Our History
Ashton Valley Fresh came to life in 2008,
but our family's history in produce goes back much further.
The Migration
In 1950 our great grandfather, Antonio Ceravolo, moved from Calabria, Italy,
to the Adelaide Hills. He rented a house in Uraidla and began working on the Nicol's family orchard.
He was joined a few years later by his wife, Maria, and his first five children: Ralph, Francie, Joe, Connie and Phyllis. They were soon followed by Joyce, Rosie, Mary and Grace who were born here in Australia.
Valle di Sant’Antonio
By 1957 the family were able to purchase their own property in Ashton, known today as Valle di Sant’Antonio. The heart of our family business is still nestled there today.
Our humble beginnings were in market gardening. The whole family helped to grow anything from potatoes, onions, cauliflowers and cabbages to planting our first apple trees.
Planting the seed...
In 1978 Antonio’s first son, Ralph, and his wife, Josephine, bought a property down the road from the first family farm. They began filling it, as well as the original farm, with apple, cherry and nectarine trees and grew vegetables in between the rows.
Once we began selling the fruit from these trees we realised we were onto something, and soon the market garden was taken over with our focus now on pome fruit and cherries.
Ceravolo Orchards
1982 saw the third generation of Ceravolos enter the family business when Ralph’s oldest son, Tony, began working on the land. His younger brother Joe joined him and Ralph on the orchard a decade later.
Their addition to the company brought about a rapid growth and expansion as well as improvements to the Ashton site.