PETER Marshall, the founder of Kingsley Country Market, has died aged 81 and both his family and the staff are mourning a man who rose from being a farm manager to become head of one of the most successful businesses in the county.

He came from farming stock as in 1851 his great grandfather, Sam Marshall, farmed in Puttenham and then Farnham.

Peter was born in Farnham where his father, William, had Weydon Farm, and went to Farnham Grammar School before the family moved to Kingsley after William had bought a farm near the village.

Unfortunately, when William died the farm was sold to cover death duties and Peter got a job as farm manager with the new owners.

It was in 1965 the County Market story begins when Peter’s wife, June, with her three children, set off in her Morris Traveller to sell produce door to door that had been grown on the three acres Peter was farming while managing the farm for the new owners.

As demand grew for this pioneering box scheme, more locally produced items were added, including eggs, mushrooms and honey.

By 1971, the garage was converted to the first shop with regular open hours, and 40 acres of the original farm were bought back to assist with demand for the shop.

The first poly tunnel was introduced in 1975, which enabled bedding plants to be added to the growing range, as well as the first venture into the new craze that was ‘pick your own’.

When the owner of the farm, Mr Bentley, died, Peter took on the “brave and ambitious” opportunity to buy the original family farm in the early 1980s.

By the late 1980s, Country Market had outgrown the original premises and in 1988 another ambitious project began to relocate the oak-framed 19th Century grain barn from the original site and rebuild it as the new farm centre. This was to become the Country Market that most people know and will remember.

This new farm centre was opened in 1989, with a small number of local enterprises added, and a year later the first floor was converted into the Cornucopia Carvery Restaurant.

Ten years later, the restaurant was extended again to provide evening function facilities with combined seating for up to 250 guests.

A further extension and moves in 2006 provided the ability to introduce a broader range of shopping facilities, a new restaurant, and a more modern garden centre environment.

Then tragedy struck when fire broke out in one of the business units in the early hours of March 31, 2010, and fanned by high winds spread through the oak-framed barn and adjoining retail buildings. No-one was hurt but the entire group of buildings was destroyed.

With the same fighting spirit William had shown, Peter and June, sons Dean and Gary and sister Sharon set about rebuilding the business.

A ‘temporary’ farm shop, garden centre and small cafe was set up by re-utilising the existing hop-picking barn. The plant nursery and farm carried on growing plants and fresh produce and, encouraged by public support, the family was able to carry on offering produce direct to the public while planning the redevelopment.

The site of the original shop was cleared and before any new building a full archaeological investigation was carried out to unearth the near 2,000-year-old Roman pottery kilns that had previously laid beneath the original shop.

A full redevelopment plan was put together to include an array of fabulous projects to help celebrate the relaunch.

Today, Kingsley Country Market houses a spacious, airy, glass-fronted building, is bigger and more successful, and in a corner near the entrance is the family home Peter and June shared and where the family grew up.

Peter died on January 19 and he leaves his wife June, his sons and daughter and eight grandchildren.