A new farm shop in rural Suffolk selling home-grown farm produce has extended its opening hours following four months of success.

The Suffolk Rural Farm Shop is at the Suffolk New College campus based in Otley, near Ipswich, with most of the goods sold created or produced by the college community.

The shop opened in January after an investment of £30k, selling goods ranging from meat and eggs to plants and calendars.

The new opening hours are Wednesday to Friday from midday to 5pm during term time.

The shop will also be open during events at the college such as the Big Day Out family fun day on Saturday, May 11 2024.

Ipswich Star: The farm shop opened in January this year.The farm shop opened in January this year. (Image: Suffolk New College)

Lynsey Wilson, campus director at the Suffolk Rural campus who played a leading role in setting up the operation, said: "We recently employed a new member of staff and our opening hours are now in place for the foreseeable future - Wednesday through Friday - midday to 5pm during term time.

"Virtually everything sold in the store – that resides on the site of a former workshop - has been created or produced by the college community.

"Products include bird boxes, eggs, gift cards drawn by art students, plants grown by the horticultural team, poppies created by welders and a vast selection of meats.

Ipswich Star: Sarah Jay and Lynsey wilson holding some greetings cards designed by art students in the farm shop.Sarah Jay and Lynsey wilson holding some greetings cards designed by art students in the farm shop. (Image: Suffolk New College)

"The idea behind this is to give the learners an opportunity to create their own enterprises and also see the journey of food production – from the farm to the fork.

"I think in recent years, people want to buy local and understand where their food comes from and this is partly why we created the business. Everything we sell has been created in-house.

"It's an exciting learner driven project that reinforces our commitment to land based studies and our desire to support and work with the local community. 

"So far it has been going very well and we would like to thank everyone for supporting us."

The Suffolk Rural college campus is the land-based studies arm of Suffolk New College.