Hazel Mackenzie and her family have been working their 38-acre croft for generations. The family’s connection with this land goes back 500 years. In more recent years, they began the farm shop in a very small way, with an honesty box for their surplus eggs. Today, Shetland’s first ever farm shop sells a wide range of produce from their croft, Aister, including beef, lamb, pork, eggs and vegetables. They make award winning preserves, their own Fair Isle Knitwear and exclusive Aister ‘oo’ yarn, spun from their own Shetland fleeces.
They stock locally sourced essentials such as local milk, eggs, bread, meat and fish. They have an extensive range of giftware, including many locally crafted items. They even stock peat, logs and gas cylinders. The shop is a real hub for the community and you will, more often than not, find Mackenzie’s stepping up to promote and organise local community efforts with charitable Christmas gift appeals and free meal schemes for the vulnerable.
Their café serves local produce and delights from the croft, prepared in the café kitchen, including home baked cakes, jams and preserves, fresh sandwiches, hot meals, snacks and drinks.
If you want to spend some time learning how they manage all this, they even have their own self-catering holiday cottages on the croft! Don’t worry if you can’t make it there immediately, they have a great range of their wares available to order on their online shop.
