August 12, 2022 2.00 pm This story is over 19 months old

Britain’s Poshest Farm Shop: Doddington Hall to feature in new Channel 5 series

Filmed “on a momentous day when the cows were being put out to pasture”
Award-winning Doddington Farm Shop team.

Doddington Hall Farm Shop near Lincoln will feature in a new Channel 5 series which celebrates the British love of a good farm shop.

Episode one of ‘Britain’s Poshest Farm Shop’ is due to air on Channel 5 at 8pm on Friday, August 12. Doddington Hall features throughout episode 1 alongside farm shops in North Wales and Devon.

The two-part series is narrated by Patricia Hodge and described as “a warm and touching look at why we all love a farm shop, the characters that inhabit them and the people behind the scenes that work so hard to create outstanding produce.”

Owner Claire Birch in the Kitchen Garden, a stone’s throw from the Farm Shop.

Doddington Farm Shop Kitchen Garden display.

Doddington Hall said its award-winning farm shop wasn’t built on being ‘posh, but was “born out of a passion to provide our customers with good quality, seasonal, local food.”

Doddington Hall said Production company Out of the Blue TV filmed “on a momentous day when the cows were being put out to pasture for the first time after the winter so they were gambolling in the sunshine.”

Doddington Farm Shop Kitchen Garden display.

Owners Claire Birch & James Birch and stockman Hari Limbu.

Since 2006, the Elizabethan Doddington Hall has been the much-loved family home of Claire and James Birch. Claire’s family have lived in the Hall for over 190 years, devoting themselves to the upkeep, repair and progression of the Doddington Estate.

After a 50 year absence, the formerly neglected two-acre walled Kitchen Garden was restored to its former glory in 2007, inspiring the opening of the Farm Shop followed by the Cafe. Just a stone’s throw from the Hall, it provides an abundance of fruit, vegetables, salads and herbs which take centre stage in the Farm Shop and on Doddington Hall’s menus.

Owner Claire Birch in her kitchen in Doddington Hall, giving a sneaky peek into the ancient recipe archive.

Owner Claire Birch with a Kitchen Garden tromboncino squash.

Over the last 16 years, Claire and James have developed the Farm Shop, Bike Shop, Café, Coffee Shop, Restaurant, Home Store, Country Clothing Store, Holiday Cottages, Bauble Barn, Christmas Tree sales, Weddings and Events businesses; increased public access and organised popular concerts and exhibitions with all proceeds going towards the upkeep and conservation of the historic Hall and Gardens.

This year, the Doddington Hall Conservation Charity secured National Lottery Heritage Funding to develop ‘Wilder Connections’, a project to connect people with nature at Wilder Doddington.