The Farm
A true family operation
Recently recognised in the 2022 British Farming awards when the family won Family Farming Business of the Year. Mee Farmers is run by husband and wife duo Peter and Zoe Mee, with their children, Charlie and Emily. Following agricultural college, Charlie returned to the farm to manage the farm’s arable operations, Charlie’s fiancé Charlotte runs the Blueberry packhouse through harvest and keeps up the farm’s bookkeeping and environmental stewardship plans through the winter months. Meanwhile, Emily completed her Chartered Accountancy in London before returning home mainly to develop some tasty blueberry products!
Lyveden Farm is located in the Nene Valley, at the northern end of Northamptonshire between the quaint villages of Nassington and Fotheringhay. The farm has about 700 acres of land and back in 2014 it was predominantly arable cropping. The farm still grows wheat and barley for animal feed, as well as oats, linseed, peas and beans.
In 2014, Peter and Zoe knew that in order for the business to be able to support the next generation, it had to diversify. The solution = BLUEBERRIES. Planting 15 hectares of blueberries under polytunnels and installing a brand-new blueberry processing facility in 2019, the business is going from strength to strength.
The freshly picked fruit can be found on the shelves of leading supermarkets. However, as the fruit is graded and packed, fruit which would not meet supermarket shelf-life demands, because it is perfectly ripe at the time of picking must be separated out. As this is our most flavoursome fruit, rich in antioxidants and vitamins, we freeze it on site and it is this frozen fruit used to make the beautiful blueberry products found online!
LYVEDEN FARM BLUEBERRY PROCESSING FACILITY
Coldstore designed and built for the purpose of chilling and processing blueberries, ready for supply to UK supermarkets.
Blueberry Annual Cycle
- 01Feb-Mar Pruning
- 02Mar-Apr Polytunnels
- 03May-June Weeding and maintenance
- 04Late June – Oct Fruit Harvest and Packing
- 05Oct Post harvest tidy up
