The owner of a Radlett farm is preparing to “thank his customers for keeping it alive” on Saturday as a festival marks 50 years since his family moved there.

Paul Haworth was just three when his parents secured a holding on the farm in 1960 and he is now the second generation of his family to run it.

During the past 50 years he has seen it change from a farm growing cereal, keeping dairy herds, pigs and chickens to a thriving rural shopping village, with land growing arable crops.

Farming has been hit hard in the past few decades and Paul, 53, says it is hard to pinpoint exactly why the Battlers Green has been such a success.

“It is good to still be farming here because the industry has gone through hard times - we have certainly had our ups and downs. I think we offer something a little different and people seem to love it. Without our customers we would not have survived.”

It was not until the late 1980s that the shopping village began to take the form it is today. When Paul's parents first arrived, they sold eggs, milk and cream through the barn doors, something that began to attract customers to the site.

The farm later bred cattle and Paul, who is married with three children, believes the farm still produces some of the country's finest beef.

Units in the rural shopping village are currently leased to 15 private companies and the farm also produces oil seed rape and wheat on alternate years.

Paul says the farm has evolved slowly over time but he is keen to ensure it remains successful after fifty years in his family.

A charity music festival is being held on Saturday evening to celebrate the farm's landmark anniversary and Paul said he has been overwhelmed by the response so far.

“We have already sold 800 tickets – I am really looking forward to it. It should be a really spectacular evening and will be a chance to say thank you to our customers.”

All of the money made on the night will be donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital and Macmillan Cancer Care.

Tickets cost £10 each and are available at www.ticketline.co.uk, from the sales hotline 0844 888 9991, or from the Battlers Green Farm Shop.