Essex To Bamburgh!

ChilliBob

Hey everyone,
As UK holidaymakers used to going 'down' - towards Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, we're having a change pretty soon and going 'up'.. quite a bit up, to Bamburgh, which I didn't appreciate is actually pretty close to Scotland.

A favourite of ours on the way to these sort of places are really nice 'field kitchens' farm kitchens etc - we often do Otter Valley on the way to Cornwall and found a great one on the way to Wales one year too. These seem tricky to find online location wise, often people suggest on forums like this.

So, any suggestions for a nice lunch stop on the way?! - Looks to me that it'd be past Leeds/Harrogate type area - that should take us 3.5hrs - 4hrs.. So a stop after that.

Bit vague but any ideas or thoughts much appreciated!

daveyjp

A little further north than Leeds/Harrogate, Mainsgill Farm is about 5 miles west of Scotch Corner on the A66.  After many years of passing we visited at Easter and its well worth a slight detour.  However be warned - at weekends it gets very busy.

https://mainsgillfarm.co.uk/

If that's too far drop into Masham near Ripon.  Small town, home to Theakstons and Black Sheep brewery, both have shops and visitor centres.  The town has cafes etc. set around a central square.

ChilliBob

That looks well nice, salivating at that cake display, and I'm not usually a cake person!

I had found Yolk Farm, which also looked good, but digging into the reviews it seems if it goes wrong it goes badly wrong! So not sure on that one now! A nice premise though 

SkyyeBlue

Fodder at the showground in Harrogate is great, but can be busy. Mainsgill is ok, but hardly a small farmshop anymore. Stoneygate Farm Shop is just done the road in Ravensworth and is more authentic, The Station in Richmond is good too. If you were wanting a proper scenic farm cafe (although you'll need to come off the A1 and it's a 'little' out of the way - look at Toft Gate Barn near Pateley Bridge. That's our go to 'food with a view' location and the food is good too

ChilliBob

Wow, thank you for those suggestions - I've had a quick look and seems like Stoneygate would involve the least detour, which is a bonus. The Station looks interesting though - quite a bit going on there!

Toft Gate seems to add on about an hour to our journey, so with two small children in the back that'd have to wait a few years! Bad enough doing a long journey these days!