A dark cloud hangs over the former Secretts Pick Your Own fields near Godalming.
We received this little message from one of our followers called ‘Chris’ which sounded so, so sad.
Great shame to see Secretts former pick-your-own at Milford gone to rack and ruin – sad rows of shrivelled strawberry plants on what was elevated easy to reach plants – now all dead.
Will the business ever start up again or are there other plans for these fields where clouds loomed this morning… (Saturday 31st July)
We should be mid strawberry picking season in the sunshine. Times have changed.
We are even sorrier to mention Chris – that we believe that the Secretts Pick Your Own will soon be another sacrifice on the developers’ altar – and will be covered in bricks and mortar. No doubt, when it emerges, ‘Your Waverley’s Local Plan Part 2 will include this site.
No doubt the boards will soon be announcing builders ‘Boddgit and Run’ are constructing zillions of new “affordable homes” at an estate called… Strawberry Fields!
The Secretts cash registers will then be ringing –
KERCHING!
Yes, it is sad – where this country once grew lettuce, strawberries, and plants in dozens of Waverley’s former nurseries and garden centres – we now grow – ‘little boxes, made out of ticky tacky, and they all look just the same.’
The writing was on the wall when Secretts owners sold off the garden centre to Squires. However, at the time they made a commitment to keeping the fruit and vegetable site open for business. But as part of their business model also relied on supplying many restaurants in London with fresh produce, the business collapsed when the pandemic arrived. So no direct linkage with the fact that the site might (and probably will) be included in Waverley’s LPP2, as that’s many years down the track.
I don’t think its’ ‘many years down the track’ if you read this website: https://www.landatsecretts.co.uk/ and the inclusion of the site in the Neighbourhood Plan.
Good to see the provision of sports pitches – hopefully for the Milford Pumas. Now is the time to pitch the developers any wish list of community assets.