The big day arrived and Kirsten Day and Sue Chapman travelled to Birmingham to represent Ilsington Village Shop at the National Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards 2025.  Sporting their green aprons (and fabulous hair), they nervously waited for the results to be announced.

As a finalist in the awards, we knew that competition would be stiff. There were hundreds of original entries and we were in the last 30 nationally and in the top 6 in our catagory. A big word: NATIONALLY. Judges thought we stood out but in the end we were beaten by a shop that does all the refills and recycling – something we can not compete with simply due to the space we have.

We can all be very proud of our efforts and all we do for sustainability and customer service. Well done to everyone and especially to Sue Chapman for writing our application. We should all be justly proud of making the short list and proving once again that our shop may be little but its heart is so big it can compete on a national scale with all the other shops and give them a good run for their money!

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