Garden Friends Farm Shop and Vegetable Box Scheme

wow shopping just became fun the farm shop is inspirational, great local products, pricing is fantastic for such quality, and gifts for me and the family

Best the obvious benefits of support local producers, reducing food miles and eating seasonally. My delivery day is like coming home to Christmas, with the excitement of seeing what is in the box and then planning my meals for the coming week. Val and the team are really helpful and can accomodate last minute changes without so much as groan. Keep up the good work.

Many people have organic veg boxes these days which are great except that most of the produce is flown in from the other side of the world! What are we doing? It's crazy. We need to return to living with the seasons, eat local foods and supporting our growers before they go out of business. This is what Garden Friends does for me, so thank you, and thank you too to the organic growers who supply them but are too small to go for the official Soil Association stamp. The new garden centre shop is great. With local sausages, cheese, fruit & veg, you could do all your weekly food shop there. My only suggestion for improving the service? Why not stock locally produced toilet rolls and then it could be bye bye Tesco & hello Garden Friends!

I hate shopping but love really decent veg, so having a veg box every week is perfect, great quality, great service. I love it!

Fresh, tasty fruit and veg; knowing it is local is great and it is helping the economy of Bedfordshire. Val is lovely, always cheerful, even in the snow of last winter!!

When my kids said that they could tell the difference between the "real" veggies and the Tesco "stuff" I knew I had made the right choice!

Garden friends are amazing! The service is fantastic, the veg is of superb quality and is always delivered without fail. Everyone is very friendly and will do anything to help. I adore my veg box. It's the highlight of my week. The food I cook with these beautiful veg taste delicious. Well worth the small amount I pay for them.

WOW THE PRODUCTS ARE FAB, WHAT A BRILLIANT PLACE, EVERYTHING YOU NEED UNDER ONE ROOF

Mark & Val go from strenght to strenght. The new farm shop based in the grounds of Roxton Garden Centre is fantastic. The shop will enable local villagers and visitors to the garden centre the opportunity to buy fresh local food. They have some great local producers of vegetables, meat, cheese, jams and chutneys, bread and cakes supplying them with good fresh local produce straight from farm to fork. Over 25 local producers now have another local outlet where their products are available and customers can come and buy all they need under one roof. The taster sessions which they hold every weekend are great as you get to try new food. well done to the two of you

The new "It's all in the van Farmers' Market" delivery works really well. By visiting rural villages who have lost there local shop Val & Mark have brought a new version of the old concept of the veg man who used to deliver to the villages. By coming at the same time as the mobile library it allows all ages to try out the vegetables which are grown in Bedfordshire and the other local extra's that they deliver with the box scheme. Some of the older members of the community don't want a full veg box so this allows them to buy just the amount that they need for themselves

We got started with GardenFriends by using their honesty box - based 'stall' in front of the House. This was particularly good for Sunday mornings when the eggs had run out. since then we have upgraded to the weekly deliveries (which, incidentally, also comes with eggs if you ask). A useful and convenient service, great value for money and supporting the local community. Nice people too.

My veg and fruit box has just been delivered and it continues to be good, in fact excellent. My veg box contains young beetroot, broadbeans, potatoes, tomatoes, soft fruit, etc. Oh, and eggs. All I need to do is go to my local butcher and I am set for the weekend... no more shopping! It saves money and time.

I discovered garden friends at the marston vale farmers market last year, i wanted a different gift for my parents so i brought a gift voucher for 5 mixed fruit/veg boxes. It was enjoyed so much that other members of the family decided to get the box delivered to. I love getting my mixed fruit and veg box, its like christmas every other wednesday. always freash always different and if you dont like something, tell Val she will sort it out quick smart . LOVELY :-)

Have been using this service for a few months now. Offers brilliant value, local produce with no packaging; plus the excitement of wondering what will be in the vegetable box this week.

Great value, excellent veg and low food miles. Great friendly service. Reliable delivery. Supporting local community of farmers and producers. Continue the good work.

We discovered Garden Friends outside Roxton Garden Centre last year, and haven't looked back since! The vegetables are absolutley full of of flavour, the flexibility of delivery location has been very helpful ensuring we didn't lose out, and the general communication from Garden Friends has been nothing but the best. We have even converted a number of friends who have become regular customers.

Excellent tasting fruit, veg and eggs. I particularly like doing my bit for the environment by using seasonal food with low food miles and no packaging. Gordon Ramsey recently said that restaurants not using seasonal produce should be fined and I smiled. Also, recently in the news, researchers have found that family’s in the UK are throwing away hundreds of pounds per year in wasted supermarket food. One of the suggested methods to reduce this waste was to join a veg box scheme and I smiled. And finally, the government are constantly encouraging everyone to eat 5 fruit and veg a day. Joining the Garden Friends weekly box scheme makes achieving this so much easier.

I love the fresh, tasty veg with no packaging and the reliable delivery and freindly service - Great value to!

before we meet val & mark we had been reducing the amount of vegetables and fruit that we where growing at the nursery, now thanks to the hard work that they have put into educating young and old alike about the values of eating locally grown vegetables that are in season we are now growing more vegetables and different varieities to supply the customers that are joining the box scheme we are delighted to be one of their growers, and have never meet such a lovely couple who have so much time to give to not only their own young family but to others that they meet.

excellent produce - converted me to some fruit and veg I had never tried before. my favourite is the lovely rhubarb. free delivery and a good selection too. just how food should taste alibaba77

I used to buy the most expensive tomatoes at my local supermarket and thought they were delicious until i tasted the ones in my veg box that is. The quality is great, the price is great, and free delivery! Its always like christmas when i get my delivery, i never know what to expect! I have recommended this scheme to everyone i know!

The food is always fresh and always different . It's a pleasure deciding what to cook first. Val always has a smile and is always ready with a recipe when I'm unsure of how to cook some things. I never knew Bedfordshire produced so much varied veg.

We moved to England 6 months ago, and Val's gorgeous fruits and veggies are one of our favorite things about living here! No one delivers food to your door in the States!

We have used Garden Friends for a while now and val & mark are not only selling lovely produce but will often slip a recipe leaflet in when using unusual veg which is a great help!!! they are both very friendly and go out of their way to get different items for us thanks again and keep up the good work.

Great fruit & veg thats low in food miles - really fresh & fantastic taste. The service from Val & Mark is brilliant - nothing is too much trouble. Definitely recommended!

A good range of quality produce, delivered with a really good service. Mark and Val, who run the scheme, are good as gold. One of the wisest buying choices we've made.

having become disillusioned with supermarket vegetables we decided we were probably not the only people out there looking for a source of good local produce at competitive prices so 1 year ago we set up the box scheme sourcing our vegetables from local growers. our vegetables aren't certified as organic but many of our local growers are of the old school and don't use chemical controls just good old fashioned knowledge and companion growing none of the vegetables have travelled more than 15 miles from where we live and therefore the food miles are greatly reduced compared to supermarkets and some other box schemes the vegetables are seasonal and taste just like they did when i was a kid

Crunchy flavoursome celery, burstingly sweet cherry tomatoes, fragrantly gorgeous strawberries...just some of my favourites from the Garden Friends Box scheme this summer. Each week is delight in local sourcing!

we used the veggie box will on holiday in bedfordshire what a great way to promote local, seasonal food

A good selection of local produce delivered every week. Fresher produce and fewer food miles used - what could be better? The eggs are lovely too!

super-fresh seasonal veg and fruit. Lacally sourced and delivered promptly. The recipes are a bonus.

Really lovely people. Reliable service and fabulous food. Veg never tasted so good!

When our daughter gets her box delivered she thinks its christmas day all over again

the recipes help her try exciting ways of cooking the vegetables which she would never have done before