Plans for farm shop selling produce in Derbyshire countryside

The application, submitted by Mary Sisson to Erewash Borough Council, would see a farm shop opened in a former two-storey farmhouse in No Mans Lane, Dale Abbey.

Application documents detail that the premises at Sandiacre Lodge Farm would include a shop, a food preparation area for the adjacent cafe – The Cowshed – five B&B rooms and an office space.

They say the Cowshed cafe, a converted barn, has been an “unbridled success” with a regular, strong customer base which is now “requesting more from the venue” including private functions, weddings, birthday parties and funeral wakes.

The document details: “The barn in which the café is located has a small food preparation area and kitchen which now struggles to cater with formal events at the premises.

“As the farmhouse is now vacant the applicants have identified a commercial use for the structure that will both assist with the café and create additional sustainable income for the farm business.

“Not only will the conversion help sustain the farm business and café, it will also create additional employment opportunities and local suppliers of food stuffs.”

The Cowshed cafe is said to employ 11 full-time and 13 part-time staff, and the company says the farmhouse would help create five further full-time roles.

Bed and breakfast bookings would be made online and guests would be greeted, by appointment, in the cafe.

To cater for the additional activities and the “ever-expanding” Cowshed café business, the existing farmyard has been repurposed to form an additional 20-space car park, the application details.The site already had a 15-space car park.

The application documents say: “The existing business (Cowshed Café) currently promotes business tourism within the borough of Erewash and generates both local employment and trade for local suppliers.

“It also provides important income to sustain Sandiacre Lodge Farm. The additional farm shop will create an outlet for the farm’s produce as well as an outlet for other local suppliers.

“It is not considered that this retail facility will not impact on the viability of existing retail activities within Ilkeston or Long Eaton.”

The borough council will make a decision on the application in the next few months.