Around 1920 Victoria Hodgson’s great-grandfather began delivering milk into Kendal by horse and cart, and started renting the field at Plumgarths. A hundred years later his great-granddaughter Victoria and her daughter Anna run the farm shop on the same ground, with a traditional butchery counter sourcing salt marsh lamb from Victoria’s parents at Low Foulshaw, eggs from her brothers next door at Geldard Farm Eggs, and the seven-tenant Lakeland Food Park alongside. Just off the A591 north of Kendal, on the road to Windermere.
The shop runs on a short line from the field to the counter. The lamb on the bench is sometimes raised by Victoria’s parents. The eggs come from her brothers. The ready meals come off the same butchery. The pantry shelf reads as a list of every Cumbrian dairy, distillery and producer working the fells around Kendal.
A traditional working butchery. Lamb sourced weekly from Kendal auction, reared by named local farming families. In season the counter carries salt marsh lamb from Victoria’s parents at Low Foulshaw on the Cartmel peninsula, where John and Rachel Geldard raise 1,000 sheep on 576 acres of saline pasture. Beef and free-range pork from other local farms. Handmade sausages, dry-aged steaks, spiced kebabs, and the rotating Meat for the Week packs (Couple, Family, BBQ, Slimmers).
The eggs on the counter come from the family business at Low Foulshaw run by Victoria’s brothers Richard and Charles Geldard, who turn over six million pounds a year supplying eggs across the North West. A regular cadence of double-yolks. Free-range, raised within sight of the Cartmel fells, on the road from Plumgarths back to the farm where it all started.
Cottage pies, lasagne, chilli, casseroles, fish pies. Made on the premises from the butchery’s own cuts, the deli’s own prep, and the bakery’s own pastry. Packed for one, two, or four. The cabinet stocks fresh through the week and frozen for the cottage-rental crowd coming off the A591.
Cartmel Sticky Toffee Puddings on the cake stand. Lakes Distillery gin on the spirits shelf. Luxury Lakes ice cream in the freezer. Hawkshead Relish chutneys and pickles by the till. The shelves carry the names of every dairy, distillery, and producer working the fells around Kendal. The buying is done in person, on the road, by Anna.
Around 1920 John Geldard’s grandfather (Victoria Hodgson’s great-grandfather) began delivering milk into Kendal by horse and cart, and started renting the field at Plumgarths from the landlord of the day. Over the next half-century the family farmed the field as a working dairy. George Geldard, John’s father, took on the tenancy from his own father and grew the herd through the post-war years.
In 1973 John married Rachel. Their three children, Victoria, Richard and Charles, came up on the field. In the late 1990s the A591 Kendal bypass was driven straight through the holding and split it in two. The traditional dairy on the severed field closed; dairy-beef, poultry and sheep carried on at Low Foulshaw on the Cartmel peninsula. What the road took, the family put back: John and Rachel turned the severed ground into the Lakeland Food Park, and in November 2001 the farm shop opened as the first venture and the anchor tenant.
In 2017 their daughter Victoria and granddaughter Anna took over the day-to-day management of the shop. The butchery counter was rebuilt around named local farming families, the seasonal salt marsh lamb from Low Foulshaw, and the Meat for the Week packs. 2020 was the family’s centenary on the field. The shop is now in the care of the fourth and fifth generation of Geldards on the same piece of Kendal ground.
“Without the farm shop I wouldn’t contemplate it.” John Geldard, on the diversification that built the Food Park. In Cumbria.
The Lakeland Food Park was John and Rachel Geldard’s answer to the bypass. Plumgarths is the anchor; the rest are independent tenants who share the field, the slate, and the road in from the A591.
Adjoining the farm shop, sharing the car park. 4.7 stars across 742 Tripadvisor reviews. Breakfast with Plumgarths bacon and sausage, paninis, savoury pancakes, afternoon tea.
Handmade pies, pasties and quiches. 2024 Gold British Food Award winner for the Steak and Mushroom pie. Cumbrian lamb and beef, local cheese, pastry made on site.
Slow-fermented sourdough, baked overnight. The bread that goes into the Plumgarths shopping basket and the 2 Sisters breakfast plate.
Speciality coffee and fine tea, roasted and blended on the park. Take-out for the road or to the café next door.
Gingerbread, biscuits, traybakes, the cake stand at 2 Sisters. The traybake people of Kendal.
Two further independents alongside Plumgarths on the Food Park, both with a counter you can walk up to in the same parking space.
Plumgarths is at the Lakeland Food Park on Crook Road, just off the A591 north of Kendal. From the M6 J36, follow the A591 signs toward Windermere; the park is on the right as you leave Kendal. Coming from the lakes, head south on the A591 and the park is on the left at the bottom of the bypass. Free on-site parking, with 2 Sisters Caf\u00e9 next door and the rest of the Food Park alongside.
If your question is not here, pop in to the shop, drop a note to plumgarthsfarmshop@gmail.com, or phone during opening hours.
Lakeland Food Park, Crook Road, just off the A591 north of Kendal. From the M6 J36, follow the A591 toward Windermere; Plumgarths is on the right as you leave town. Free parking on the shared park. Postcode LA8 8QJ.
No. We are open Monday to Saturday, 8:30 to 17:00. The shop is closed on Sunday. The 2 Sisters Café next door keeps its own hours; check with them direct.
In season, our salt marsh lamb comes from Victoria’s parents John and Rachel Geldard at Low Foulshaw Farm on the Cartmel peninsula. The rest of the year, lamb is sourced weekly from Kendal auction, reared by named local farming families. The butcher can tell you which farm any cut came from.
Yes to both. The packs (Couple, Family, BBQ, Slimmers) can be ordered online for collection from the counter, or sent on a chilled courier across the UK. Standard collect-by is the next working day from order. Phone the shop for anything you want a butcher to cut to order.
No. The 2 Sisters Café is independently owned and run by Monika and Magda. They sit on the same park, in their own unit, and serve our bacon and sausages on the breakfast plate. There is a second 2 Sisters in Kendal town centre.