Wexford strawberries are a thing of legend. Sold at roadside stalls the length and breadth of the country, they herald the start of summer for many of us.

For the Wheelock family near Enniscorthy, strawberries are their bread and butter. However, Cyril and Margaret wanted to create something more out of their berry business.

The new Enniscorthy bypass provided the opportunity they had been waiting for, providing a good road network that would bring customers to their door.

Elves at Wheelocks. \ Philip Doyle

They decided to take the plunge and build a farmhouse cafe, opening their doors just before Christmas 2018.

The “Village at Wheelocks” business has grown by word of mouth and the family were delighted to see that customers would take the time to drive out to the farm to buy their strawberries.

In fact, the strength of the business exceeded expectations and a further €70,000 had to be invested to increase capacity in the kitchen of the farm shop.

“It’s a good complaint to have,” smiles Cyril. “It’s as busy as we thought it would be in three years’ time. We’ve been thinking about doing this for 10 years, travelling to visit farm shops across the UK and Ireland to pick up ideas.”

A real farm experience

For the Wheelocks, it is important that when customers visit the shop they get the experience of being on a real working farm. You drive in past the strawberry tunnels to get to the shop and you can ‘pick your own’, rather than buying a punnet at the shop if you want.

“For whatever reason, there are children reared on farms that have never even picked blackberries, people are more affluent now,” says Cyril.

Cyril has said the response from the farming community has been very positive.

“It’s hard to employ youngsters under 17 to pick strawberries. Whenever we did, 99% of the time it was the parents that had a problem. If you wait until you leave college to start work, then your attitude to it will be different.”

Wheelocks employ three to four seasonal workers at peak and are proud to say that one of those has been with them over 35 years.

Cyril says the farm would be considered small for strawberry growers, planting just 35,000 plants a year. Most strawberry growers would be planting in the region of 1m annually.

“We’re small and we want to keep doing it better,” says Cyril.

Taking a walk through the woodland at the rear of the shop, visitors will see pigs, cows, goats, ducks, geese and other farmyard animals. This is all part of the learning experience, and at given times you can see the animals being fed.

Holidays are coming

In honour of the festive season, Cyril has turned a Massey 135 into a Santa train that will tour the woodland. For Cyril, this is part of the learning experience, determining what works and what doesn’t for customers.

“We have only advertised on Facebook, but for us word of mouth is fantastic. We decided if two people came in on day one and had a good experience, they’d go and tell their friends about us.

“On our first Sunday we went into meltdown, but now we’re coping well with numbers. We have to try out lots of different things.

“On the day of the Wexford match we tried opening for longer hours, but that didn’t work. The main thing is to try something that doesn’t cost too much, dip the toe in the water and see if it works out.”

He says that what has surprised them the most is that customers could come back numerous times in the one day. There is a sunroom for meetings, but often people use it as a destination to meet up for coffee or lunch, coming back later in the day with someone else or to pick up some items from the shop.

Cyril decided to give up his day job hoof paring as the farm shop got busier. Margaret has retired from her role as a civil servant as well.

“I had a successful hoof-trimming business, one of the first in Ireland to have an electric crush,” says Cyril.

“But it got too busy here for foot paring, I was stretched thin and I didn’t want to turn around in three years’ time and say I didn’t give it a good shot.

“All my old farming customers have come to visit the shop. Farming people don’t cod each other, they are the most genuine people you could work for.”

While the farming community was quick to embrace Cyril’s new business venture, he says he was disappointed that the bank he has been a customer with all his life failed to support him on the farm shop.

“We have dealt with one bank all our lives, never missed a repayment, but they didn’t back us on it. Sooner or later money will become available for small businesses through other means and banks will be left short. They need to learn how to lend again,” says Cyril.

After spending their working lives dealing with the strawberry business in the evenings and at weekends, it is easy to see that Cyril is glad to be on the farm full time now. As Irish Country Living leaves, he is back to the workshop to put the final touches on the Santa train. All aboard.

A trip aboard the Santa train at Wheelock’s costs €10 for adults and €15 for children. To book visit their website here or call 053-9201900 .