AFTER a successful first year, a Worcestershire farming family is expanding its organic business.

Farm Direct Produce supplies organic vegetables direct to the doors of customers during a nine-month season.

Previously it supplied customers in just the Ombersley, Stourport-on-Severn and Kidderminster areas. But it has now widened its net to include Worcester.

Charlotte Jeynes, who runs Farm Direct with her sister-in-law and mother-in-law, said they hope this season to supply about 400 boxes a week at a price of £7.50 per box.

Last season - 2004/5 - they sold an average of 140 boxes at £7 each.

The business' two-year plan aims to supply up to 600 boxes in the 2006/7 season.

The produce is grown at the family's 48-acre Merry Valls Farm, near Ombersley.

"We put our toes in the water last year and we got such a great response," said Mrs Jeynes.

"We supply directly from the field to the public. It cuts out the middleman - the supermarkets - and takes fresh produce direct to people's doors."

Much of Farm Direct's business has come from traditional methods of advertising - word of mouth and leaflets dropped through potential customers' letterboxes.

Mrs Jeynes believes there is a gap in the market for providing organic food straight to the customer, which needs to be filled.

She said: "I think people are more aware of what they feed their children. Quite a lot of our customers are young families."