Local Food

One of the greenest things you can do is to avoid the supermarkets and buy local food instead. And it's not just the environment that benefits, but the economy too - did you know that if you spend £1 in a supermarket, only 20p stays within the local community, whereas if you spend your £1 in a local shop, then 80p from the pound will stay within it!

Local shops

Farm Shops:

  • Westlands Farm Shop, Shedfield: An excellent farm shop, selling it's own pork, lamb and beef, and around Easter you can visit the farm to see the lambs being born.
  • Hollam Nurseries along Titchfield Road sells seasonal fruit, veg and flowers.

Butchers:

  • Dave's Family Butchers, Highlands Road, Fareham
  • Hadlows, South Street, Titchfield
  • Tull's Fine Foods, Wickham Square

Fishmongers:

  • P S Cripps, West Street, Fareham
  • Tony's Fresh Fish, Stoke Road, Gosport (also sells game)

Bakers:

  • Soothills, East Street, Fareham
  • La Boulangerie, Portchester Precinct

Greengrocers:

  • Wares, Portchester Precinct

Groceries:

  • Garsons in Titchfield sells a variety of foods, many of which are local.
  • Deli Adriano in Warsash

Home Sellers:

  • On the corner of Southampton Hill and Southampton Road in Titchfield, there is a house that sells all sorts of things they have produced. Well signposted from the road.
  • Just along from there, on Southampton Road (just past Curry's etc) is a house that sells duck eggs for £2 for half a dozen.
  • On Common Lane in Titchfield there's a stall selling some home grown veg.

Veg (and Meat) Boxes

There are several box schemes that operate in this area. You simply decide which size box suits you and your family and then let a lovely box of organic fuit and veg be delivered to your door each week.

Sunnyfields is based in Southampton, and is the most local box scheme operating in Fareham.

Abel and Cole and Riverford Organics are national schemes, but the produce still comes from a fairly local farm.

For meat, there's a local company called Farmers Choice, which does online ordering, and also allows you to set up a standing order with them to have your meat delivered when you need it.

Farmers Markets

Fareham Farmers Market is held on the first Saturday of every month. Click here for more details. Hampshire Farmers' Markets are held throughout each month around Hampshire. The closest markets are Southsea, Winchester and Petersfield. These are generally a bit bigger than Fareham's markets and are well worth a visit.

Some of the products that are sold at Hampshire Farmers' Markets are also available to buy online:

Grow Your Own

According to the Fareham.gov website, there are no allotments currently available and waiting lists are long. However, you could try www.landshare.net, which is a site for matching up people with land to spare and people who want it. At the time of checking (July 2010) there's nobody offering land in Fareham, but there are several plots in Gosport and towards Southampton, so it's definitely worth a look.

Also, according to various articles I have read, there is an old law that states if 6 or more people request an allotment, the council has a duty to try and find land for them. Of course, it's probably not as easy as that, but might be worth a try! Let us know if you're interested in this. Click here to read more about this on the Energy Saving Trust website.

Beer and Wine

Cafes and Restaurants

We're sure there must be more cafes and restaurants around serving local food, but the only ones we know of at the moment are:

"I work at the Lysses House Hotel in Fareham High Street and going green is something we have been working on for several years now. We have twice been in the final 5 in the Sustainability awards Small Business Category. Our Richmond Restaurant wherever possible tries to use local suppliers and we grow some of our own vegetables and herbs in the the garden. We also keep chickens (purely for the eggs). If anyone would like further information about all the things we do at Lysses or would just like to pop in for a look at the garden and the chickens, please feel free to contact me, Nicola Stafford on 01329 822622 or email nicola.stafford@lysses.co.uk"

Fairtrade

A leaflet is available from Fareham Community Action in West Street, that contains lists of the fairtrade produce available from all local supermarkets and other food shops. Visit http://www.fftb.org.uk/ for more information.

Hampshire Fare

Hampshire Fare has a website and produces a directory of Hampshire produce. They have lots of information on local food, and listings of food events. It's well worth signing up for their newsletter.

 

Local Recycling

Here's what we hope is a fairly comprehensive list of all the recycling facilities in and around Fareham.

Composting

Before you send any of your valuable waste off to the council for recycling, give composting a go! It is the best way to recycle food waste, garden waste etc... No carbon emissions are involved in transporting your waste away, and you get some amazing compost for your garden in return. (Even if you're not a gardener it's still worth having a go, as a gardening friend or neighbour would definitely appreciate some free homemade compost!)

You can buy discounted compost bins, made from recycled plastic, here. And here is a guide to composting by Garden Organic.

Alternatively, you can put your garden waste out for collection in the green sack provided by the council. It will be taken to a composting site, and turned into a peat-free compost called 'pro-grow', which is available to buy from your local tip. Double brownie points for being both local and peat-free! You can buy extra disposable sacks from the coucil too - 5 for £5. Click here for further info.

Recyling Bins

 

You can put any of the following items in your recycling bins at home:

  • Aerosols (provided they don't have an orange hazard symbol)
  • Paper and card
  • Food tins
  • Drink cans
  • Plastic bottles

Recycling Banks:

Click here for a map of recycling facilities in Fareham, and here's an a-z list of all items and how you can dispose of them. Some extra recycling facilities that you may not be aware of include:

  • You can put shredded paper and yellow pages in recycling banks but not in your home recycling bins.
  • In Palmerston Avenue by the shopping centre there is now a bin for recycling clean kitchen foil.
  • You can recycle used water filters in Robert Dyas.
  • You can recycle batteries in most shops that sell them, including Wilkinsons and Sainsburys.
  • You can also recycle plastic bags in Sainsburys.
  • Unfortunately Fareham does not accept tetra paks (juice cartons etc) for recycling, but Chichester does, so you could save up your recycling for your next visit there. The bank is in Waitrose car park.
  • You can send old mobile phones, inkjets and laser cartridges to Recycle 4 Charity, who will donate money to your chosen charity for every item donated.

Tips:

Most tips now recycle a high percentage of all waste. The closest are at Segensworth, Port Solent and Gosport. Click here for locations and opening times.

Besides the usual stuff (cardboard, glass etc), you can also recycle the following items at the tip:

  • Green garden waste
  • Electrical equipment
  • Batteries
  • Energy saving lightbulbs
  • Soil and rubble
  • Scrap metal

Freegle

 

Then there's Freegle. We think this is the number 1 place to get rid of anything you don't want, that is still in a useable condition. Simply list what you are offering on the website, and you'll often receive a reply (or several if it's something good!) within a few hours. You then choose who to offer the item to, and they will come and pick it up from your door at a time to suit you. You can also ask for wanted items on the site. (No money is to change hands when using this site.) It saves a trip to the tip, and most importantly means that the items don't end up in landfill, but stay with another member of the community, and which in turn means that person doesn't waste resources by buying new.

A new alternative to Freegle is EcoBees. It's fairly new so not as many people on it as on Freegle, but unlike Freegle allows swapping and sharing. Why not join both?!

Furniture

 

There are several charities in or near Fareham that accept furniture to sell on.

Scrapstores

There are scrapstores in Portsmouth and Southampton. These are fabulous places that collect 'waste' from businesses and then pass it on to schools, groups and individuals for crafts etc. If you or your children like crafts, why not join up and get making!

Other Information and Services

Wood:

If you have wood that you need to get rid of, try listing it on Freegle. If you take it to the tip, it will be burnt for energy, according to the fareham.gov website.

Fareham Borough Council Swap Shops:

Click here to find out more

General Recycling Websites:

Green Courses

The best place to go for local green courses is The Sustainability Centre in East Meon, near Petersfield. They run a variety of courses - for adults and children - including ones on permaculture, renewable energy, coppicing, campcraft, and various other green skills. They have lovely grounds too, and a new natural timber building built by Ben Law, of Grand Designs fame!

Here are some other places that run useful courses:

There's also a 'Carbon Conversations' class in Winchester. We don't know anyone who has done this, but it looks very interesting and would love to hear about it if you go on it.

If you are interested in studying environmental issues and sustainability in more depth, the following centres offer a wide range of courses:

Local, Special-interest Courses

Fareham and District Bee Keepers' Association, offers the BBKA Basic Certificate in Bee Keeping, at Manor Farm Country Park in Bursledon and Titchfield Community Centre.

 

Green Transport

Cycling

A cycle path map is available from Fareham Tourist Information Centre (in the museum in town) and the sustrans website has loads more information about cycle routes, including information about national cycle route 2, which is not finished yet, but when it is will cover the entire south coast from St Austell in Cornwall to Dover in Kent. The sustans site also has some interesting day rides for Hampshire. 

Cars

There are a couple of websites that you can join that let you share lifts with other people heading your way. You can simply search through what other people are offering, or list the journeys you are making and wait and see if someone asks to share with you. You will be reducing your carbon emissions, saving money and maybe making new friends! Here are the most popular sites:

There are also several companies now that offer car-sharing, or car clubs. Unfortunately there are no clubs in Fareham at the moment, but Commonwheels operates in Eastleigh and Portsmouth, and Street Car and City Car Club operate just in Southampton.

Public Transport

Here are the links to local bus and train services:

Local Services

Services

  • Fareham library offers the chance to borrow an energy saving monitor for 2 weeks. This allows you to see exactly how much each appliance is costing you, and where you can easily save money. There is normally a waiting list to borrow them, but they have several monitors so it goes down quickly.
  • The Environment Centre in Southampton offers advice and support to individuals, community groups and businesses.

Social Enterprises and Co-operatives

  • The Art House, Southampton - A Community Interest Company run by volunteers, with a vegetarian cafe, events, and local artists.
  • Aldingbourne Trust, Chichester - This is a social enterprise on the outskirts of Chichester selling reclaimed wood.
  • October Books, Southampton - A not-for-profit co-operative bookshop
  • The Fair Trade Shop, Southampton

Green Groups

Other Groups

 

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