About Us

Newbarn farm is a family run farm set on 33 acres near Ashbourne, Co. Meath, owned by William and Yvonne Ruiter.
William and Yvonne are passionate horticulturists and have been growing vegetables for nearly forty years.

Initially growing vegetables for supermarkets, William and Yvonne became frustrated with the waste resulting from the supermarkets demands for more packaging on fresh produce and wanting produce that was uniformally the one shape and size. They also disliked the amount of time it took their lovingly grown vegetables to get from their farm to the final customer.

Deciding to cut out the middle man, William and Yvonne opened Newbarn Farm Shop in 2004, selling their homegrown vegetables from a small corner of the farm shed directly to the customer. The shop has expanded over the years but the focus is still very much on supplying our customers with the freshest and best quality farm produce we can.

Not content with just selling fruit and vegetables and wanting to share their passion for fresh ingredients, William and Yvonne opened up The Donkey Shed Restaurant in 2011. An excellent home cook, Yvonne worked closely with our kitchen team in creating our menu and our delicious scones are made exactly to Yvonne’s own recipe.

Yvonne and William’s son, Andrew, upon completing his studies in horticulture also works on the farm and is involved in growing and sourcing fruit and vegetables for the Farm Shop. Saskia, their daughter, joined the farm in 2011 and works in the restaurant.