OPINION
Alfie David, Lee Spencer and Al David are butchers at Darts Farm. (Image: Humphrey Neymar)
UK farmers are rightly proud of what they do, and live for their role as food producers. But today many are scared stiff, bracing for major reforms set to kick in in April, which could shape their futures dramatically. Rachel Reeves announced in her Budget in October that inheritance tax relief for business and agricultural assets would be capped at ￡1million, with a new reduced rate of 20% being charged above that. Now, more than ever, it is important to shine a light on the magnificent food and drink this country’s growers produce, and near the Devon coast is officially the UK’s best example of this.
Darts Farm - which started when Ronald Dart began one of Britain’s first pick-your-own businesses, “Pic Fresh”, in 1971 - has been named the country’s best farm shop for the fourth time, and its owner, Michael Dart, 57, is rightly proud of this achievement. While at the huge complex to speak to farmers ahead of the Chancellor’s Spending Review, I asked him to show me around. Starting at a fishmonger outside, Mr Dart said that fresh grilled Exmouth Brixham fish is “very popular”. Once inside, we were shown the three-year-old Cow and Cacao Cafe - “the perfect spot for breakfast, lunch and everything in between”.
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Michael Dart points out that his family has been doing what Clarkson is now doing for more than 20 years, (Image: Humphrey Neymar/Getty)
Customers can enjoy sustainable chocolate gelato ice cream, one of many flavours, which are changed depending on what’s in season.
Rhubarb was on offer on this occasion. I was lucky enough to be given a complimentary cone of the honey flavour, which is made using the sticky stuff from the site’s own bee hives.
Needless to say, it was delicious. The milk used to make the sweet treat comes from Guernsey cows on local farms. This is the premise of the entire shop - serving up and selling stuff from Darts’ own farm and others nearby. Michael says between 300 and 500 local suppliers are represented.
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This idea was central to the most recent series of Clarkson’s Farm, which featured Jeremy Clarkson trying to open his own pub, which provides food supplied by Cotswolds producers.
Mr Dart says his family have been doing this for more than 20 years before the Top Gear star came along. The Yard, the site's oldest eatery, serves "hearty, honest food" using produce from Darts' farm and food hall, welcoming 3,000 people a week. But Michael also emphasised that Clarkson and his show have given food producers a “very good public profile” that has ended up being “far better than Countryfile or the NFU”. “He’s knocked doors off,” Michael added.
Tom Chivers is Head Chef at The Farm Table. (Image: Humphrey Neymar)
Hundreds of local producers are represented at Darts Farm. (Image: Humphrey Neymar)
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At the moment, the Darts operation is certainly a lot more impressive and larger in scale than Mr Clarkson’s. Albeit, I haven’t actually dropped by the Farmer’s Dog nor Diddly Squat Farm yet. I do, however, love the show, and have enjoyed watching every series.
Tom Chivers, 36, is the head chef at what he calls “the best kept secret in Topsham” - the double AA Rosette winning The Farm Table restaurant. Michael told me: “We’re super lucky. This is one of the nicest chef teams I’ve worked with.”
Darts says the venue is “all about taking food off the farm and into the fire, celebrating the simplicity of beautiful ingredients grown, reared, caught and crafted on our doorstep”.
The farm shop is also proving to be a great place for conservation, as apples pressed on site are supplied by Sanfords - gold winner at the World Cider Awards. The University of Bristol uses lost varieties of apples at Darts for genome testing.
Topping off the important gastronomical work is friendly service. Dennis Aubrey, 78, has worked at Darts for nine years and welcomes customers as they enter. The former marketing professional makes children's days by offering them a free apple.
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Darts Farm has multiple different eateries serving up local produce. (Image: Humphrey Neymar)
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Behind the butcher’s counter were Alfie David, 32, Lee Spencer, 52 and Al David, 47. Darts sells more meat from here than Harrods and Fortnum and Mason, Michael told me. “Multi-million pounds goes through this counter every year,” he said.
Whole cattle are sold off as food in some form, with prime cuts displayed in the background, preserved in Himalayan salt and aged for 40 days.
This haven, however, has already taken a huge hit, even before Ms Reeves’ inheritance reforms are rolled out next year. Michael said he is forking out ￡250,000 a year already due to national insurance and national living wage hikes.
I’m sure, if Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer toured Darts Farm, they would hail it as a brilliant example of British enterprise and farming. But their policies have delivered a massive blow to this enterprise, as well as doubtless others across the country, doing vital work. The duo would certainly get a frosty reception from the region’s farmers in Devon, and Michael himself said to me that the Government is acting like “the Mafia”.
More worryingly, he said that his children will face a bill of "multiple millions" as a result of the Chancellor’s incoming “death tax” when he’s not around.
Mr Dart says the Government is acting like 'the Mafia' (Image: Getty)
"I'm not married anymore,” Michael told me. “So, I'm effectively a chap with four kids. A beautiful partner, but we're not married, and I was diagnosed with cancer.
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"I've had it removed, and I'm hoping that I'm healthy. But when you suddenly get a change of policy, you don't need to be 80 or 90 to die, you can die of cancer quite young. So, of course, that is quite a frightening prospect.”
The crucial nature and success of Michael’s family business, together with its current wariness, is a stark reminder of what is at stake. As Clarkson has very impactfully outlined in his show, factors such as inclement weather and inflation meant farmers were already under the cosh before the Chancellor decided to hang an anvil above their heads.
I'm looking forward to seeing Michael again whenever I'm next in the area, and I've recommended that my parents go down, too. They will love it.