Gloucestershire based fruit juice producer ‘Bensons the Juicers’ have signed up to Happerley as an Intermediary. Bensons make juice based drinks and iced lollies on their National Trust farm in Sherborne using centuries old pressing methods. MD Jeremy Benson was originally a farmer in Cambridge and has a long history of farming in his family with his father and grandfather farming for their entire lives.
Fruit farming was one of his father’s passions and during a visit to the family fruit farm in Lanchester, County Durham, Jeremy was offered a glass of apple juice that had been made by simply pressing the apples. From that moment the Bensons business was born. Initially Jeremy and the team made a variety of apple juices blended with fruit however after struggling to find healthy iced lollies for his children the Chilly Billy was launched.
Bensons work with British apple growers to source the finest apples. The drinks are additive free and are now available in different formats including their award winning children’s drink Joosed Junior.
Jeremy said “I am really pleased that I discovered Happerley because as a former farmer I know how challenging it can be to validate provenance of the produce. Local may not always mean local and field to fork traceability is something that consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with. Happerley provides us with a fantastic opportunity to work with our producers and other members of our food network to create a fully traceable supply chain and to work together to eliminate food fraud. Showing consumers that we care about our UK food and farming industry is something we take very seriously and Happerley provides us with the opportunity to drive change in the sector so consumers can name the farm of origin.
