Award-winning Oxfordshire farm shop handed one-star hygiene rating

Britwell Salome Farm Shop, on Red Lion Farm in Watlington, was given a one star rating by South Oxfordshire District Council environmental health officers following a routine visit.

One key problem on the day was the management of food safety, which was deemed to require “major improvement”.

One category noted as being “generally satisfactory”, however, was the cleanliness and condition of both the facilities and building.

Meanwhile hygienic food handling was deemed as “improvement necessary”.

The farm shop was previously handed a five out of five rating in July 2024.

Last month Britwell Salome Farm Shop was named ‘local food and drink champions’ for the south east in the Countryside Alliance Awards 2026.

Ms Mearns said her family, including herself, her husband and their three children, set up at Red Lion Farm in 1993 and took over the chilled unit in the barn when it became vacant in 2008, to begin selling the farm’s meat, including pork, beef and lamb, directly to customers, from field to fork.

The shop also stocks a large selection of other locally produced food, from seasonal fruit and veg from a farm in Stanton St John to local honey from the village, jams and preserves which raise money for Oxford homeless charity Porch, as well as bread baked fresh in Thame.

Britwell Salome Farm Shop was approached for a comment.