Since Amrit and I took on the running of the chilli farm in June 2022, its been a busy 6 months! We’ve been learning the ropes, getting to know the fabulous team of staff, wrestling with inflation price increases, and planning and plotting our ideas for what else to introduce to the farm in the future!
Now we feel like we’re getting our feet well and truly under the table, in 2023 its time for us to start bringing some of these ideas to life!
NEW TUNNELS
The first, and probably the biggest, introduction for 2023 is our two brand-spanking new polytunnels!
One of these will be a second dedicated nursery space for nurturing our chilli seedlings, and preparing our lovely pot plants for you to grow on at home. We’ll be installing heating and irrigation systems here to keep our plants happy and in tip top condition at all times.
The second tunnel is a beast at around 50m long! This will be used to make more crop space – it’ll be home to a combination of seed collecting specimens, crops for selling our fresh chillies, and for cooking into our award winning range of chilli sauces, happening a few hundred metres away from the tunnels in our kitchen.
As I write, the tunnels are on the back of a wagon on their way to be delivered to us in Loddiswell and we at the farm are all extremely excited for their arrival!
We hope that these 2 tunnels will be ready to support us with extra capacity during the 2023 growing season, watch this space for videos and updates once they’re in place!
SHOW TUNNEL REVAMP
Next up we are revamping our famous Show Tunnel for 2023! Over time, the Show Tunnel had been encroached on to provide extra crop space, and the layout needed a bit of a spruce-up. So, this Winter we’ve been hard at work digging up the space and using pegs and string to mark out our new paths and beds. We’re aiming for the Tunnel to be planted up in April.
I hope you’re all ready for a big WOW factor when you come down to the Show Tunnel this summer, with well over 100 chilli varieties as well as some other specimen plants on display!
NEW WEBSITE
One important upgrade for the chilli farm this year is to our website. Website activity and online sales are a key part of our business at the farm, and the website hasn’t had a refresh for a few years now.
You’ll notice by the very fact you’re reading this blog post that we have introduced some new pages to our website, as well as simplifying and streamlining the online shopping experience for you!
Over the course of the year we will continue to add to the new website, as we want it to become your one-stop shop for all things chilli – buying, growing, eating, visiting – you name it!
CHILLI FARM ON THE ROAD
Following a COVID-hiatus, the South Devon Chilli Farm will be well and truly back on the road this year!
We have a range of events booked in this year all around England which we hope to see you at. Currently booked in are:
- Salcombe Crabfest – 30th April
- Flavourfest, Plymouth – 26-28th May
- Foodie Fest, Exeter – 16-18th June
- Cheese & Chilli Fest, Guildford – 15-16th July
- RHS Hyde Hall Flower Show, Essex – 2-6th August
-
RHS Rosemoor Flower Show, Devon - 18-20th August
- Dartmouth Food Festival – 20-22nd October
- Christmas markets TBC!
With all of the above, and more, in the pipeline for this year, the SDCF team are all so excited to see what 2023 brings and look forward to welcoming you all to the farm, whether that be via our website or coming down to see us in sunny South Devon!
Jenny