It’s been 20 years since Susie and Les Mills set up their Valley Arch Pick Your Own but after two decades of selling fresh fruit and vegetables to loyal customers, they will be closing this Christmas Eve.

Susie Mills, 65, and her husband Les, 65, have been running the farm on Station Road in Southfleet, since 1997 but will close as the land they rent will not be available to them from next April.

Susie, mother of Victoria, 33, and Emily, 35, said one of the saddest things about closing will be cutting down the hundreds of trees her husband planted when they set up the pick-your-own.

She said: “It will be very sad to have to cut those trees down. We planted them 20 years ago, but they won’t survive a move and we’ll have to sell them as fire wood.

“It’s been fun. I’m going to miss it, but it will be nice to have my weekends back.”

Susie said that although they were a relatively small farm with 21 acres of land, they always managed to produce a wide variety of fruit and vegetables.

They have many regular customers and Susie said it had been great to watch so many children grow up and bring their own children in turn. “It’s educational too and good for children to pick their own vegetables; they enjoy it and like eating them.”

Margaret Wilkinson, 74, and her husband Len, 76, from Leonard Avenue, Swanscombe, have been going to Valley Arch since it opened.

They have two grandchildren Ellis, eight, and Evan, six, who love picking fruit as well.

Margaret was there to buy beans and a pumpkin for Halloween, and said they were making the most of it before it closed.

She said: “It’s very sad. There’s nothing like it around here. It’s a great loss.

“You come out and you pick the fresh fruit and vegetables and you know exactly what you’re getting.

“We bring the grandchildren here too and they like picking the raspberries and strawberries. It brings great enjoyment to the kids.”

She said she had lots of fond memories and particularly liked it in the summer when families would pick their fruit and have picnics on the grass.

She added: “It’s a family place and Les and Susie are such lovely people. We’ll miss it.”

Sandra Silvester, 68, from Banbury Villas in Southfleet has been going there for 19 years and uses the fruit to make the jam she sells.

She visits with her husband Steve every week and said nothing beats fresh vegetables and fruit.

“I will miss it a hell of a lot. It’s a lifeline, it’s where I go.

“Everything comes from here, except the sugar for the jam. There isn’t anywhere else local.”

Linda Sage, 72, of White Hill Lane, Gravesend, also comes to pick her vegetables every week, often with her dog.

“They’re such a lovely couple and I’ve been coming here for what feels like forever,” she said.

She was doing her weekly shop for carrots, beans, turnips and pears and much prefers them to the supermarket bought produce.

She said: “It’s so much nicer to pick the vegetables yourself. There’s something therapeutic about it.”

Valley Arch often had school children visit including the Peter Pan Pre-school in Dartford, who used to visit every year.

However, it isn’t the end of the Valley Arch story – just another chapter.

Some of the Valley Arch plants like the asparagus, rhubarb and raspberries will be moved to another Pick Your Own at Stanhill Farm in Wilmington
where Les will work for a couple days a week from April next year.