I once looked into the regs and was drowned by all the stupidity
I was told I would have to have a toilet for customers - a toilet? I only wanted to sell things from a box
I had to have parking and a Roads Dept assessment - or I would have done if I had gone ahead. With hindsight I think the council person I approached had got it wrong, but by then I had lost heart.
So now I advertise the eggs on a board and just pop other things into the box when I have them. I have fewer than 50 hens so don't need to be registered. To sell meat, it goes to the customer direct from the butcher. I deliver it in polystyrene boxes (which the butcher lends me) so I don't have to have a refrigerated van (I only do this once a year so a van wouldn't be possible). The meat does have to be slaughtered at an approved abattoir, and officially stamped. I don't think we make any profit really. We sometimes get people wanting to buy just the best cuts, but I only sell whole carcases or we end up with all the ribs and no gigot
Our roadside sales are in an honesty box and everyone seems to be honest
Once or twice I have thought maybe someone didn't pay but next time they pass they leave the money - keen to get the eggs before someone else does, but no cash available
We live on a very minor road with little traffic until the rush hour when it becomes a bit of a rat run. We don't have much for sale, so the amount of passing and local traffic provides enough customers. Friends are setting up a much bigger venture a few miles away on a main trunk road and have offered to stock our produce, but I think we will carry on as we are, with our loyal customers.
Manian - a friend sells quite a lot from her gate and has had to be visited by the hygiene folk, recipes checked, freezers tested etc. I couldn't be bothered with all that. Maybe I shouldn't offer any jam for sale (the people who buy it can always ask at the door)
