ABOUT BROCKSBUSHES
Welcome to Brocksbushes Farm Shop, Kitchen & Pick Your Own Fruit Farm. We are a family-owned and run business in the beautiful Northumberland countryside, which provides a great day out for all the family.
FAMILY
Our family-run business has been owned by the Dickinson family since 1979, which started as a small shop that was only open for nine weeks of the year! Pick Your Own Fruit opened shortly after this and the business has gone on to flourish into the local attraction it is today.
To this day, we are still owned by the Dickinson family, after Harry Dickinson, son of Caroline Dickinson, moved back to Northumberland to join and grow the family business.
FARM
Our Farm team are devoted to ensuring the produce we grow and harvest on the farm is of the highest quality.
From planting the equivalent of 300 football pitches in length of strawberry plants from February to April, to over 120,000 pumpkin plants from April to June, their care and attention to detail is second to none.
FUNCTION
Our mission is to provide freshness, quality and choice in every department and to give our customers a pleasurable day out, whether they are buying their groceries from our varied and delicious selection in the shop, treating themselves to lunch in our Courtyard Kitchen, picking their fresh fruit in our fields, or choosing a gift for their family and friends. They are all part of the ‘Brocksbushes Experience’!
“Our key aim is to give customers what they want, and all of that hinges on quality and innovation.” – Caroline Dickinson
THE BROCKSBUSHES STORY
1979
Where it all began...
Our journey started after Billy Dickinson and his mother bought Brocksbushes Farm in 1979 and we saw the start of Pick Your Own raspberries!
1982
Billy married Caroline and they began to build Brocksbushes into the popular Northumberland attraction it is today.
At this time, we were only open for 9 weeks of the year!
1983
We went on to growing strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries, tayberries, blackberries and also our own vegetables, including asparagus.
1987
Fruit of Northumbria was set up by Billy and his friend, Charles Nicholl, with the focus being to grow and pack produce from Brockbushes for supermarkets.
1990
In the summer of 1990, we had a 'Pick Your Own Fruit' hot air balloon in the field to celebrate the strawberry season. One day it wasn't attached to the post well enough, and lets just say it caused a few issues at Newcastle Airport!
1994
We opened our doors all year round after only ever being open during fruit season! A monumental moment for us!
1995
We started to look for different varieties and styles of strawberries, so we could prolong the season, and now our strawberry season runs anywhere from late May to September!
1996
Does anyone remember the Double Decker Bus? Billy drove it all the way from Doncaster. It was 'Brocksbushes-ified' and we would sell fruit from it in the car park.
1998
We had our very first Christmas Fayre! It started with only a couple of tables in the corner of the Tea Room and has got bigger and bigger each year. Now it's our second biggest event of the year!
2004
We enlisted the help of a team of Northeast Business Development Leaders from Durham Business School to help counter our growing pains.
2006
We had the warmest November since 1731 with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries still being picked throughout the month!
2007
Caroline was given the Royal Seal of Approval by the Queen herself at Buckingham Palace as she attended a reception for women who have made a significant contribution to business.
2009
We were getting so many charitable requests so we started having a 'Charity of the Year' and since then we've proudly raised thousands of pounds for a variety of amazing charities!
2017
Harry Dickinson, Caroline & Billy's son, moved back to Northumberland with his wife Rose to join the family business. He started applying for planning permission for our brand new building.
2019
We had our first ever Pick Your Own Pumpkins event and, to this date, it has been our busiest event of the year!
2020
The planning permission Harry had applied for in 2017 was finally granted to develop our brand-new building to see us through the next 40 years and beyond!
2023
The first building phases eventually started after dealing with challenges that COVID and other events threw at us.
2024
The New Brocksbushes!
In the summer of 2024, we opened the doors to our brand new, state-of-the-art Farm Shop, Courtyard Kitchen and Play Barn!
