On Saturday 31^st May Country Market in Bordon marked the momentous opening of its brand new building with a very special celebratory event.

By 10am a large and enthusiastic crowd had assembled outside the impressive new building to be welcomed and greeted by Dave Henderson of Greenmaze Renewable Energy Systems and Dean Marshall, Partner at Country Market.  Newly appointed Town Mayor Cllr Chris Wherrell gave a speech and then Peter Marshall, Co-Founder of Country Market, cut the ribbon and, with that, the building was officially declared open to the public. 

Visitors to the farm shop and nursery were treated to a variety of family entertainment, including an anagram competition, a children’s treasure hunt with Fergy the tractor and photographs with the Hedge People and Daffy Daffs walkabout characters.  A stirring and poignant montage of time lapse footage, depicting the project from inception to completion, was also screened throughout the day on displays within the impressive building.

To mark the significance of the occasion, the first 100 customers who passed through the doors were gifted with £1000 worth of goody bags containing a variety of luxury items as well as exclusive discounts and promotions from many of the retailers located within the new centre.  Once inside the building, shoppers were treated to a lavish array of tantalising tasters and samples to showcase some of the selection of fine food and drink available within Country Market. 

The brand new centre hosts a range of high quality food retailers, including specialist wines and local beers and ciders, a traditional butchers and delicatessen, cheese counter, artisan craft bakers and home grown, freshly harvested fruit and vegetables from the farm – as well as home grown plants in the nursery.  Country Market also now offers fashion and country clothing, an extensive range of footwear, an aquatics and fishkeeping centre, a specialist pet shop, crafting materials, gifts, toys and books as well as a café and soon-to-be opened carvery style family restaurant.  The Farnham Hub, an innovative business networking organisation focused on nurturing and developing small to medium sized enterprises within the local community which won Country Market’s X-citing Business competition, will also operate from the new building.

Dean Marshall, Partner of Country Market, commented:

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank our project team for working tirelessly to turn this into reality.  It was just wonderful to see the culmination of all our efforts when we revealed our brand new building to the crowds of people who had gathered on Saturday.  There was a real buzz of excitement and anticipation surrounding our launch day – we have had such sustained and heart-warming support from the local community and it felt great to hear how impressed everyone was with the new building and everything we have to offer.”