ONE of York's best-known farm shops is to close - but an associated children's adventure farm and café is to undergo a major expansion.

The Farmer’s Cart farm shop at Towthorpe, just off the A64 north-east of York, was opened by Geoff and Margaret Sykes in 2002 to bring customers the freshness and flavour of foods straight from the fields.

But now their son, Ed Sykes, who has since become a joint owner of the business, has revealed that the shop has been underperforming for some time due to increased food price competition from supermarkets.

He said that whilst closure had been a difficult decision, it had put the business in a much stronger position to grow and move forward with an expansion.

Mr Sykes said the adjacent Piglets Adventure Farm, home to a variety of farm animals, go carts, outdoor activities, play equipment and a café, had attracted 65,000 visitors in 2014, following a 30 per cent increase in numbers.

Now it is set to undergo a major investment to add new facilities including educational classrooms, indoor facilities, improved play zones and café, and more animal areas.

He said: “The adventure park has gone from strength to strength since we opened in 2011 and we are confident that with the right investment, it has the potential to be one of Yorkshire’s top family attractions.

“In order to meet our expansion aims with Piglets Adventure Farm, we had to look carefully at the wider business and we are now in the process of restructuring our offer. The first part in that process has been to close The Farmer’s Cart farm shop on site.

“We’re looking forward to getting the new facilities in place, which will include an extension to our highly-regarded and successful café, and enabling more families to enjoy a day out in the fabulous Yorkshire countryside.”

He said the shop's closure on May 10 would result in the loss of jobs at the business, which employs 55 people at peak times.

However, some employees would be offered alternative employment elsewhere in the business, and the long-term expansion was expected to create 20 full-time equivalent additional jobs in the adventure farm and cafe.

York Press:
Ed Sykes at the Farmers Cart, where the farm shop is to close with the loss of some jobs, but Piglets adventure farm will be expanded and additional jobs created