Hoxne: Greek olive oil back in stock in Greengold cafe and shop

Small family business Greengold cafe, in Abbey Farm Yards in Hoxne, near Eye, is celebrating its Greek produce being back in stock after a lengthy delay due to Brexit.

The cafe, run by husband and wife Ioannis Charvalias and Jill Williams, opened in July last year.

Ms Williams is from Hoxne but her husband is Greek and a fourth generation olive farmer.

Their extended family has olive groves back in the country, and they now can import their produce.

Ms Williams said: "We sell our own olive oil. We harvest the olive oil ourselves. We used to live in Greece but now we're back in Suffolk and we go back every year for the harvest.

"Bringing our olive oil was quite straightforward before Brexit. It has taken us a very long time to import.

"We are a small business. To be able to export we had to set up a company in Greece so we could sell our own olive oil to our own company.

"It has taken us almost a year to do that. We finally had our own olive oil a couple of weeks ago.

"We also sell four different varieties of Greek honey from a friend in our village in Greece."

The building was originally planned to be a base for their olive oil business, but Ms Williams decided to set up a cafe after working in hospitality in Greece.

She added: "When I lived there I had my own cafe and worked in hospitality. We thought that it would be a nice idea to open a cafe in Hoxne.

"It's merged into two things. We have a lovely little cafe that's thriving, and combined that with the oil business.

"I am from Hoxne. I have come home. Ioannis loves it here, apart from the weather."