History

Thomas Ambrose Priestley started farming in the 1930s with a small acreage of land on which he grew potatoes and vegetables. He augmented his income by buying and selling potatoes, fresh peas and vegetables which he delivered to wholesale markets and greengrocers.

During World War II, he also brined vegetables, chiefly cauliflower and marrows for pickle manufacturers and began to supply factories with red cabbage, operations which have continued right up to the present day.

In the 1950s he was joined by his son Michael, the farm became a limited company, and the acreage expanded to 200, with a large acreage of vegetables also grown on rented land.

With the gradual demise of the wholesale markets and greengrocers, the farm gradually reverted to more general farm crops, to supply pre-packers working for the supermarkets, and increasingly red cabbage.

Nowadays, with the acreage up to 300 and the third generation Richard Priestley at the helm, the company grows large tonnages of red and white cabbage from new premises and with newly installed salt saturating machinery, still supplies brined vegetables.