Come and shop

People get involved with the farms in a wide variety of ways but one of the very best ways is to buy your food at the farm shops. Shopping at Plaw Hatch and Tablehurst is a very different experience! You feel an immediate connection with the community, your spirits lighten, people have time to talk to one another and there’s an indefinable sense of wellbeing rising up from the land around you. And there's always the opportunity to treat yourself to a fragrant organic coffee and freshly made cake.

Enjoy an event, join an activity or just come for a farm walk

Throughout the year, both farms organise a variety of activities, from talks and workshops to farm and herb walks and barn dances and, of course, our ever popular AGM with maximum attention and time given to the farms and minimum time spent on formalities!

Plaw Hatch has a truly charming bucolic camping facility. Tablehurst has regular community events. Visit the individual farm websites for more:

Become a Coop Shareholder / Make a Donation / Join the Coop Committee

You can easily contribute to a more secure future for our local community farming: become a Coop member by buying one or more £100 shares. Buying Coop shares offers you the opportunity to attend the AGM as a voting member, and apply to become a Committee member to have even more influence in the future of our local sustainable farming.

Community Connections

Community involvement has been the heart of the Coop since it began in 1996. It started in a very practical way, with the provision of working capital to the farms by over 500 members of the local community taking out £100 shares.

Nearly thirty years on, buying one or more Coop shares is still an excellent way to become involved! You can buy one or more shares by getting in touch with The Secretary via the “Contact Us” page. Or you are welcome to download and fill in the Share Application form and post it to The Secretary, Tablehurst and Plaw Hatch Community Farm Ltd., Tablehurst Farm, London Road, FOREST ROW, RH18 5DP.

Farm and community connections extend well beyond those who own shares: many non-members visit the farms and buy food; many people visit and walk on the farms; many people attend guided farm walks, open days, celebrations and barn dances; and many people visit the farms just to enjoy being in the very special places that our unique biodynamic farming creates. In addition, both farms have important educational connections with the community, through local schools which visit regularly, volunteering and young farmer apprenticeships - the true future of farming.

There are vibrant economic connections with local businesses trading extensively with our farms, some of whom started originally on the farms and then, as their businesses expanded, moved to other premises in the locality. Notable among these are Tablehurst Orchard, which is now Brambletye Fruit Farm; Cherry Gardens Organic Farm and Farm Shop at Groombridge. Many successful businessmen started entrepreneurial life as farm apprentices, such as Nick Barnard of Rude Health and our lovely Emile and his Hathor Farm.

In addition to being farm partners, community members volunteer their expertise either as non-executive members in the farm management teams or as Coop Committee members. These individuals, especially those joining the management groups, make very deep and strong connections to the farms and farmers, often combining their voluntary work with specific skills such as book keeping, law, event organising, PR, marketing and fundraising. Many also develop new skills (often with training and certification), such as food processing, serving in the shops, running the al fresco barbecue and pizza kitchens and other events. Some run educational and health workshops at the farms. Within this group of generous and skilled people, several become company directors of the farms, taking on legal responsibility for the operation of the businesses. For these people, the connections with the farms are often deeper than those they enjoy through their paid work, or in any other sphere of their social lives.