This guide compares five West Yorkshire farm shops spread across the county: Crag House Farm at Cookridge on the north-west edge of Leeds, Robertshaw’s at Thornton outside Bradford, Hinchliffe’s at Netherton south of Huddersfield, Blacker Hall Farm at Calder Grove near Wakefield and Farmer Copleys at Purston near Pontefract. Each is on a working farm and sells some of its own meat, eggs or produce alongside food from other Yorkshire makers. The useful question is which shop has the food you need, and where it was grown.
As a Londoner, I know it is not realistic for everyone to live on a farm. A farm shop, farmers' market or community garden can be part of a more direct food routine. Start with a reachable stop and a short list, rather than expecting to change everything at once.
Which farm shop or picking farm should you choose?
Your starting point will decide most trips. Crag House Farm suits north Leeds, Horsforth and lower Wharfedale, and it closes on Sundays. Robertshaw’s at Thornton is the choice for Bradford and the Brontë Country villages, and it has the longest hours of the five, open until 8pm six days a week. Hinchliffe’s at Netherton is handy for Huddersfield and the Holme Valley, with a butchery built around its own beef. Blacker Hall sits just off junction 39 of the M1, so it is easy from Wakefield, Dewsbury and Barnsley, while Farmer Copleys near Pontefract serves the eastern side of the county around Castleford, Featherstone and the A1.
If meat is your main reason for going, Hinchliffe’s, Blacker Hall and Robertshaw’s all have full butchery counters. Crag House Farm sells beef, lamb and eggs from its own farm and supports a Leeds charity. Farmer Copleys is the busiest day out, with seasonal festivals and pick-your-own events, so check its calendar before you travel.
Check the farm’s current crops, opening times and prices before travelling. Picking seasons vary, and a farm shop may sell produce without offering pick-your-own visits.
- Crag House Farm , A charity-run Cookridge farm with Longhorn cattle
- Robertshaw’s Farm Shop , A Thornton sheep farm selling food since 1929
- Hinchliffe’s Farm Shop , A Netherton family business since 1929
- Blacker Hall Farm , A Garthwaite family farm since 1901
- Farmer Copleys , A Purston family farm since 1967
Crag House Farm
Map and location
Crag House Farm, Otley Old Road, Cookridge, Leeds LS16 7NH. View Crag House Farm on the map.
Contact: 0113 230 3618.
Longhorn beef, Lleyn lamb and orchard eggs
Crag House Farm is a 125-acre farm on the north-west edge of Leeds and the headquarters of Caring For Life, a Christian charity that houses and supports vulnerable people across the city. The farm runs daytime projects for the people the charity supports, including caring for the animals. Its livestock are a herd of Longhorn cattle and a flock of Lleyn sheep, and around 700 free-range hens roam the orchard. Apples from that orchard are pressed into Crag House Farm apple juice, which is sold only in the shop.
The farm shop, opened as one of the charity’s social enterprises in 2008, is in a restored 17th-century barn that it shares with the Granary Restaurant. It sells the farm’s own beef, lamb and eggs alongside fruit and vegetables, artisan cheeses, pies, pasties and tray bakes. Local suppliers named on its website include Bracken Hill Preserves, Brymor Ice Cream, Lottie Shaw, Kendalls Farm Butchers, Leeds Bread Cooperative and Horsforth Honey. All profits go to Caring For Life.
Visiting and buying
The farm’s website gives the farm shop’s hours as Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm, with the Granary Restaurant and Grab & Go Coffee Shop open 9am to 4pm. No Sunday opening is listed. The farm warns that most satnavs struggle to find it and suggests Google Maps, the postcode LS18 5HZ for Otley Old Road, or the what3words address on its contact page. There is also a garden nursery. Ask which meat and eggs are from the farm on the day.
Crag House Farm: website and opening hours.
Robertshaw’s Farm Shop
Map and location
Keelham Hall Farm, Thornton, Bradford, BD13 3SS. View Robertshaw’s Farm Shop on the map.
Contact: 01274 833472.
Texel sheep on a Thornton hilltop since 1929
Robertshaw’s is a family business at Keelham Hall Farm in Thornton, on the edge of Bradford in Brontë Country. Visit Bradford says it has sold fresh food since 1929, when it began as a roadside stall selling potatoes and vegetables, and that it is now led by James Robertshaw. The farm is a working sheep farm with more than 200 Texel ewes, chosen because they are hardy enough for the exposed hilltop. Lambing usually falls around Easter, and fruit and vegetable waste from the shop is spread on the fields.
The shop has a butchery counter where meat is cut in-store and beef is aged for 28 days, a deli it says is more than 95 per cent Yorkshire produce, and a greengrocer with over 200 kinds of fruit and vegetables. Pies, cakes and Yorkshire puddings come from the family’s offsite bakery. The larder stocks more than 200 beers from about 30 Yorkshire breweries. There is also a bakery café, a seasonal garden centre and a free animal croft.
Visiting and buying
The Robertshaw’s website lists the Thornton farm shop as open Monday to Saturday 8am to 8pm, and Sunday and bank holidays 9am to 6pm. The bakery and café open Monday to Saturday 8am to 4pm and Sunday 9am to 4pm, and the garden centre opens daily 9am to 6pm. The family also runs a second shop in Skipton, over the border in North Yorkshire, so check you are heading for Thornton. Ask the butchers which lamb is from the farm’s own flock.
Robertshaw’s Farm Shop: website and opening hours.
Hinchliffe’s Farm Shop
Map and location
Hinchliffe’s Farm, Netherton Moor Road, Netherton, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire HD4 7LE. View Hinchliffe’s Farm Shop on the map.
Contact: 01484 661231.
Four generations of home-reared beef and eggs
Hinchliffe’s dates its business to 1929 and Allen Hinchliffe, who with his wife Betsy began by delivering eggs by horse and cart from a farm at Pole Moor. After Allen’s death in 1941, Betsy kept the shop going with her son Charles, who started an egg business in Netherton in 1950 and, in the early 1970s, began breeding and rearing his own cattle. The family has now run the business for four generations. Its beef is reared and grazed around the Netherton site and sold as Hinchliffe’s Home-reared Beef.
A fire on 5 July 2010 destroyed the farm shop, butchery and restaurant, and the family traded from a cattle box and then a marquee until the new building opened in 2019. Today it has an in-house butchery whose Stilton and red onion sausages have won a Great Taste Award, a deli counter making sandwiches and salads, eggs, a florist and wines. The Rusty Bull restaurant is on the same site, and there is local home delivery on Friday afternoons.
Visiting and buying
Hinchliffe’s website gives farm shop hours of Monday to Saturday 9am to 5.30pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm. The Rusty Bull opens Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm, Saturday 9am until late and Sunday 9am to 5pm. Netherton is about three miles south of Huddersfield town centre, on the way towards Holmfirth. The website does not cover parking, so ring ahead if you need to know. Ask at the butchery counter which cuts are from the family’s own cattle.
Hinchliffe’s Farm Shop: website and opening hours.
Blacker Hall Farm
Map and location
Branch Road, Calder Grove, Wakefield WF4 3DN. View Blacker Hall Farm on the map.
Contact: 01924 267202.
Farm-to-fork beef from a four-generation family farm
Blacker Hall Farm has belonged to the Garthwaite family since 1901, and the same family has farmed it for four generations. Its website describes a farm-to-fork business, with livestock, butchery, bakery and food production all managed on site. Cattle are reared on the farm, and the website says all the beef sold in the shop comes directly from it. Crops grown on the surrounding land feed the livestock, and the farm works with trusted local farmers for what it does not produce itself.
The farm shop has been trading for more than 25 years. Its award-winning butchery sells grass-fed beef, pork that the homepage describes as home-reared, locally sourced lamb and chicken. There is also a greengrocery, an artisan deli and a bakery making cakes and biscuits on site. The Barn Kitchen serves breakfasts, lunches and afternoon tea, and the Courtyard Kitchen does takeaway food and Sunday roasts to take home. Children can follow the Little Farmers Trail.
Visiting and buying
Blacker Hall’s website gives the farm shop’s hours as 9am to 5pm and the Barn Kitchen’s as 9am to 3.45pm, every day of the week. The Little Farmers Trail opens 10am to 4pm. The farm is just off junction 39 of the M1, about four miles south-west of Wakefield city centre, so it is an easy stop on a longer drive. Hours can change around Christmas, so check before you travel, and ask which meat is from the farm.
Blacker Hall Farm: website and opening hours.
Farmer Copleys
Map and location
Ravensknowle Farm, Pontefract Road, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF7 5AF. View Farmer Copleys on the map.
Contact: 01977 600 200.
Pumpkins, apples and bees at Ravensknowle Farm
The Copley family says it has farmed for more than 150 years, and Ernest Copley bought the 120-acre Ravensknowle Farm at Purston, near Pontefract, in 1967. The farm once grew wheat, barley, potatoes, turnips and peas and raised young cattle for a dairy herd. The farm shop opened on 12 December 2003 and is run by Rob and Heather Copley, with Jacob and Harry Copley as the next generation. Today the farm keeps 40 beehives, has planted over 1,000 apple trees and grows more than 40 varieties of pumpkin for its autumn festival.
The shop sells the farm’s own produce alongside home-made and locally sourced food. A butchery team works on site, and the bakery makes pies and sweet treats. Copleys Kitchen, which opened in 2023, makes jars, gelato and fudge, so many lines are made on the farm. Moo Café serves home-made meals and coffee, and food can be ordered online for collection or delivery. The website does not name its outside suppliers, so ask in store.
Visiting and buying
Farmer Copleys’ website gives the farm shop’s hours as Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 5.30pm, with Moo Café open 8.30am to 5pm, and Sunday and bank holiday opening of 8.30am to 4pm. Event times vary. The farm is on the Pontefract Road at Purston, a short drive from the M62 and A1. Weekends during the pumpkin and tulip festivals and pick-your-own events can be busy, so check the events page and go early. Ask which fruit, eggs and honey come from the farm.
Farmer Copleys: website and opening hours.
Knowing a farm shop you can return to is also one of the most practical ways to be ready for disruption. Read The Be Ready Campaign: A UK Guide to Stocking Your Home With Healthy, Local Food, and use the Be Ready Map to find more local food across the UK.
Plan your farm visit, produce, quantities and picking dates
Choose one or two farms or farm shops that fit your route. Write down what you want, how much you need and what you will do with it when you get home. If one crop is unavailable, decide whether to choose a different farm, change the meal or return another day.
- Confirm the crop, public opening and any booking requirement.
- Ask whether you can pick yourself or buy already picked.
- Check the price unit, payment method and containers.
- Ask about access, parking and the correct visitor entrance.
Farm shop and fruit-picking questions
Where can I buy local food in West Yorkshire?
Good West Yorkshire farm shops include Crag House Farm at Cookridge in Leeds, Robertshaw’s at Thornton near Bradford, Hinchliffe’s at Netherton near Huddersfield, Blacker Hall Farm at Calder Grove near Wakefield and Farmer Copleys at Purston near Pontefract. Each sells some meat, eggs or produce from its own farm.
Are all these farms in the same town?
No. West Yorkshire covers a wide area, and this guide spreads its choices across the county. Each farm section gives its location so you can compare the journey before you set off.
Can I pick at every farm or market?
No. Farm shops and markets may sell ready-picked food without opening fields to visitors. Ask the individual business about picking access, the crop and any booking requirement.
Plan your farm shopping with My Shopping List and Harvest Checker
Open My Shopping List to record produce, quantities and estimated costs. Mark items as bought when you collect them and keep the plan for your next trip.
Use Harvest Checker after a grower gives you a picking window. Enter those dates and compare them with your visit date. The tool uses your entries; it does not fetch live availability from farms.
My Shopping List
Keep the produce you actually need in one place before you set off.
Use My Shopping ListHarvest Checker
Compare your visit with dates confirmed by the grower. This does not check live stock.
Use Harvest CheckerUse the tools with your My Ideal World account. Guest and free-account limits apply; paid members have unlimited tool access.
Explore more farm shops and picking farms in My Ideal World. Browse the Farm Shops app below or beside this article, then check the grower’s current crop and opening before visiting.
Sources
- Crag House Farm , farm shop page
- Crag House Farm , contact and opening hours
- Crag House Farm , Caring For Life charity page
- Robertshaw’s Farm Shop , official website
- Robertshaw’s Farm Shop , On the Farm
- Robertshaw’s Farm Shop , Visit Bradford
- Hinchliffe’s Farm Shop , Our Story
- Hinchliffe’s Farm Shop , contact and opening hours
- Blacker Hall Farm , Our Farm
- Blacker Hall Farm , opening hours
- Farmer Copleys , About Farmer Copleys
- Farmer Copleys , official website and opening hours
Research reviewed 25 October 2026. Farm and visitor sources support the descriptions above. Historical information is identified where relevant; no firsthand visit, current stock check or certification is claimed.