As summer gives way to autumn, our fields, farms and gardens are busy producing some of the best flavours of the year.
Harvest season is a lovely reminder of just how much is grown, reared and produced close to home. From autumn fruit and vegetables to locally reared meat, honey, eggs and store cupboard favourites, you don’t always have to travel far to discover where your food comes from.
In and around Bognor Regis, we’re lucky to have independent farm shops, producers and family-run businesses helping to connect our community with local food.
So, as we celebrate harvest season, here are some brilliant places to shop small, eat seasonally and support local. And, of course, they’re worth supporting long after autumn has passed.
Discover What’s Growing at Crimsham Farm
Harvest is ultimately about where our food begins, and Crimsham Farm brings us a little closer to that story.
Based on Lower Bognor Road, Crimsham Farm is a Community Interest Company, with activities including growing vegetables, roots, fruit and nuts alongside mixed farming and educational work.
Farms like Crimsham are an important reminder that the countryside surrounding Bognor Regis isn’t simply something lovely to look at. It’s productive land, with people working throughout the seasons to grow food and care for it.
Harvest season is the perfect opportunity to appreciate the journey our food makes before reaching our plates.
Shop Local and Refill at Oakmeres
Over in Rose Green, Oakmeres Farm Shop & Refillery combines traditional greengrocer shopping with a more sustainable approach to everyday essentials.
The family-owned shop stocks seasonal, locally sourced fruit and vegetables, much of it loose and unpackaged, alongside eggs, juices, locally roasted coffee, preserves and Sussex honey.
Then there’s the refillery.
Bring along your own containers and stock up on pasta, rice, pulses, herbs, spices, nuts, seeds, dried fruit and even household and personal care products. Buying only what you need can help reduce both packaging and unnecessary food waste.
It’s a great example of how supporting a small local business can become part of the weekly shop rather than something reserved for special occasions.
Fill Your Basket at Gaterells of Felpham
A familiar name in Felpham, Gaterells of Felpham is a great place to start when you’re looking to put local produce on the table.
Alongside its traditional butchery, you’ll find fresh fruit and vegetables sourced from local farmers, as well as bread, milk, cheese, cakes, preserves, chutneys and other seasonal produce.
It’s the kind of shop where you can pop in for one thing and quickly find yourself leaving with the ingredients for an entire dinner.
During harvest season, make a point of seeing what’s available locally and seasonally. You might find a little inspiration for your next Sunday roast while you’re there.
Pick Up Farm-Fresh Eggs at Rookery Farm
Sometimes shopping locally really can mean buying straight from the farm.
Rookery Farm has been farmed by the same family for more than 130 years and today specialises in producing organic free-range eggs, with a strong focus on the welfare of its hens and caring for the land.
Pop into the farm shop and you can pick up eggs produced right there on the farm, including some less conventional shapes and sizes you might not find on supermarket shelves.
It’s a brilliant reminder of just how close we are to the people producing some of the food that ends up on our tables.
From Hive to Table with The Elmer Honey Co.
Harvest season isn’t only about what’s growing in our fields. It’s also a chance to celebrate what our local bees have been busy producing.
The Elmer Honey Co. is a small, family-run business based in Elmer, founded by Dan and Jane after their beekeeping journey began with just one hive in 2018. Their bees forage around Elmer, Middleton-on-Sea and the surrounding West Sussex countryside, with the flowers available throughout the seasons helping to give each batch of honey its own character.
Their pure local honey is available in runny and set varieties, alongside other beeswax products, and you can also find their honey stocked by independent businesses around Bognor Regis and West Sussex.
It’s a lovely example of just how local your food can be. A jar of honey produced by bees foraging only a short distance from home feels particularly fitting at harvest time.
Eat With the Seasons at Runcton Farm Shop
A short journey from Bognor Regis brings you to Runcton Farm Shop, where harvest season really comes into its own.
The farm grows more than 40 different crops throughout the year and works with over 70 local suppliers. Autumn brings produce including sweetcorn, pumpkins, apples and plums, before winter vegetables begin making their appearance.
Inside the farm shop, you’ll also find local meats, cheeses, breads, honey, apple juice and plenty of other produce from nearby businesses and makers.
It’s a brilliant place to let the season decide what’s for dinner rather than arriving with a shopping list already written.
See what’s been harvested, choose something grown close to home and build your meal around it.
Fill Your Basket at Pallant of Arundel
If you’re heading a little further afield, Pallant of Arundel is another independent worth adding to your harvest-season shopping list.
This Arundel deli brings together a tempting selection of food and drink, making it the kind of place where popping in for one thing can quickly turn into a basket filled with treats.
A trip to a local deli is also a great opportunity to think differently about where the food on our tables comes from. Look out for produce from Sussex and the surrounding area, discover smaller producers and perhaps pick up something you wouldn’t ordinarily find during the weekly supermarket shop.
Combine it with a wander around Arundel’s other independent businesses and you’ve got a lovely autumn day out while supporting small businesses along the way.
Why Does Shopping Seasonally Matter?
It’s very easy to become disconnected from the seasons when almost everything is available in supermarkets throughout the year.
Shopping through local farms, greengrocers and producers can help bring some of that seasonality back.
Instead of deciding you want a particular ingredient and expecting it to be available, you can see what’s growing locally and let that inspire what you cook.
Autumn might mean apples, plums, pumpkins and sweetcorn. As the weather gets colder, winter vegetables begin to take their place.
It makes every season taste a little different.
Support Small This Harvest Season, and Beyond
Harvest gives us a reason to celebrate the people growing and producing our food, but supporting them doesn’t need to stop when autumn does.
Buying your vegetables from a local greengrocer, picking up meat from an independent butcher, refilling your store cupboard locally or choosing a jar of locally produced honey all help put money back into businesses within our community and the surrounding area.
You don’t have to change your entire weekly shop either.
Start with one thing.
Swap your usual vegetables for something grown locally. Pick up your eggs from a farm shop. Try local honey. Take your empty jars to the refillery. Or simply ask what’s in season.
Small choices can add up to meaningful support for the farms, producers and independent businesses around Bognor Regis.
This harvest season, let’s celebrate what’s growing on our doorstep and the local people who help bring it to our tables.
