Posts Tagged ‘Farm shop’

Cannon Hall Farm

{ February 2, 2011 @ 11:30 am } · { Family, Yorkshire places }
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This weekend we paid a visit to Cannon Hall Farm, near Barnsley, after seeing lots of cute pictures of their new baby animals on Twitter. I have to confess that I had no idea baby farm animals were born from so early in the year, I thought it was more a springtime occurrence! So I’ve learned something new :)

It was about a half hour drive from Leeds and is set in beautiful rural surroundings. It was clear that it is a popular attraction as even getting there early in the day it was already quite busy and an attendant directs you to where they want you to park (and yes, there are overflow carparks….gulp!) You pay £2.50 to park and then £4.25 for adult admission to the farm (under 3s are free) – although there is a 2 for 1 offer on their website at the moment and you get £1.50 of the parking ticket redeemed against purchases in the cafe.

There was plenty to see including cows, sheep, pigs, shetland ponies, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs and turkeys. Many animals had recent offspring, in fact some lambs and goats had been born today. It was amazing to see how small and cute they were, and a bit unsteady on their gangly legs! You could get quite close to them and have a good look, it’s just required that you maintain good hand hygiene and that the under 6s don’t touch the animals at all. Everything was well laid out and clean and the animals seemed well looked after. There were also signs up to tell you that most of the animals are not kept in the enclosures where you see them, they are moved between paddocks and barns etc at night time so they can graze and exercise.

We particularly liked the goats – some of the baby ones were very actively bouncing around, which really got Millie’s attention. She absolutely loved it and was babbling away at the animals, even managing to say an appropriate ‘moo’ to the cows. :)

The one let down of the trip was the cafe. At 12.20 we ordered 3 sandwiches, at 13.20 they arrived. They were very tasty, and clearly made with good ingredients – but there is no excuse for that long a wait. Especially when you have a young child who is hungry and will only be distracted for so long. There was no warning when ordering that there was a wait for food and the cafe seemed large enough to accommodate the number of visitors they clearly receive on weekends and holidays…….. I can only assume that there were some extenuating circumstances. Anyway, the food was good, the staff were polite when we asked what was going on, but I think they had a complaint from almost every customer. Disappointing.

Lastly we paid a visit to the farm shop to pick up some provisions. There was a good choice of quality meat and baked goods, which were well priced. There did also seem to be a huge volume of other stuff on sale which I don’t think it entirely necessary in a farm shop – imported fruit & veg, Belgian beer, jars of processed stuff for the store cupboard. Anyway, personally i just prefer a farm shop to sell farm produce and leave the rest for the supermarkets, but I’m sure others disagree.

So, all in all it was worth the visit. We enjoyed seeing the animals very much and would definitely go back for that. However, we may well make use of the picnic area next time rather than wasting an hour sitting in the cafe!

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The Barn @ Blacker Hall

{ August 10, 2010 @ 12:00 pm } · { Specialty Food Emporia, Yorkshire places }
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Blacker Hall Farm near Wakefield opened a new cafe/restaurant on the 3rd August. We headed to the farm shop on the hunt for some Sunday dinner ingredients and decided to have a quick bite while we were there. It was an interesting experience – to be fair, I think they were having a few teething problems.

You arrive at the farm via the Denbydale road and it certainly looks impressive from the outset. It’s a big operation, with cows & pigs, home grown vegetables and an on-site bakery. The farm shop is long standing and award winning. The idea of converting a barn into a cafe showcasing their produce is a good one, although sadly from today’s experience the execution seemed bafflingly haphazard.

The setting is lovely – a large airy barn conversion with exposed beams and nicely spaced out tables. The menu is pleasingly short, concentrating on a handful of well made food. The service was friendly and they were well geared up for families, having about 10 high chairs available.

We were welcomed at the door and shown to a table by a very friendly waitress who explained the system of ordering. (This was where the alarm bell starts ringing – why does it need an explanation?) Well, it seems depending on what you order, you either get waitress service or go up to the counter. Hot food and cold starters requires you to collect it ‘canteen style’ but drinks, sandwiches and cake require you to order from your waitress, who brings it out to you. Tom ordered a chicken & bacon sandwich, with a filter coffee and I ordered a hot chocolate, salmon salad and a scone. Bizarrely, the scone arrived within minutes but it took 20 mins to get our drinks, which were lukewarm when they arrived. It took about another 15 minutes for the food – both items of which were cold (deliberately).

It was clear that some people were confused,especially if someone on your table wanted the hot carvery, but someone else wanted a sandwich – you seemed to have to collect one, order one and pay separately. It didn’t help that the waiting staff didn’t seem to have ‘areas’, and we were served by about 4 people, none of whom seemed to communicate with each other. For example, 2 people offered to take our order after we had already ordered.

However, the food was extremely good. It was clearly freshly made, the ingredients were very tasty and the presentation was nice. The bread and the scone were particularly good, being baked fresh on site. They also take pride in the majority of their produce being local, organic and Fairtrade.

It wasn’t the cheapest lunch, at £18 in total, but it was good quality. You can’t dispute the fact that they have a good product and a well designed setting, but I couldn’t help feeling that they had ignored the ‘process’, and that was where they were going wrong. In my book a cafe is counter service and a restaurant is waiter service – you can’t really manage a mixture without it being confusing. Take a lesson from the process experts – Ikea – you know exactly how their cafe works and it is very efficient. Combine that with the quality of the farm shop produce and you’re onto a winner.

Hopefully these are just teething problems, having only been open for 5 days. I’ll definitely go back and give it another go.

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The Farmer’s Cart

{ October 29, 2009 @ 11:10 pm } · { Cafes & Coffee shops, Yorkshire places }
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Living in Leeds when your mother lives in Scarborough provides a constant quest for new places to ‘meet 1/2 way’ for a catch up. Today we had a tip to try the Farmer’s Cart, near York and we were very impressed.

It’s easy to get to from the A64 and is a bit of a hidden gem. It includes:

1) A large shop brimming over with fresh farm produce, from fruit & veg to a great meat counter and a lovely selection of homemade cakes & bread. Everything looked so much more vibrant and fresh than what you see in the supermarket, and really well priced.

2) The cafe – serving seasonal meals and cakes. We had delicious mushrooms on toast but there were plenty of interesting specials like pumpkin soup (served in a pumpkin!) and beef burgers with chips served in a plant pot!

3) Animals – you could go an look at their Gloucester old spot pigs, goats, hens & Shetland ponies. Which were all getting lots of attention from the half term crowds.

4) Seasonal interest – obviously with it being Halloween this week there was the obligatory pumpkin carving and rides on tractors. But alongside pumpkin water races and firing corn on the cobs out of a tube to knock over pumpkins! Quite novel and entertaining for all the families, but cheap too (only about £1 for activities). They also do a lot of ‘pick your own’ in spring/summer.

A great find in the York countryside if you fancy a little trip out of Leeds. A bloody good lunch and mouthwatering ingredients to cook up a healthy feast!

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