Cwmcerrig in the running for two national awards

By Robert Lloyd

Cwmcerrig Farmshop is in the running for two UK awards.

The popular Farmshop and Grill in Gorslas, Carmarthenshire, is on the shortlist for the prestigious UK Farm Retail Awards run by the National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association (FARMA).

The business is in two finals – Farm Retailer of the Year and Best ‘on-farm’

One of the partners in the Watkins family business, Roland Watkins, said:

“We are delighted to be nominated for these two awards.

“We won the Best Newcomer title last year, putting Carmarthenshire firmly on the UK food map.

“Reaching the finals this year proves both to our customers and to the industry that we are not resting on our laurels.

“We are working very hard to make Cwmcerrig the very best farmshop we can.

“Being shortlisted for these UK-wide awards is a great honour and a reflection of the hard work everyone puts into the business here at Cwmcerrig.

“Our selection in the highest award category for Farm Retailer of the Year puts us right up there among the very best farmshops in the UK.”

Butchery is central to the business at Cwmcerrig and the shop has a 10-metre-long counter which features the farm’s beef, lamb and free range poultry.

Texel lamb and Hereford beef are reared at Cwmcerrig to high standards of animal welfare.

Meat from the farm features extensively in the café’s famous carvery grill.

The philosophy at Cwmcerrig is to keep everything local. What the farm cannot produce comes from other local and Welsh producers.

Cwmcerrig Farmshop first opened in 2009 with the aim of securing a sustainable future for the family farm and providing quality, value-for-money produce to the local community. There are 21 members of the Watkins family involved in the project. The Watkins family (Roland, Reuben, Stuart, Tom and Davina) have been farming at Cwmcerrig since the 1950s.