A farm in Cumbria was delighted to raise more than £600 for Eden Valley Hospice by selling charity milk bottles last year.

The Beeches Farm, which is run by the Workman family in Carlisle, sells fresh milk via its Milk Shed and its vending machine.

Each year, they run a charity scheme where milk is sold in a different colour bottle, in order to raise money for a local charity that is close to their heart. 

They receive 676 bottles on a pallet, and they quickly sold out, meaning that £676 was raised in total for Eden Valley Hospice.

Sarah Workman, said: "When we set up the milk shed, we've always chosen a different charity, sometimes one, sometimes two a year - it depends how quickly they sell. We choose a different colour bottle connected to the charity, British Heart Foundation was a red bottle, pink was for a local little girl etc. We had yellow ones for Eden Valley Hospice."

After Eden Valley Hospice cared for Sarah's father-in-law, who used to run the farm, it was an obvious choice for 2023's charity bottles.

Sarah added: "It's getting harder and harder to fundraise for all charities since Covid. The hospice really showed a lot of comfort and support to my mother-in-law.

"We have a lot of customers who really enjoy it. They like to come and collect the charity bottles and all the different colours. It's quite exciting when the new colour comes out and they can give money to a different charity. When we set up and everyone was buying bottles, it tended to go quite quickly. We're on the lookout for another charity for 2024, the children want to do one for their school.

Eden Valley Hospice said: "The hospice relies heavily on the kindness of the local community to continue caring for local patients and their families at a time when it is needed most. So, we'd like to say a big thank you to The Beeches Farm and their customers for their wonderful support which will enable more local families to receive compassionate and specialist care."