Edible Ornamentals @ Cherwood Nursery - Bedford

From our base at here at Cherwood Nursery, in the Bedfordshire hamlet of Chawston, we are commercial growers of chillies, herbs, vegetables and edible flowers. Our product range includes chilli plants, fresh chillies, dried, smoked, and pickled chillies along with our own gourmet range of fiery sauces and salsa’s. We also stock a selection of high quality growing and cooking equipment and accessories and other gourmet products such as chilli chocolate and chilli ice cream. Our nursery and farm shop are open to the public and, depending on the season, you can even pick your own chillies or fresh vegetables in our dedicated PYO polytunnel. Our nursery is also a destination for thousands of people participating in our scheduled cookery classes or chilli tour and tasting experiences. You can find and buy our products right here on our website or at exclusive farmers markets, food and wine shows, and garden shows throughout the United Kingdom. We supply wholesale quantities of our entire product range to exclusive delicatessens, restaurants, farm shops, garden centres, Waitrose, Fortnum and Mason, Harrods, and other specialist chilli companies in the UK and Europe.

We (Joanna and Shawn) have developed a passion for Mexican and Tex-Mex food while living in San Antonio, Texas in the early 90’s. We started growing our own fresh vegetables including Jalapeno chilli peppers. We moved to England in 1996 and started selling chilli plants, part time, in 2001. In 2004 we started selling pickled Jalapeno and Fresno chillies in jars and later a traditional red salsa recipe (Salsamania). We set up our first production kitchen in 2005 in a rented unit at Vinegar Hill near Upper Caldecote, Beds. In 2007 we purchased Cherwood Nursery, in the Bedfordshire village of Chawston. The former flower nursery had fallen into disrepair and since our arrival we’ve cleaned up the site, erected six polytunnels, built a log cabin for our farm shop, a new commercial kitchen, as well as staff, packing and storage facilities. Today, all cooking and growing activities are now consolidated here at Cherwood Nursery and we are also open to the public who can come and literally pick their own fresh vegetables and more than 50 varieties of chillies.

Our craft and gourmet products are produced by us and we use as many of our own ingredients as possible. They are created using traditional methods and our gourmet items are produced using safe and approved recipes. Our kitchen is registered with the Bedfordshire County Council Environmental Health and we maintain Basic and Advanced Food Hygiene certifications. We have also been awarded SALSA (Safe And Local Supplier Approval) which is a Food Standard Agency and DEFRA supported audit that helps local and regional food and drink producers supply their products to national and regional buyers.

As part of the Slow Food movement, Joanna has visited local schools speaking to young children about where our fruit and vegetables come from and the importance of seasonality. We frequently entertain groups such as the Womens Institute, Rotary and other civic associations with talks, tours and delicious food! We support Hidden Britain, Taste Real Food Bedford, and we are proud to be Charter Members of Tastes of Bedfordshire.

We’re passionate about chilli peppers, gardening, and great food and we enjoy hearing your gardening and cooking ideas and experiences. Please feel free to drop us a note with any questions or comments. We’d love to hear from you.

Shawn and Joanna Plumb