Pigeon's Lock, which on Canalplan is here:
http://www2.mihalis.net/canal/cgi-bin/gazette.cgi?where=$902e
I think this is Mill Lane, and the page shows the postcode. Try writing to 'Jane Fanner-Hoskin, the Organic Farm, Mill Lane, Kirtlington, xxxxxx (postcode as shown on that page) and I'm sure it'll get to her.

Andrew

[nanu mitchell]

I heard Jane on R.4 the other day. I knew her many years ago when she was moored in Oxford. I've written a letter which I'd like to send her, can you send me her postal address please?
Nanu Mitchell

[nanu mitchell]

I heard Jane on R.4 the other day. I knew her many years ago when she was moored in Oxford. I've written a letter which I'd like to send her, can you send me her postal address please?
Nanu Mitchell

[nanu mitchell]

I heard Jane on R.4 the other day. I knew her many years ago when she was moored in Oxford. I've written a letter which I'd like to send her, can you send me her postal address please?
Nanu Mitchell

[Mark]

Fabulous posting. I hope that next summer when we are on the canals that we will be able to visit the Farm Shop. Sounds like a very unique and interesting lifestyle. I hope that they are having fun with their three businesses.

Hope you have a great day,

Mark