Hillers Spring Watch?

We may not be able to provide commentaryfrom Bill Oddie, but you can still enjoy watching a great variety of birds, and other wildlife, going about their daily routine in the Hiller Garden.  Ian the maintenance man - a keen bird watcher - has built a bird hide towards the back of the Hiller Garden on the left hand side.  It's already proving to be a popular spot for visitors (both human and the feathered variety), so take a few minutes to stop, smell the roses and watch the garden creatures keeping busy.

Best Rural Retailer 2007

On Wednesday February 6th a group of seven of us from Hillers visited the House of Lords in London as guests of the Rural Retailer of The Year Awards.  As winners of the Best Local Food Retailer for the Midlands we were invited with the other eleven regional winners to the awards ceremony to hear who was to win the overall title in the category.

The winners are a group of farmers in Norfolk who have joined together to form a company  providing farming services, including two farm shops.  Their dedication to educating the public about food and how it is produced really impressed the judges (and us), along with their commitment to supporting their local farming and rural community. and they are very deserving winners. 

We had a wonderful day, and were truly inspired by the people we met and the dedication to supporting businesses in rural areas.  We are incredibly proud to have been awarded the Midlands title, and will be making sure that we work hard at retaining the title next year!

A huge thank you again to all the people who nominated and supported us.  We all appreciate your kind comments, and hope we can continue to provide you with the very best in local produce and service.

Find out more about the wnners in all the categories at www.bestruralretailer.co.uk. The national winners will also be appearing on the Alan Titchmarsh show to discuss the awards and their businesses.

PLANNING APPLICATION 

We are very pleased to be able to announce that our planning application for extensions and alterations to the Farm Shop and site has been passed by Stratford District Council.  We will now be concentrating on how to move forward with the project, and organising the step by step development.  We will keep you informed on this page with news of the proposed works and timescales.

What is the planning application for?

To create a larger till space to make it easier to shop and less crowded at busier times.

To give more space to Ragley Estate Meats, both for the staff to have more room to work and for customers to have more room to shop.

To build new toilet facilities for customers, including more facilities for disabled customers, which will be sited nearer the car park.

A new retail unit for the Fish Shop, providing Kim and Pete and their customers with a more comfortable environment.

Moving the entrance to Hillers, making it safer for cars coming in and leaving the site, and safer for pedestrians on the site.

A new retail unit for a Florist's shop.  This is something we had been given planning permission for some time ago.  Flowers are better situated away from fresh produce, and this would give us the chance to provide a wider variety of flowers and proper florist service. 

Will the  changes alter Hillers?

In some ways, yes, making it easier and safer to shop here, and more convenient for those less able or with children.  We have no intentions of turning into a supermarket, in either size or appearance.  Although the shop layout may alter, we are still committed to keeping Hillers a family run business, concentrating on providing first class local produce, supporting local growers, and giving our customers friendly helpful service.