In depth: How does a fruit farm work?
Bal Padda, from Vicarage Nurseries at Bretforton near Evesham, has transformed his family fruit farm from one field in 1996 to 130 acres in 2025.
Bal Padda, from Vicarage Nurseries at Bretforton near Evesham, has been running his fruit farm for almost three decades.
His family started the business in 1996, with just one field and one greenhouse. In 2025, that鈥檚 grown to 130 acres with 4.5million punnets of strawberries a year, approximately 2,000 tonnes.
Recently featured on 蜜芽传媒 Countryfile, Bal takes our reporter Alistair Binney around the farm, showcasing the ins and outs of growing some of the sweetest soft fruits around, from devices which remotely measure the sugar content of strawberries, to creating a whole community based around his and his workers鈥� families.
He shares how his Sikh faith has created a huge togetherness amongst family members who work on the farm, the workers from a range of nationalities, and the community, where he can often be found mingling in his local pub, The Fleece!
