In times past a farm shop was something as simple as the farmer’s wife selling eggs at the kitchen door. And for some of these places, that’s exactly how they began.
Nowadays they’re not so much a back-door side hustle as the main moneymaker with a product range that includes fresh and artisan foods from across the region, as well as from their own land.
Local cheeses, field-fresh vegetables, just-baked bread, sausages made that morning; all this gorgeous produce makes a trip to a farm shop a really enjoyable way to stock up your fridge for the week ahead. Here we’ve picked our five favourite farm shops near Manchester. Why not visit the one closest to you this weekend?
#bankholidayweekend
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Saddleworth
Albion Farm Shop and Cafe
Head to the hills above Oldham to find this food-lover’s gem. Like many proper farm shops, Albion Farm Shop and Cafe began life as a way to sell their own produce. Their beef, lamb and mutton are all reared at the family farms in Castleshaw and Slaithwaite. Add to that eggs from their own chickens, their homemade pies, and homebaked bread, and you’ve already got a larder full of ultra-local produce.
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Warrington
The Hollies Farm Shop Lower Stretton
With vegetables so fresh they could have been dug up from the field that morning, homemade pies and sausage rolls, and all manner of deli bits and bobs, The Hollies Farm Shop Lower Stretton is the perfect place for a special weekend food shop.
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Book Now Clitheroe
Holmes Mill
Located in the heart of Clitheroe, Holmes Mill is a bountiful food, drink and entertainment venue as well as a lovely place to stay in Lancashire. Featuring its own beer hall, bar & grill, hotel, food hall, bowling alley, cinema and much more, this former textiles mill is the gift that keeps on giving.
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Knutsford
The Lambing Shed Farm Shop and Kitchen
Moseley Hall Farm is home to 250 cattle, over 2,500 sheep, and in the barn once used for newborn lambs and their ewes, The Lambing Shed Farm and Cafe.
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Hyde
Lymefield Farm Shop
Get on the Hadfield train from Piccadilly, disembark at the amusingly-named Broadbottom, and walk down the road to visit Lymefield Farm Shop, part of Lymefield Garden Centre and Cafe.