We an 18 acre organic care farm in rural Cambridgeshire. Our farm and garden team placements are open to people with additional needs, our Co-workers. We specialise in providing therapeutic horticulture to people with learning difficulties, disabilities and those with varying health needs. We are a real farm providing real work experience producing real organic products and produce.
Prospects Trust at Snakehall Farm is a vibrant working and learning environment. The farm is managed by a friendly, committed and organised team who foster a real community spirit. It is rare to find a social firm which provides such a welcoming, accessible and supportive environment in combination with an efficient professional approach. We have a very positive ongoing relationship with Snakehall Farm and are always delighted to have the opportunity to work with them.
Individual Curriculum Team at Cambridge Regional College
CRC
I love The Prospects Trust’s Farm Shop. It is the one place where cucumbers don’t come shrink wrapped and tomatoes that taste like a perfect summer day!
A loyal Farm Shop customer
Prospects Trust Trainee Placements are now available, starting from September 2019, we are bringing a new way to learn on to the high street of Ely. We are looking to recruit 20 new Co-worker Trainees to be our first cohort to gain accredited qualifications in retail and food safety.
Take a look at our flexible training programme, with 2 day placements starting from £50 per week. Download our Placement Pack or contact us on 01638 741551 for more information.
We have created a niche for the artisans and the local creatives in our “Pod” wall within Unwrapped. We wanted to bring a “Not on the High Street” flavour to Ely’s actual High Street and showcase the talent in the neighbourhood. With only four more pods available to rent (£10 per month plus a very low selling commission) we have filled our pods with some unique, eco and oh it will so go go products. We will feature our Pod Producers in future posts but if you want to see what the likes of Dragonfly Soaperie, Lil Glad Rags, The Faraway Tree and Eveterraniums have created you will have to pop in the shop.
To book a pod please contact Tom Cockerton at Unwrapped 01353 662010
While you are all dreaming of refilling your reusable containers strange things are going on in Ely. Shopkeeper Tom is putting the finishing touches to Prospects Trust Unwrapped and we need a few shout outs to the people who are getting us across the finishing line:
A big shout out to our local Mayor, Cllr Mike Rouse, who will be turning the key on the 4th and who has captured our faces in the front cover of the Elyi Magazine.
Sean from SG Auto Tint in Soham who at 11pm is preparing our window decals. We hope Tom is practicing his barista skills and keeping Sean fuelled up on the Hot Numbers caffeine?
The new Unwrapped Staff Crew – Clare, Paul and Kin who have been training on the till, kitting up the kitchen and sprucing up the shop – as well as keeping Tom company.
The wonderful volunteers from the Lighthouse, the local Ely Job Centre cohort, SE Electrical Services, Ruth at Re-imagine and our firm Farm Friends from Emmaus and of course Ken – our now resident decorator!
The amazing local businesses, from Cutlacks & Samovar down the hill to 68 Market Street around the corner, the sustainable champions from longstanding farm wholesale company COFCO and the exciting new Cambridgeshire Sustainable Food Hub, lot of our new suppliers including Yare Valley and Gourmet Brownie – we look forward to working with them and many more as the shop builds up a footfall of customers.
A huge wow from Eco Ely – Hayley and her social media subscribers have been keeping us in the loop and drumming up local support.
A big thank you to the start up funders and donors, from Cambridgeshire Community Foundation/Cambridgeshire County Council’s Innovate and Cultivate Fund, Enterprise East Cambs and our crowdfunding family – seriously without your financial backing we would still be working on the business plan.
A recognition to those that have already paved the way in Zero Waste – our neighbouring businesses across the border in Norfolk – a wave to Graham at Ethical Ernie, Cata at Re.Source and Elizabeth at The Green Parrot for sharing their stories in creating refill larder shops of their own. We also wish to thank all the other like minded indes sharing their stories on Zero-Waste Start Ups on social media.
And finally here’s to working in partnership with Thera, Mencap, Cambridgeshire County Council and the Learning Skills Department in creating a hopefully sustainable and innovative project that becomes the norm for Ely. Now our plea is to the residents of Ely – please come shop little, light and often in our new shop, support our trainees in their learning and eat local, seasonal and ethically. Together we really change change the world (one tiny corner at a time).
We don’t have a PR department, a MarComms Team or even a Webmaster (is that still a job) but we are blushing on the telly, grinning our radio faces off and signing autographs on the latest edition of the Elyi Magazine. Suddenly after 30 years of “growing differently” we appear to have become popular! Now we are not contemplating making Tilly Tractor audition for the next series of Love Island, Farmer Mark isn’t trading in his trademark hat for botox, Hannah hasn’t traded her steel-toe caps for red carpet stilettos, Shop Manager Tom hasn’t got an agent (yet) and Maz knows she is only in the photos to make everyone else look much, much taller, but we are feeling a bit more like local celebrities thanks to some great articles, telly slots and radio interviews.
We hope you caught some of our recent interviews but for those who have missed them or those (erm yep Farmer Mark’s family) who want to relive the magic moments, here, for a short time only, are some links to the media malarkey:
Listen to Tom, Hannah and Maz talk about the new Ely Shop and the Prospects Trust Open day with Chris South on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07kv6z9
The Farm captured in action by BBC Look East
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and finally!
YES you can ask for our autographs at the 30th Anniversary Open Day on the 14th September but you will have to buy a raffle ticket or two!
After almost a year in the planning, months in the funding and practically weeks in the shop fitting we are almost ready* to turn the key to the door of Prospects Trust Unwrapped! *who are we kidding we shall never be ready but we are very eager.
The Grand Opening Ceremony will take place at Unwrapped HQ, 13 Lynn Road, Ely, Cambs CB7 4EG from 11 for a VIP key turn at 11:30 am. You can rsvp a place on our Facebook Events page: https://www.facebook.com/events/947315945617658/
We have all the gear from Hot Numbers Roastery, including a state of the art coffee machine and the tastiest of beans sourced fairly and ethically. Now we just need to transform the milky foam into coffee art in time for service! Our new Support Worker Clare has been rehearsing for the Grand Opening this Wednesday 4th September.
With just two more sleeps to our grand opening we are still looking for local support with our Crowdfunding appeal: https://chuffed.org/project/unwrap-prospects-trust-unwrapped-fill-the-refill-stock-the-shop or donations can be made through our localgiving page: localgiving.org/charity/prospectstrustatsnakehallfarm/project/unwrapthesstock/
Thank you to all those who have already donated, volunteered or supported this exciting new venture, we could not have done this without your help. Team Prospects Unwrapped!
Thanks to our local supplier and highstreet indie, Samovar Tea House , we will be serving an Unwrapped house blend of loose leaf tea. Samovar Tea House was established in 2011. They are an independent, family-owned speciality Tea house and café located at 23 Forehill, Ely. They stock a vast range (over 100 types) of high-quality loose-leaf teas including many exclusive house blends created at Samovar. Samovar’s teas and herbs are imported from all over the world.
We are bring Hot Numbers to Ely! Hot Numbers state that speciality coffee is a movement – a drive for better coffee and a better living for coffee farmers. For coffee to be qualified as speciality, it must be graded between 80-100 points on a 100 point scale. To achieve this, coffee producers painstakingly hand pick and sort fully ripe coffee cherries. With all this extra effort in the supply chain to enhance flavour, Hot Numbers accept the responsibility as a speciality roaster to select exciting yet ethical Arabica coffee for your cup. Hot Numbers believe a great cup of coffee is a simple pleasure, but it is the product of many hands and a lot of passion. Come try a Flat White, Expresso, Macchiato, Latte & Cappuccino in a real cup in Ely!
Did you see how beautiful Snakehall Farm looked on BBC Look East last night (21/08/19). Its true what they say, the camera puts on acres! We are super proud of all of our Co-workers and staff for showcasing the special place that is Prospects Trust. For those of you who weren’t glued to the tellybox at 6:30pm last night here are some snippets.
Raffle tickets are now on sale for a big prize draw on the 14th September at our Open Day. They are £1 per ticket, so for your chance to win please contact the office on [email protected], to purchase your tickets today.
If baking isn’t for you, why don’t you try your hand at making your own scarecrow. There is no theme, so the options are endless, from Harry Potter to a Roman Gladiator, let your imaginations go wild. The winner will receive 2 tickets to our Halloween Ghost Walk, here at Snakehall Farm.
