Family first at Overton Farm Shop

From humble beginnings Overton Farm Shop has grown slowly but steadily from tatties and eggs being sold from the farm gate, to a farm shop, and the location for the busiest car boot sales in the district – and now they have a 100-seater restaurant added to the portfolio of businesses that the Young family are involved in.

The Youngs don’t do idle well. There are members of the family all over the place, all generations doing their bit for the family business.

Top of the tree, is Grandpa, Willie and Granny, Liz. They started out farming here 50 years ago.

Then down to their three children, William (Wassells), John (Poppers) and Mary Anne. Apparently, no one knows the boys by their Sunday name, so Wassells and Popper it is.

I meet Maggie, Popper’s wife in the shop for a chat. The farm shop opened 27 years ago, and it does what it says on the tin.

It’s a compact shop offering the produce from the farm straight to the public. Nothing fancy, just decent meat and veg, bred and grown not quarter of a mile from the shop front.

The lamb comes from a local farm too. Customers love that the fruit and vegetables on offer are stacked up outside under a canopy.

It gives the feel of shopping at a continental market where you can see, smell, and handle (maybe you shouldn’t but how can you resist?) the veg before you drop it in your basket.

The meat on the shelves is from their herd of 100 suckler cows, which are Herefords put to a Limousin bull. Willie says proudly: “They are bred, fed and sold through the shop.”

Using their beef, they make all their own steak pies, sausage rolls, mince rounds, corned beef and a customer favourite, potted meat. They also make their own range of jams, jellies and chutneys.

Another good seller is beef skirt, particularly when a cookery show has featured it on TV, Maggie says: “The shelves will be cleared of beef skirt and you know it’s been featured in a recipe somewhere. We also do a really nice range of flavoured burgers during BBQ season.”

They stock all their own eggs, produced from their hens, which have always been a part of Overton. Popper recalls asking his dad for a few hens when he was just a boy to make some pocket money selling the eggs.

His dad took him up on it and 300 hens appeared in the barn. “That kept him out of trouble,” laughs Willie.

Building up such a strong customer base has taken a long time and it kicked off when the farmers markets were at their strongest.

The family were involved heavily in the Lanarkshire Farmers Markets committee and that gave them the platform to get their produce out to the local towns and villages and when the farmers markets took a downturn, the customers followed the Youngs to the farm shop and have stayed loyal.

Alongside the shop, the farm hosts a car boot sale every Sunday and bank holiday Mondays, from March to October. The car boots at one point were so popular they were becoming difficult to handle. At one point, they were dealing with 1500 cars going through the farm when the sale was on. During the car boot sales, the family would BBQ sausage and burgers for the customers, and such was the success that they decided some 15 years ago to think about setting up their own butchery to bring the meat processing closer to home.

They did that and it has been a great asset to the business. Not only do they butcher all their own meat, but they are a European Licensed cutting plant, which allows them to butcher other people’s meat.

They package and label the items for others too. At the moment they are putting away three of their beasts a week to be butchered to keep up with the shop’s demand and they employ three full time butchers and three part time workers who help make the pies and in house food produce.

Restaurant

The Oven@Overton restaurant was opened in 2014, the labour of love of daughter-in-laws, Jane and Maggie, which made them question their sanity they say, but now that it is finished, they are delighted with the restaurant and it has been a terrific success.

It is a large restaurant, bright, open, with tables offering plenty of space from the neighbouring table. The menu is large and varied and reasonably priced. They added an enclosed children’s play area out the back of the restaurant which has been a godsend for those seeking solace for ten minutes with toddlers in tow.

Maggie tells me that they insisted on table service, so that customers receive personal attention from the staff: “The staff are a huge asset, a massive part of the business,” she says, “though most of them in here during the summer are related to us in some way,” she laughs.

There is a lovely display of cakes, all made on the premises, and they have lots of gluten free options available.

They have noticed a different clientele coming their way now that they have opened the restaurant.

However, it has opened their shop to a new audience too. They were blessed to have a strong customer base for the shop, that was ready and waiting to support the restaurant when it opened.

Popper adds: “Customers can’t get enough of the simple things on the menu like our eggs dishes, toast and potted meat, or soda scones and cheese,” it seems the traditional dishes still rule with Clyde Valley Tomato Bruschetta and Local Beetroot and Feta Salad a popular daily for those looking for something more adventurous.

The farm used to grow lots of vegetables for supermarkets, however the demands were becoming difficult and they decided to give it up. Now they grow various varieties of potatoes and tomatoes which are sold in the shop.

In having a look around the cattle with Willie, you can’t fail to notice the fine-looking racehorses that are in stables.

Horses have been in the Young’s blood for a long time, and Willie shows me their latest joy which is a lovely animal which has won five races on the trot.

They get involved in both National hunt and point to point. In March, every year, there is a huge point to point event held at the back of the farm which attracts 5000 people.

The work for that starts in October/November time, Popper tells me there are hospitality tents that can house 1000 people, it has turned into a huge social event. A massive hooley that is now a calendar highlight for anyone interested in point to point.

Also on the farm they hold Blossom Days and Apple Days, which are open days organised in conjunction with the Clyde Valley Orchard Group, which is trying to promote the planting of orchards in the valley.

The days are filled with visitors who come to see the showcase of local produce in the Farmers Market and a marquee with local crafters. The Apple Day is popular in particular for the apple pressing that goes on using apples from the local orchards.

Overton Farm shop and restaurant is a thriving, forward looking business that has the customer’s needs at the centre, they constantly change with the times to adapt to changes in food and farming, and that is the key element in their success. As well as getting on as a family, as they are all working together and having a laugh along the way.

Speaking to Willie, he tells me that apart from Overton Farm, they also have Nethanfoot Farm, some land at Dalserf and they bought Hillend Farm last year, as they needed more space for the suckler cows, to keep up with the demand for the shop. I ask them if they ever rest. “Och, no!” says Willie shaking his head firmly and with that he wanders off to see where he is needed.

Where: Just off the A72 Lanark Road on the Clyde Valley, between Rosebank and Crossfoot.