News previous stories

Colder spring heralds healthiest strawberry crop in over three years, 23/05/2013. Driscoll Jubilee growers have anticipated a yield of larger, sweeter and more succulent strawberries than ever before, due to the coolest spring in three years.  more >

Growing for Gold – Berry Gardens’ Growers Contribute to NFU Waitrose Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal Success, 23/05/2013. Berry Gardens’ growers, Lutton Farm and Hugh Lowe Farms have contributed to the 17th successive RHS Gold Medal success of the NFU Waitrose – ‘Celebrating British’ stand in the Great Pavilion at the Chelsea Flower Show.  more >

Recent Warm Spell Creates Prime Conditions for , 10/05/2013. Berry Gardens’ grower Lower Hope Cherries in Hereford has witnessed an abundance of cherry blossom throughout its orchard due to the late warm spring weather.  more >

Berry Gardens reports continued positive trading in a difficult season, 29/04/2013. The 41st Annual General Meeting of Berry Gardens Growers Limited was held on April 29th, 2013 at the Bedford Lodge Hotel, Newmarket.  more >

Hereford Grower is Grower of the Year, 21/03/2013. Anthony Snell from AJ & CI Snell at Windmill Hill, Harewood End, Hereford scooped the prestigious prize of Soft Fruit Grower of the Year at the Grower of the Year Awards at the Lancaster Hotel in London on Wednesday 20th March.  more >

Early British strawberries full of flavour, 14/03/2013. Berry Gardens’ grower James Waltham at Haygrove Ltd in Herefordshire is reaping the rewards of an investment in environmentally friendly growing equipment and techniques with an early crop of Driscoll’s Lusa strawberries hitting the shops this week.  more >

Double Scoop for Hereford Berry Grower, 24/10/2012. Herefordshire berry grower Anthony Snell had great success at this year’s National Fruit Show. The Berry Garden’s grower from Windmill Hill, near Harewood End in Hereford scooped two 1st places.  more >

Berry Gardens add fun and flavour to schools, 17/10/2012. The Garden Club at Penshurst C E Primary School was one of the many schools in the UK to benefit from a scheme to get more schools interested in growing food. Berry Gardens and grower member R. W. Walpole linked with the Sun Newspapers sponsored the Schools Gardening Scheme by providing strawberry plants.  more >

Marston & Macgregor raise over £4,400 for Children with Cancer, 11/10/2012. Berry Gardens MD, Nick Marston, and colleague David Macgregor, successfully completed the 2012 Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run, driving over 2,000 miles round Britain in 48 hours. The pair competed in the drive around Britain in Nick Marston’s 1972, Triumph TR6.  more >

‘Jubilee Strawberries’ The Nation’s Favourite, 09/08/2012. New research data places Jubilee strawberries, as the nation’s favourite in a survey conducted between the 10th and the 17th July. The research based across a broad spectrum of strawberry consumers clearly placed Jubilee as the market leader for taste and quality.  more >

Berry Gardens Donates £40,000 to Children’s Hospices, 30/07/2012. Berry Gardens is celebrating its 40th birthday by donating £40,000 to Children’s hospices. The fruit marketing company has chosen four children’s hospices around the UK to receive £10,000 each.  more >

Soft fruit season stresses, 28/07/2012. “This year the British soft fruit season has been the most volatile that I can ever recall,” reported Nicholas Marston, Managing Director of Berry Gardens Ltd, at Fruit Focus, the fruit industry’s showcase event held on Wednesday, 25th July, at East Malling Research, Kent.  more >

Commercial developments, 27/07/2012. Nicholas Marston, Managing Director of Berry Gardens Ltd, at Fruit Focus, spoke about several developments at the fruit industry’s showcase event held on Wednesday, 25th July, at East Malling Research, Kent.  more >

Advances in technology, 26/07/2012. “We are benefitting from our sustained investment in technology, “said Paul Kelsey, Chairman of Berry Gardens Ltd, at Fruit Focus, the fruit industry’s showcase event held on Wednesday 25th July at East Malling Research, Kent. “It is what makes us great and it will provide a platform for us to meet the challenges ahead.”  more >

Rt. Hon. Jim Paice, MP, visits Berry Gardens, 25/07/2012. The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, the Rt. Hon. Jim Paice, MP, visited Fruit Focus, the fruit industry’s showcase event held on Wednesday, 25th July, at East Malling Research, Kent.  more >

Kent Fruit Growers Dominate National Show, 18/07/2012. Kent fruit growers dominated this year’s National Cherry & Soft Fruit Show with 21 awards being shared by two Berry Gardens’ growers, Marion Regan of Hugh Lowe Farms Ltd and Paul Kelsey from Kelsey Farms LLP.  more >

Berry Gardens celebrates record growth in its 40th year, 01/05/2012. The 40th Annual General Meeting of Berry Gardens Growers Limited was held on May 1st in Bransford, Worcester. Finance Director Nick Allen reported that Group sales in 2011 surpassed £200 million for the first time in the Co-operative’s forty year history, increasing by 11% to a new high of £214M.  more >

Driscoll’s Raspberries are UK consumers’ favourites – Year Round, 08/03/2012. Berry Gardens is pleased to report that its combined January/February market share of UK retailers raspberry sales has proved what research and retailer taste panels have always indicted with the quality of the berries growing. Berry Gardens’ share of the market rose from 25% in 2011 to 40% in 2012.  more >

A Strawberry by Any Other Name Would Not Taste as Sweet, 02/03/2012. Sometimes the naming of a strawberry can have quite a colourful origin. Such is the tale of Driscoll’s Magdalena. During the summer of 2008, at the BerryTech conference held at the Crieff Hydro Hotel in Scotland, inspiration from a waitress at the hotel led to the naming of the popular soft fruit.  more >

British berries help sales growth to outstrip other fruit , 06/09/2011. 2011 is another exceptional season for sales of Berries in the UK, with double digit sales growth leading to berries topping the sales value league for all British fruit sales   more >

Scottish blueberries arrive early to keep British retailers supplied, 24/08/2011. 2011 is proving to be another exceptional season for British grown blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum), as the Scottish crop moves into full production over the next two months to fulfil the requirements of UK retailers. UK sales of fresh picked blueberries have continued their strong growth as consumers buy more locally grown produce. Berry Gardens predicts that this season its growers will bring 350 tonnes of the berries to the retail market.  more >

British Blackberries ripe to eat now, 02/08/2011. 2011 has been the year of great British summer eating fruits and it is a trend that is set to continue with the arrival of fantastic eating varieties of blackberries.  more >

British blackberries ripe to eat now, 02/08/2011. 2011 has been the year of great British summer eating fruits and it is a trend that is set to continue with the arrival of fantastic eating varieties of blackberries.  more >

Cherry Picked Success at the National Cherry & Soft Fruit Show for Hereford Farm, 22/07/2011. The National Cherry & Soft Fruit Show, at the 2011 Kent Show, proved fruitful for Berry Gardens’ growers Lower Hope Fruit Ltd. The Hereford based fruit grower captured a total of five class wins for its outstanding cherries at the show.  more >

Berry Gardens’ Growers Harvest Eleven Trophies at the National Cherry & Soft Fruit Show, 22/07/2011. The National Cherry & Soft Fruit Show at the 2011 Kent Show, Detling proved fruitful for Berry Gardens’ growers Kelsey Farms LLP, Lower Hope Fruit Ltd and Clock House Farm Ltd with the three farms swooping eleven trophies between them.  more >

Early strawberry season strengthens the market, 20/07/2011. “2011 has been an early season and two weeks in front of last year,” said Nicholas Marston, Managing Director of Berry Gardens Ltd, at Fruit Focus, the fruit industry’s showcase event held on Wednesday 20th July at East Malling Research, Kent.  more >

£2million rebate for fruit growers from Berry Gardens, 20/07/2011. Kent based, Berry Gardens is celebrating its rebate payment to its growers with a special £2m flypast presentation of a giant cheque at the Fruit Focus 2011 Show at East Malling Research Institute at midday on Wednesday 20th July.  more >

Record raspberry sales, 20/07/2011. "Our volumes of UK grown fruit sold have been astonishing”, said Nicholas Marston, Managing Director of Berry Gardens Ltd, at Fruit Focus.  more >

Blueberries and stone fruit continue to expand, 20/07/2011. “Our blueberry production continues to expand exponentially, with the early season giving us an 85% increase in the amount sold over 20101,” said Nicholas Marston, Managing Director of Berry Gardens Ltd, at Fruit Focus.  more >

New developments to drive growth, 20/07/2011. New development details made by Paul Kelsey, Chairman of Berry Gardens Growers Ltd, at Fruit Focus, the industry showcase event held at East Malling Research on Wednesday 20th July.  more >

Maravilla Raspberries Ensure Bumper Retail Exposure, 29/06/2011. Berry Gardens has announced that expected numbers show a bumper crop of Raspberries as we enter the peak season. The early warm weather has ensured that the crop is two weeks earlier than normal and combined with the shortage of strawberries, raspberries have been an essential shelf filler for retail outlets across the UK, boosting sales of raspberries.  more >

Royal Highland Show Highlights Consumer Support for Scottish Strawberries, 28/06/2011. Berry Gardens’ Scottish growers were out in force supporting the Marks and Spencer marquee at the Royal Highland Show last weekend, as impressive visitor numbers crowded to the stand to taste this year’s Driscoll Jubilee, Sonata and Elsanta Strawberries.  more >

Berry Gardens Game Set and Punnet, 27/06/2011. The start of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship always brings thoughts of summer and strawberries. This year is no different and it has been a bumper year for the quintessentially British fruit.   more >

Berry Gardens planting seeds for the future, 20/06/2011. To commemorate the retirement of Marion Regan as Chairman of Berry Gardens, the Kent based co-operative is donating £6000 to Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank partnership.  more >

A season of firsts for Kent as Berry Gardens cherries reach the stores early, 13/06/2011. Berry Gardens’ grower, AR Neaves from Sittingbourne, is one of the first growers in the country to supply the supermarkets with English grown cherries. The Doddington based grower has benefitted from the continued spell of warm weather which has left other areas of agriculture and farming looking at the long range weather forecasts and praying for rain.  more >

Berry Gardens Growers rushed off their feet at Suffolk Show , 10/06/2011. The Suffolk Show was very successful for the fruit growers co-operative, Berry Gardens this year. Berry Garden members Suffolk based soft fruit and apple growers, Peake Fruit, had an overwhelming response to their fruit from visitors to the stand, resulting in one member of staff being knocked off his feet.  more >

Berry Gardens Are the Cream of the Crop at Chelsea, 06/06/2011. Berry Gardens’ fruit has contributed to a gold medal win at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show for the Waitrose/NFU/British Growers stand. The display featured a range of Berry Gardens produce including Elsanta Strawberries, Driscoll Jubilee Strawberries, and Driscoll Maravilla Raspberries.   more >

Berry Gardens confirms its position as largest fruit production group in the UK, 09/05/2011. The 39th Annual General meeting of Berry Gardens Growers Limited was held on 27th April in Maidstone, Kent. Berry Gardens reported that sales increased by 4% in 2010 to a new high for the Group of £193M, surpassing the previous high of 2009.   more >

www.jubileestrawberries.co.uk, 01/05/2011. Today we announce the launch of our Jubilee microsite: www.jubileestrawberries.co.uk.  more >

Paul Kelsey to become Chairman of Berry Gardens, 02/02/2011. We are pleased to announce that Paul Kelsey will become the Chairman of Berry Gardens on 1st January 2011  more >

Richard Harnden becomes Director of Research, 01/02/2011. Berry Gardens has appointed Richard Harnden to the position of Director of Research.   more >

Strawberry sales sticky with adundance, 22/07/2010. Fruit Focus 2010 attendees are updated on the strawberry market by Marion Regan and Nicholas Marston.  more >

Raspberry production continues to rise, 22/07/2010. Marion Regan and Nicholas Marston update Fruit Focus 2010 attendees on Berry Gardens cane fruits.  more >

Berry Gardens blueberries now bursting on to the market, 22/07/2010. Marion Regan and Nicholas Marston discuss the developments wtih Berry Gardens' blueberry and stone fruit offerings.  more >

Trial plots point the way, 22/07/2010. Marion Regan and Nicholas Marston discuss the investment made by Berry Gardens and it's partners in establishing exstensive trial plots.  more >

Berry Gardens Annual General Meeting , 13/05/2010. The 38th annual general meeting of the UKs leading berry growers co-operative and its subsidiaries was held on 27th April in Stafford.   more >

Berry Gardens unveils new image, 06/05/2010. UK soft fruit marketer Berry Gardens has launched a fresh image, while its owner growers cooperative, KG Growers, has been rebranded as Berry Gardens Growers.  more >

Brits fly the flag ahead of UK berry season, 05/05/2010. UK berry producers are preparing for the new season and the category is in the spotlight as further market growth is predicted.  more >

BG Growers rebrands as British Summer Fruits predicts a bumper season, 04/05/2010. Soft fruit growers' co-operative KG Growers has changed its name to Berry Gardens Growers to better reflect the fact that it owns its mar-keting company, Berry Gardens.   more >

New image launch, 26/04/2010. The start of a new season brings with it the launch of a new image and name for Berry Gardens Growers (formally Kentish Gardens Growers) and Berry Gardens Ltd.  more >

Great British success story as fresh berries for from strength to strength, 02/04/2010. Dr David Hughes, Emeritus Professor of Food Marketing at Imperial College London, writes about the success of the British fresh berry market.  more >

Marion Regan at Fruit Focus 2009, 02/08/2009. Marion Regan (Chairman Of BG Growers Ltd & BerryGardens Ltd ) talks to the attendees of Fruit Focus at the Berry Gardens stand in 2009.  more >

Strawberry and raspberry market overview, 31/07/2009. Nicholas Marston gives a mid-season review of the market at Fruit Focus 2009.  more >

Other fruits market overview, 31/07/2009. Nicholas Marston gives a mid-season review for other berries at Fruit Focus 2009.  more >

Isn’t this the best strawberry you’ve ever tasted?, 01/07/2009. Driscoll Jubilee is a superb British strawberry variety is renowned for its unrivalled flavour and texture.  more >

Report of KG Growers Limited Annual General Meeting, 21/05/2009. KG Growers 2009 AGM reports continued success after a difficult year for the market.  more >

CIM awards announced by ALDI’S Paul Foley, 03/11/2008. Paul Foley, Managing Director of Aldi in the UK & Ireland announced the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Food, Drink and Agricultural Group awards last night at the House of Commons.  more >