Our Fruit

What we grow here at Hugh Lowe Farms

Our strawberries and raspberries are available from April until November. We choose varieties carefully because we aim to supply the freshest best tasting berries to our customers all summer long.

The best blackberry you'll ever eat!

Our Blackberries are a revelation. Huge, juicy berries you can eat straight from the punnet.

Great in a blackberries & apple crumble (but, they won't make it that far), the varieties we grow are a totally new berry experience. Driscoll's Victoria produces a large fruit with a deep purple centre.

May - November

Raspberries

We grow a range of varieties of raspberries in both Tunnels and under Glass. A family favourite here on the farm.

Raspberries can fruit on their ‘floricanes’ (last year’s shoots) or on their ‘primocanes’ ie the new shoots they have been growing since the spring. Primocanes start flowering and fruiting in August/September to produce a lovely late summer crop.

MAY - NOVEMBER

Driscoll’s Maravilla

The most versatile of the Raspberry varieties we grow here at Hugh Lowe Farms is Driscoll's Maravilla. This variety is firm, consistent, quite large and has a good shelf-life. The flavour is attractive and there is a good sugar / acid balance.

Both the primocane and floricane crops are high yielding, which adds to the attraction for growers. It's also one of the easiest raspberry varieties to pick.

MAY - NOVEMBER

Everbearers

Some of our varieties are "everbearers". These plants flower and fruit repeatedly in the same year. This means we have large juicy berries for the whole British summer, and beyond. We grow a mix of everbearer varieties, including Driscoll's Katrina.

MAY - NOVEMBER

Junebearers

Junebearer varieties crop heavily in just a few weeks. A great example is Malling Centenary, developed locally here in West Kent at East Malling Research Station. With excellent flavour and being easy to pick, Malling Centenary is a favourite here at Hugh Lowe Farms

MAY - JULY

Super Sweet

Although all out fruit is given grown with the upmost care, there are a couple of varieties that are considered the ultimate berries! These are our premium varieties such as Driscoll's Zara & Driscoll's Jubilee. Super sweet and perfectly formed, it doesn't get any better

MAY - NOVEMBER

Where to buy our fruit

You can find our strawberries, raspberries and blackberries in good supermarkets, greengrocers and farm shops nationwide. Look for our distinctive Hugh Lowe Farms packaging, or -if in a supermarket - Marion’s name on the label.

We are enthusiastic co-operators – everyone benefits from great partnerships. Hugh Lowe Farms is a founder member of the grower cooperative Berry Gardens, through which we market our fruit and have exclusive access to Driscolls varieties.

We choose the best varieties from around the world, adapted to our growing climate

Not just berries

Not all our fields grow berries, and we pour just as much passion and expertise into our other crops. Again, we aim for premium markets, and deliver what the new consumer wants, whether that is specialist grains, or wine grapes.

We sow arable crops in the autumn and in the spring, but all mature by the following summer, when July sees the start of combining. Our busy arable team then join the berry pickers to bring in the harvest.

We share our fields between the fruit and arable enterprises as we believe in having a mixed farm & landscape

English Wine

Our vineyards glow in the autumn as the south facing chalky slopes stay warm long enough to mature our wine grapes. These go to produce the renowned Chapel Down vintages of English sparkling wine.

Jon Regan

Chairman