Gareth and I took over running Yoxford Post Office from Stan Slade in October 1982. The shop at the time was called Natural Choice and had a selection of health foods for sale. Before moving to Suffolk we lived in London, where Gareth worked for Harrods and I was a librarian. Although neither of us had previous experience of food retailing we both had a love of good food so decided to continue selling the health foods already established in the shop. I set about using my interest and knowledge of vegetarian cooking to expand the food side while Gareth concentrated on running the post office.
Once settled into our new role we changed the name of the shop to Yoxford Natural Food Stores and a graphic designer was employed to design labels and letterheads based on the Yoxford Village sign.
Most of the food items sold were bought in bulk and packaged in the store. We ground our own coffee and sold locally baked organic bread from Metfield Bakery, both of which were very popular. As a keen cook I used to experiment with ingredients we sold in the shop and write up the recipes to be handed out to customers. My mother Janet Rose made a weekly batch of meringues and for a time also provided her rum truffles, but this had to stop after the Edwina Currie egg scare as they were made with the uncooked egg yolks leftover from the meringues.
Within five years we had redesigned the interior with natural wood counters and a dresser made by Bob Pendered, who together with Nick Croft, had a workshop at Freedom Works, originally the stable block for the Three Tuns Inn, which burnt down in 1925. Pup (John) Barrett of Cottons Yard
designed and made the wall units and central display unit (painted white).
In 1988 I was invited to be a member of the National Panel for the trade magazine Natural Food Trader, for which I wrote regular articles. I attended many food trade fairs to obtain ideas for new products. Meanwhile I was becoming increasingly involved in village life, especially the Mother and
Toddler Club and Playgroup that my two children Anna and Alastair had attended as well as the Primary School where I held occasional cookery classes for the older children. I was on the Village Hall Committee when the tennis courts were built, a member of the Phoenix Players Drama Group in the late 1990s and in 1994 I founded YoxVox, a singing group which still exists today, though no longer performing.
We sold the business to Alan Lambert in July 1998 and in 2001 moved to Framlingham, where I was born and grew up. I returned to my previous profession as a librarian and for a while Gareth worked as a barman. Failing eye sight and poor health meant that Gareth could no longer work and he died in 2010.
Suzanne Bartlett
July 2023