Fresh food drive-through service takes off
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FANCY some home made jam or fresh farm eggs... then you could always pop down to the end of the road and buy them.
That is an option now in parts of the far north following an initiative which has been organised by some enterprising members of the agricultural community.
Produce can be bought at the end of roads at Slickly Croft, Lyth; Lower Toftingall, Watten; and at Armadale Farm, Armadale. You just take what you want and leave the money. Produce available includes free range hen, duck and goose eggs, jams and home-made tablet.
Sheila Gillon, of Lower Toftingall, has been offering customers a variety of home made jams and duck eggs for about a year and said the venture is working very well.
"Apart from one time when someone cleared the top shelf of jam, I have had no problems at all. People take what they want and leave money," she told the Caithness Courier yesterday.
Mrs Gillon said her raspberry jam and marmalade are particularly popular.
"Most custom is fairly local but I get folk from Bower, Dunbeath and Halkirk. People sometimes get in touch to tell me what they want," she said.
Mrs Gillon explained that she saw the scheme operating in Ireland and decided to give it a go in Caithness although she was not the first to do so.
Caithness NFU branch chairman Arnott Coghill gave the initiative his support.
"Anything that helps shift local produce is a good idea and is to be welcomed. It is quite a common thing in parts of Aberdeenshire and something similar happens in the Black Isle," he said yesterday.
Mr Coghill said the scheme relies on honesty and trust but saw no reason why it could not expand into other areas of Caithness. Landward Caithness Highland councillor Willie Mackay also supports the scheme.
"This is a great initiative which works on trust and offers people a variety of produce at the end of a farm road," he said.
