Goddenwick farm: Home-grown success
Turning seasonal visitors into year-round family fun
Goddenwick Farm is a haven in the heart of West Sussex. Having started out selling Christmas trees, the company followed its customers' needs and now includes pick-your-own pumpkins, a cafe, farm shop, play barn, woodland trail, and year-round events with more plans in the pipeline.
Their growth has come from understanding exactly what their customers want. To find out more, we spoke to Will and Anna from Goddenwick about their journey from seasonal opening to year-round family fun.
Following their customers to success
Goddenwick was originally an apple farm until Will’s brother started growing and selling Christmas trees. Will joined him, they set up a website and things grew steadily for fifteen years. But the brothers noticed something else happening alongside their festive enterprise, customers were coming for more than just the product. “We were having thousands of people visit in December, and there was an appetite. People loved to come to the farm. So the following year we started the pumpkin patch.”
It was a small first step, but proved to the team that families were coming to spend time on the farm as much as they were coming to buy a Christmas tree.
A farm for all seasons
After the success of the pumpkin patch, things started to accelerate. More families got involved and Easter events, summer activities, and walking trails followed. It was around this time that the team opened the cafe, somewhere for visitors to come year-round. “When (the seasonal events) were a success, we kind of thought, let's just push home to make a year-round thing, and having a cafe was the big step… that was the tipping point.”
At the heart of this expansion was a clear understanding of the audience. The farm naturally attracted families, particularly those with young children. The team used this knowledge to guide everything they did, with one of the biggest successes being the play barn. Anna explains, “it was only supposed to be for the two weeks of the Easter holiday, but it was so popular that we kept it all summer.”
That feedback shaped the recently opened permanent version. Rather than over-designing the space, the team kept its rustic feel, recognising that authenticity mattered more than polish. “We've tried to keep it a nice place to be for the adults as well as kids”. And so far, the decent coffee and rustic farm feel have been a huge success.
But big ideas mean big business challenges
As the business grew, it became harder to keep on top of the finances. From two guys selling Christmas trees, they were now managing complex financial demands with multiple revenue streams, supplier relationships, expenses and a mix of permanent and temporary staffing, making visibility — and just keeping on top of payments — a struggle. “Our challenge hasn't been attracting people, it’s operational stuff. It's making sure that our cash flow is in shape because we're investing a lot”.
One of the biggest improvements the team made was switching to Apron to manage expenses, invoice payments and payroll in one place.“When it was just my brother and I, we didn't have meetings or document things, but now that approach means there are not necessarily clear responsibilities of who does what, so you might find that two people have paid the same supplier or something like that.” This change, alongside putting in new systems and introducing the Apron card for expenses, has given Will and Anna a clearer, real-time view of where money is going.
Switching to Apron “fitted in more with how we wanted to work,” says Anna, “we still have an accountant, but we are able to do a lot more in-house”. Will adds, “I have no background in accounting, but Apron has just made it easier for me to get my head around things.”
A farm for future generations
With better financial structures and a strong management team in place, Will is looking forward to the future. “It's the big things this year, like shoring up the infrastructure. We’re looking into solar and refitting all the electrics. Improving processes of the things we’ve developed in the past year and letting them run”.
Goddenwick Farm is a perfect example of how a deep understanding of customer wants, backed up by effective financial processes and tools, leads to more organic, sustainable growth. It means Chris and the team are free to nurture and develop their business for generations to come.