A farm shop website that shows what's in season and takes pre-orders
Shoppers check a farm shop website before they drive out: are you open, what's in this week, and can I order the turkey or the lamb box in advance? A farm shop website that answers those three questions quickly beats a beautiful one that doesn't. Pre-orders work as forms or payment links rather than a basket. Here's how to set it up.
Open today? Say it first
Farm shops are often out of town, so a wasted journey is a real cost to a customer. Put opening hours at the top of the homepage and in the footer of every page, with seasonal changes, bank holiday hours and any days the café or butcher's counter keeps different times. When something changes (a closure for a family event, early closing in a storm), update it the same day. The update opening hours workflow covers keeping the site and your map listings in step.
What's in season, kept current
"What's in this week" is the reason regulars come back to the site. It also beats any generic shop description for search: people look for strawberries, asparagus or pumpkins near them. Keep a produce CMS collection with fields for name, category (veg, fruit, meat, dairy, bakery), grown or reared where, in season from and to, and a short note.
- Mark items grown on the farm differently from those bought in from neighbours, and name the neighbours where they're happy to be named.
- Change the homepage highlight weekly: "First new potatoes are in" is a reason to visit.
- Use your own photos of the produce and the shop, not stock baskets of vegetables.
- Keep provenance claims specific and true. Words like local, organic and free-range carry legal or certification meanings in many places.
Pre-orders without a basket
Christmas turkeys, Easter lamb, barbecue boxes and celebration cakes are where a farm shop's website earns its keep. Anticode has no basket or stock count, so pre-orders run one of two ways.
| Approach | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Order request | The customer uses the contact form (name, email and a message) to say what they want, the size or weight and the collection day. You confirm and take payment at collection. | Meat and poultry by weight, where the final price isn't known until it's cut. |
| Pay in advance | The buy button opens the account's one payment link, from Stripe Payment Links, PayPal or Shopify, pointed at a product list if you sell several items. You confirm the collection day by email after payment. | Fixed-price boxes, hampers and vouchers. |
Write a short list above the order form telling customers what to include: item, weight or size, collection date and a phone number. Each request is saved sealed at rest and emailed to you, and a connector can add it as a row in Google Sheets so the order book is a spreadsheet the counter staff can sort by collection day. Each submission is sent once without retries, so keep the email copy as a backup. If you'd like separate fields for weight and collection date, the order form can be a custom form tied to a site function or an app build, and both send submissions the same way.
Veg boxes, the café and events
A veg box scheme can be described on its own page, with box sizes, what a typical week contains, collection or delivery days and the area covered, and a link to buy (the account's payment link, or your box-scheme platform). Anticode doesn't manage recurring orders, skipped weeks or delivery rounds; if the scheme grows, a box-scheme platform will save hours each week. The café page needs its own hours, a menu (another CMS collection makes weekly specials easy), and whether you take table bookings. Farm events such as lambing days or pumpkin picking can each have a page with a ticket link; see farm websites for visitor attractions.
Building it with Anticode
Describe the shop, the farm behind it, what you sell and how people order today. The Architect asks up to three questions that change the plan, then builds. Organic (Figtree) is a natural fit, with green or gold as the action colour; Editorial (Geist) suits a shop with a strong food-writing voice. Keep the navigation short: Visit, In season, Order, Café, About.
Where the limits are
Questions people ask
Can customers order their Christmas turkey online?
Yes, as an order request through the contact form or, for fixed prices, through a payment link. You confirm each order and the collection day.
Can the site show what's in stock today?
Not as a live stock level. A produce collection you update in the dashboard shows what's in season, and the homepage can highlight this week's arrivals.
Can I sell veg boxes by subscription?
You can take payment through the site's payment link, but recurring orders, pauses and deliveries need a box-scheme or store platform.