A month on from the opening of Guy’s Marsh Prison farm shop and the results stretch the imagination.

The lupins sold out, plentiful seasonal courgettes and tomatoes are available and another batch of poppies are ready to move from behind bars and into the shop. All the veg and plants are grown inside HMP Guy’s Marsh, the category C training prison near Shaftesbury, which houses 400 inmates.

And the opening of the farm shop outside the fence means another prisoner is allowed out on licence on weekdays to help with the produce and work in the shop. Two more risk-assessed inmates work in the Jailhouse Café next door as front of house and help in prepping that day’s menu.

“It is just a chance to get them back into the community a little, to enjoy a little normality,” says chef manager Georgina Waldron, who also oversees the shop.

She shows me around the shop, which currently has perennial plants including achillea and scabious. There are planters and bug boxes made in the prison workshops as well as a range of chutneys and relishes made by The Bay Tree Company but with a Jailhouse Café label.

Tote bags and T-shirts with the café logo are on sale in the shop, which is open from 10am-2pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Local residents have been big supporters of the shop, with cycling groups also stopping off at the café and shop. Most of the prison staff use the café, which is open on weekdays from 10am- 3pm. There is a weekly special, with vegetarian/vegan options plus baguettes, jacket potatoes and an all-day breakfast.

“The shop is a really good initiative to motivate, encourage, rehabilitate and help resettle the men in their care,” says Georgina, who was working in a café in Bristol before moving to Guy’s Marsh eight months ago.

She is actually employed by Expia, a charity which looks to reduce re-offending. It helps with training and support, and marketing of prisoner products at Guy’s Marsh and Portland prison. All profits from the Jail House Farm Shop will support the rehabilitation of prisoners.

The Friends of Guys Marsh (friendsofguysmarsh.co.uk) will have a stall at the Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show on August 18-19. The group also supports the rehabilitation work at the prison.

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