The boss of a much-loved farm shop which is shutting its doors after more than 40 years says they’ve been “overwhelmed” by the response to the closure.

Mockbeggar Farm Shop in Town Road, Cliffe Woods, will be closing for good this Saturday (January 11).

Kim Fox took on the site in December 2018 after looking for a change from her city job.

She said: “I was just looking for something different to do. I was a bit fed up with city life. I had been to many tea rooms and farm shops and thought ‘that might be nice to do’.

“It went up for lease so I just felt like it was a message to go for it.

“It was supposed to be semi-retirement but it turned out to be much harder work.”

The shop is well known for its fresh local produce, and also has an adjoining tea room.

Debra Richardson started working at the shop alongside Kim in 2020, with the pair having gone to Fort Pitt Grammar School in Rochester together.

For years it was run by Georgette Jarvis who moved to Yorkshire after appearing on the TV show Escape to the Country.

It was believed to be opened by a farming family in the 1970s.

Mockbeggar Farm also used to provide the strawberries for the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

While the pair say they have loved their time at the site, they recently announced they had made the “difficult decision” to shut the farm shop.

Kim explained: “It was just a personal decision. We’ve done it now for a few years and there have been moments where we’re absolutely exhausted and it’s physically a hard and demanding job.

“It's quite relentless, obviously the economic climate has affected us this year but that wasn’t the reason we decided to shut. Lots of factors contributed to us making this huge decision.

“At the moment we believe it's closing but we don’t know what the landlords plans for the future are.”

Going forward, Kim will be spending some time with her family and Debra will be working a couple of days a week in a different job.

The tea room had its last day on Sunday, December 22 and the shop will be open until the end of the day on Saturday, January 11.

Since announcing the news, they have received an “overwhelming” amount of support from customers.

One person said: “Sad to see you go. Thank you for providing a lovely shop, a super café, and some of the best cakes.”

Another added: “Gutted to hear this sad news. Been going to Mockbeggar since I was a child and it’s one of my favourite spots in the area. You will be missed.”

Debra said it has been “really lovely” to see the response, adding: “We’ve been overwhelmed. A lot of people have popped in and brought us cards and messages.

“We have lots of regular customers and we’ve got relationships now with lots of people we didn’t know before.

“Lots of elderly people come to the shop, some who have been bereaved, and they find that it’s a comfort coming to a regular place so I’m glad we’ve been able to give that to them.

“It really means a lot”.