The Lambing Shed in Knutsford, Cheshire, has been voted as the best farm shop café in the country - and from the moment Dianne Bourne stepped foot in there, she knew it might just be true.
She described it as 'packed', even though it was mid-week and early lunchtime.
Dianne said the fact they won the accolade has made people flock to the "large and luxurious café space in what was once the farm's original lambing shed".
The Farm Retail Association praised the establishment's high quality of food and service while hailing it: "A superb example of a business which understands its customer profile and then delivers a range of food and service to meet their customer's needs."
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Dianne wanted to know whether it was worth the hype though, saying the menu is "more akin to posh gastropub in style as well as in price".
In her review, she wrote: "We headed down for a mid-week lunch and the place was already packed with young and old in the café, while throngs more were mooching about the large farm shop which has recently been extended with an extra room filled with gifts, wines and gins as well as the local produce for which it has become known.
"Strangely, given the fact we're now in the school summer holidays, the one spot that was nice and quiet was the wood-chipped play area to the front of the farm shop site, where you can sit outside with takeaway food and drink and watch your children gambol about on mini tractors, swings and large tyres.
"I let my young 'un have a quick dash about, before persuading him indoors to sit down and have a nice meal with his mum and his grandma.
"He had found 50p in the car on his way to the farm shop, and to his joy, I said he could spend it in the farm shop. Which was all well and good until I fast realised this is really not the sort of farm shop where you can buy anything for 50p. Anything at all.
"Even the lollipops, on prominent display as you walk in, are extra large "gourmet" lollipops costing 99p each."
Dianne said everything was a little fancier than your average café, "so it's not just a chicken sandwich, it's a buttermilk chicken strip wrap with siracha mayo (£14.50); It's not just a burger, it's a home-reared lamb burger on brioche bun with chilli jam and garlic mayo (£14.95); It's not just fish and chips, it's beer-battered haddock with crushed minted peas and truffle parmesan fries (£15.95). You get the picture."
She decided to order some salt and pepper cauliflower bites as a starter (£6.95) to share, and thankfully the portion was 'huge' and could easily be shared between up to three people.
Dianne isn't usually a cauliflower fan, but she said "the chefs here make it taste like the most delicious vegetable on earth" which is a rather glowing review.
She continued: "There's a dedicated children's menu (with cute colourings in for the kids) offering the likes of chicken strips with fries, mac and cheese, roast dinner (on Sundays) or burger and chips - all for £7.50. My six-year-old opts for the sausage and chips and it's a hefty old portion with skin-on chips that he loved and a sausage so vast he could only manage half of it.
"And it's the attention to detail that really stands out here - even his kids' apple juice that we ordered (£1.99) is delivered in a gorgeous glass bottle jar complete with a bee-themed straw poking out the top."
It sounds lovely!
Dianne explained she opted for a home-reared beef shin, mushroom and smoked bacon pie served with mash, baby carrots and leeks with red wine sauce (15.95) and her mum went for the wild mushroom risotto (£14.95).
She said: "The mains proved themselves to be of restaurant quality, justifying the sorts of price tags that we were paying here. Because I'm well aware these are not cheap prices for a lunch out.
"But if you do one thing while you visit this farm shop café, let it be - save some space, and some money, for a cake afterwards. There is a cabinet and shelf veritably heaving with giant homemade cakes here, the sort of display that everyone saunters over to look at in awe at some point during their visit."
Dianne described the cakes as " rich, buttery, creamy slabs of joy", which is enough to get anyone's mouth salivating.
Overall, Dianne's verdict was positive - she had a great time, despite the fact it's on the pricier side.
She concluded: "The Lambing Shed was opened as a farm shop in 2015 by the Mitchell Family, who have been farming on this site for decades. They decided to transform the shed into the shop to diversify and showcase what farmers were doing in the local area.
"With the addition of the café they have taken that idea even further, creating something really worth venturing out of your way to go to visit. It was a couple of hours of joy for our family to really relish and enjoy an abundance of the regional farming community's best produce in a tranquil setting."
Would you try The Lambing Shed? Let us know in the comments.
