Our Story
Sown In Surrey was co-founded by Rob Prince and Tony Giles who started their growing journey in humble beginnings together in 2013 where they began growing micro herbs in Tony’s conservatory which were later used in a local restaurant where Rob was head chef. Since those early days, they are proud to have supplied high-quality Micro herbs into New Covent Garden market, local wholesalers in Brighton and London, as well as chefs in restaurants in and around Surrey, Sussex and London.
What we do that’s different
With a hydroponic growing process, the plant receives nutrients delivered by a pumping system that floods the grow tanks, feeding the root and then returning to a base tank. The water is managed, ensuring it is fresh and nutrient-rich to continue the growing process and suitable to be re-circulated time after time. This growing process uses significantly less freshwater than traditional growing and requires no soil. Instead of using soil, a biodegradable waste product from another industry (sugar production) is used as a growing medium and solar roof panels supply power to the low energy LED lights used for commercial growing and are environmentally considerate.
Environmentally Sustainable
Located on the Surrey Sussex border, Sown in Surrey have built a state of the art hydroponics, closed water circuit, soil-free temperature-controlled growing environment. They know that is a bit of a mouthful but they want you to know that they care about the environment and their system uses up to 80% less water and significantly less land than traditional farming.
Before the Micro Herb Farm…
Rob is a head chef with a passion for flavour and a wealth of culinary experience having worked and managed many kitchens here in the UK. Robs love for micro herbs comes from his cooking where he has found the addition of the tiny herb shoots has elevated his food to new levels. Rob says “ There is not a single top restaurant or Michelin star establishment that does not use micro herbs on their menu. Micros have become an important part of the culinary world and are loved by professional chefs of all levels.” Rob looks after procurement, customer relations and business administration although he likes nothing better than spending a day in the grow house and being hands-on with the growing.
As a Micro Herb enthusiast and a parent of two girls, Tony has always wanted to open his own business and loves cooking at home for his family. As the operations director, over the last few years, Tony’s focus has been on developing the business drive to acquire environmentally considerate materials and reduce the use of plastic and other damaging materials used for production, manufacture and delivery. Tony says “We trialled many different ways to grow and deliver our products and I’m proud to say that all materials we now use are either bio-degradable or can be recycled’. Tony has clearly found love in growing Micro herbs and at one stage had them germinating and growing all around his home.
Looking forward, both Rob & Tony see their farm as the real future of all commercial farming and a real alternative to traditional farming which will be essential for feeding the worlds ever-growing population.