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Gloucester Services Farmshop & Kitchen is the focus of a new 6- part documentary series for Channel 4 which begins Monday 7 August at 8pm.

A Cotswold Farmshop is a new 6-part series, made by Purple, celebrating the people, products and landscapes that surround the M5 famous Gloucester Services.A Cotswold Farmshop shares the stories of a family-owned motorway services business that celebrates the people and produce of Gloucestershire.

The services opened in 2014 as a unique partnership between neighbourhood development charity Gloucestershire Gateway Trust (GGT) and Westmorland Family, the business behind Tebay Services in Cumbria; each with a stake in the business, working together to create sustainable long-term community improvements.

Sarah, daughter of John and Barbara Dunning, grew up with her parents running the first family-owned motorway services in the UK; Tebay Services in Cumbria. The unique services opened in 1972 after the M6 motorway was built through their farm. The family’s vision to invite the world to this once-remote stretch of Cumbria to eat a good meal, enjoy a heartfelt welcome and relish the upland landscape became a reality. Gloucester Services continues the original ethos of celebrating local people and produce and giving back to the local community.

“We always start with what’s local because that says something about the area and what the area does,” says Sarah Dunning, the Chair of Westmorland Family, the business behind Gloucester Services.

Social change entrepreneur and founder of the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust, Mark Gale, approached the Dunning Family to build a motorway services that had true and lasting links to the local community.

“The motorway presented a problem for locals, says Mark, “with 28 million cars and 40 million people passing by the areas creating noise, pollution and demands on public services every time there was an accident. Together with our communities, we looked at how to create an opportunity out of a problem.”

Gloucester Services is a pioneering model of social investment.

Gloucestershire Gateway Trust receives up to three pence in every £1 of non-fuel sales at Gloucester Services to invest in its partners throughout our local communities and create sustainable employment.

One of the many examples is a pre-employment course, Bridging the Gap which helps people who experience barriers to work to develop their skills, boost confidence and have a guaranteed interview at Gloucester Services.

Sarah says, “Business has an opportunity to have real impact if it runs itself in the right way, we set up Gloucester Services in a way where the benefits to the local community are embedded directly in our business plan. The more we sell the more income Gloucester Gateway Trust gets, I love that concept because it’s a win, win.”

A Cotswold Farmshop begins on Monday 7 August and runs for six weeks. Watch it 8pm on Channel 4 or as a free All 4 box set at www.channel4.com