The Hastings’ “home grown” farm gate and tourist attraction, Ricardoes Tomatoes & Strawberries, is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
When brothers Anthony and Richard Sarks began the enterprise a decade ago with a few tomato plants and an honesty box at the roadside they had no idea it would grow to its present day dimensions.
The farm now hand picks more than one million tomatoes a year.
The brothers credit local support for the steady growth of the business, from tomato growing into strawberry crops and the farm’s signature “pick your own berries” experience.
A further arm to the business was added when the brothers decided to turn surplus fruit and vegetables into Ricardoes-branded jams and preserves in conjunction with local commercial kitchen The Other Chef.
These have taken out some national gourmet awards.
The farm has won Port Chamber’s “best tourist attraction” award for the past three years running.
“A second strawberry greenhouse we opened in time for Christmas catered to big numbers of holidaymakers this year,” Anthony Sarks said. .
“We’ve now got a third strawberry shed on the drawing board and we’ve just introduced more “green’ farming practices to underline our environmentally sustainable ideals.”
Anthony’s wife Carole Sarks has recently joined the business, using skills from her career as a professional art teacher to dress the preserves and souvenir shop and helping visitors create gift hampers.
