It was at least one degree below freezing. Everyone was wrapped in fluffy hats and scarves as they plodded through the icy white streets of my home village of Eynsham to buy provisions for the weekend.

Most people wanted to get their shopping done quickly so that they could return to their warm homes for lunch.

Just one couple stayed where they were, stamping their feet now and again when the cold chill got too much.

They were newlyweds Lucy and Jonathan Bowden, who stoically brave the elements every Saturday to sell their freshly harvested fruits and vegetables in the courtyard outside The Eynsham Emporium, in Mill Street.

Twenty-seven-year-old Lucy and Jonathan, 29, began growing their own vegetables when they bought a three-acre plot in the Long Hanborough area last year. Getting established takes time, but this enthusiastic young couple are convinced that growing fruit and vegetables for a local market is the way to go.

They met at the Common Leys Farm campus, near Hailey, Witney, while taking a horticultural course run by Abingdon and Witney College. The subjects they studied included plant growth and development; plant nomenclature; plant propagation; garden planning; vegetable and fruit production; soils; weeds, pests and diseases; and the selection and use of plants. In other words, everything they needed to help them understand how to get the best out of the soil and grow some superb fruits and vegetables.

While they are working to get their business established, Lucy continues as a gardener at Worcester College and Jonathan is a landscape gardener in south Oxfordshire. Obviously, holding down a full-time job while attempting to get their own business established is not easy. It calls for guts, stamina, vision and a great deal of hard work, particularly at this time of the year when harvesting vegetables stuck in frozen soil. But they do it – and cheerfully. Such is the optimism of youth.

They have named their business Millwood Market Gardens. Their aim, once they are established, is to sell direct from the site, and operate a vegetable box scheme. At the moment, their market stall outside the Eynsham Emporium and their monthly visits to Appleton Farmers’ Market are their only outlets. But they are happy with that.

Jonathan said: “Corin Willett, who owns the Emporium, is allowing us to use the site free of charge, which really is a great help at this point in our quest to get established. She sees our presence as a plus, as it brings people into the village, many of whom stop for a cup of coffee at the Emporium once they have bought their vegetables.”

Corin Willett is delighted to offer them this space as she recognises how hard they are working to get their business established. Corin says the thing she admires about this young couple is the way they respond to customers’ requests. She knows that until they can grow every single seasonal vegetable on their plot, they have to buy a few vegetables in from other local farmers to pad out their stock.

“They are amazing. If a customer asks for something, they have sourced it by the next week. By next year they will probably be growing absolutely everything that they sell at their stall,” she said. Lucy and Jonathan are not totally organic at the moment, but they are working on the conversion, which could take place later this year. They farm organically now, but need to be registered with the Soil Association, which takes time.

Because they want to be able to offer a full range of produce they have established an orchard of local apple varieties, including the Eynsham Dumpling, raised by Eynsham resident F.W. Wastie in 1960, which is a large culinary apple that cooks well.

Jonathan said: “How could we resist that variety? Impossible. If we want to promote the fact we are raising local fruits and vegetables for local people, that variety just had to be added.”

Harvesting their produce has not been easy while snow lay on the ground and the earth was too frozen to dig. Fortunately, the couple have stored many of their root vegetables in sand clamps, but there are some that have to be dug out of the frozen ground as they are needed.

‘Harvesting parsnips has been difficult; there were times when we wished we had an ice pick to help us break up the ground. But, never mind, we did it. It was cold work but we got them out in the end. Actually vegetables such as parsnips taste better for having been exposed to frost. Sprouts taste better for a hard frost too, but, of course, sprouts are far easier to harvest, so are leeks,” said Jonathan.

Talking to Lucy and Jonathan was refreshing. It was great to meet such an enthusiastic young couple, who are working all hours, and under all conditions to ensure their future. To contact the couple with an order for Saturday collection, telephone: 07971 356 582.