Cheshire’s farm shops are spread from the Warrington edge of the county down to the Shropshire border. This guide compares five of them: Kenyon Hall Farm at Croft near Warrington, The Hollies at Little Budworth near Tarporley, The Lambing Shed outside Knutsford, Lowe’s Farm Shop at Byley near Middlewich, and Cheerbrook on the edge of Nantwich. Some grow fruit and vegetables or rear sheep and cattle, others mainly buy from Cheshire farmers. 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?
Where you live in Cheshire makes a big difference. Kenyon Hall Farm suits Warrington, Leigh and the M62 and M6 junctions, and is the place for pick-your-own fruit and home-grown herbs in summer. The Hollies at Little Budworth, on the A49, is the closest of the five to Chester and the west of the county, with a large butchery, deli and fish counter. The Lambing Shed near Knutsford serves Cheshire East and is the choice for beef and lamb reared on the family’s own farm. Lowe’s at Byley, just off the M6, is best for vegetables grown on its own fields, and Cheerbrook covers Nantwich, Crewe and the south.
If you want to buy food the shop’s own family has grown or reared, Kenyon Hall, The Lambing Shed and Lowe’s say most about their own farms on their websites. The Hollies and Cheerbrook work mainly with other Cheshire farmers and producers. At any of them, ask at the counter which items come from the farm itself.
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.
- Kenyon Hall Farm , A Croft family farm since before 1500
- The Hollies Farm Shop , A Little Budworth family shop since 1959
- The Lambing Shed , Home-reared beef and lamb near Knutsford
- Lowe’s Farm Shop , A Byley vegetable farm since 1958
- Cheerbrook Farm Shop & Cafe , A Nantwich farm shop and café since 2000
Kenyon Hall Farm
Map and location
Kenyon Hall Farm, Winwick Lane, Croft, Warrington, WA3 7ED. View Kenyon Hall Farm on the map.
Contact: 01925 765531.
Strawberries, herbs and asparagus near Warrington
Kenyon Hall Farm says it has been farmed by the same family since before 1500, first as tenants. Tod Bulmer’s grandfather, Walter Boardman, bought it in 1919. For much of the last century it was a mixed arable and livestock farm. In 1978 Tod and his wife Barbara planted two acres of strawberries on what was then a 166-acre arable farm, which led to the pick-your-own and the farm shop. Asparagus and bedding plants followed in the mid-1990s, and a new shop opened in 2011. The farm, now over 500 acres, grows soft fruit, more than 200 varieties of herbs, pumpkins and Christmas trees, and rears turkeys for December.
The shop says much of its fruit and vegetables are grown on the farm, along with honey from its own hives, oil pressed from its own oilseed rape and duck eggs from its own flock. Bread, jams, chutneys and cakes are made in the farm kitchen. Organic meat comes from Mrs Forster in St Helens, and free-range pork and grass-fed beef from Ben in the Trough of Bowland. Hen eggs come from Croft, about three miles away, and unwashed vegetables from Rixton. There is a café and a plant centre.
Visiting and buying
The website gives opening hours as every day, 9am to 5pm, with the café closing at 4.30pm. Christmas hours are published separately on the site. Pick-your-own fruit and vegetables run roughly from June to August, with a maize maze in July and August, sunflowers in early August, pumpkins in autumn and Christmas trees in December. Croft is on the northern edge of Warrington, so the farm suits a trip combined with picking. Ask which fruit and vegetables on the shelves that day are from the farm.
Kenyon Hall Farm: website and opening hours.
The Hollies Farm Shop
Map and location
Tarporley Road, Little Budworth, Tarporley, CW6 9ES. View The Hollies Farm Shop on the map.
Contact: 01829 760 414.
From a roadside honesty box to a large farm shop
The Hollies says it began in 1959 as a roadside vegetable stand with an honesty box, set up by the family’s grandfather. It is now run by Phil and Ed Cowap, the third generation, and describes itself as four generations in the making. The main shop is on the A49 at Little Budworth, between Tarporley and Delamere, and there is a second farm shop at Lower Stretton near junction 10 of the M56. Seasonal potatoes and vegetables come from John Cowap, a cousin, whose farm is next door to the Little Budworth shop.
The shop sells fruit and vegetables, daily baked bread, a butchery counter, a deli, fresh fish, wines, gin and whisky, and its own Hollies homemade range, with produce from more than 70 suppliers. Cheshire names on its suppliers list include Willington Fruit Farm, Cheshire Cheese Company, Cheshire Smokehouse, Briscoe’s Dairy, Deer Park Venison, Weetwood Ale and Mobberley Fine Ales. At Little Budworth there is also The Friesian Rooms takeaway and a gift barn.
Visiting and buying
The Hollies website gives Little Budworth farm shop hours as Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 7pm and Sunday 8.30am to 5pm, and notes that times may change, so check before a special trip. Use the A49 entrance marked by a brown sign: the website says Longstone Lane is not the entrance. Little Budworth is the nearest of these five shops to Chester and is close to Delamere Forest, so it fits a walk or a day out in the west of the county. Ask which vegetables have come from the Cowap farm next door.
The Hollies Farm Shop: website and opening hours.
The Lambing Shed
Map and location
The Lambing Shed, Moseley Hall Farm, Chelford Road, Knutsford, WA16 8RB. View The Lambing Shed on the map.
Mitchell family sheep and cattle at Moseley Hall
The Lambing Shed is on Moseley Hall Farm, more than 400 acres of Cheshire pasture just outside Knutsford. The Mitchell family have farmed there for more than 65 years, and the building was once home to sheep reared by Arnold Mitchell and his son Michael. Farmer Mick now runs the farm with his son Robert, and his daughter Kathryn is director of The Lambing Shed, which opened as a shop and kitchen in 2015. The farm keeps a flock of over 2,500 sheep and a herd of 250 beef cattle.
The butchery sells farm-to-fork beef and lamb from the family’s own livestock, which the website describes as home-reared and award-winning. There is also a delicatessen with Cheshire food and drink, a farm shop, and a café serving lunches and homemade cakes. The shop makes up gift hampers and graze boxes, and sells its own Lambing Shed gin. The website says most products are made in Cheshire, though some are brought in from further afield.
Visiting and buying
The Lambing Shed website gives opening hours as Monday to Saturday 9am to 5.30pm (last hot food orders 4pm, butchers close 5pm) and Sunday 10am to 4pm (last hot food orders 3.30pm). It is closed on Easter Sunday. No phone number is published on the website. The farm is on the Chelford Road out of Knutsford, handy for Macclesfield, Wilmslow and the north of Cheshire East. Seasonal events such as a pumpkin festival run through the year. Ask at the butchery counter which cuts are from the farm’s own animals.
The Lambing Shed: website and opening hours.
Lowe’s Farm Shop
Map and location
Shanty Farm, Moss Lane, Byley, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 9NG. View Lowe’s Farm Shop on the map.
Contact: 01606 832 874.
From a Crewe market stall to 500 acres
Lowe’s Farm Shop began in 1958, when David and Doreen Lowe started farming 30 acres at Byley, which the website says was a wedding present. In the 1960s Doreen sold home-grown produce from a small outbuilding, and the family took their vegetables to Middlewich and Crewe markets. The first official farm shop opened in 2001 and moved into its current building in 2011, in memory of David. The farm has grown to more than 500 acres and is run by their son Graham with his wife Tracy, and sons Tom and Sam. Vegetables, including potatoes and carrots, are grown and picked on the farm.
The shop sells fruit and vegetables, including its own, alongside local dairy, bread and cupboard staples, gifts and seasonal extras. H Davidson Butchers, led by Dan, prepares meat on site, and Ginger & Pickles tearoom serves food, cakes and drinks. Suppliers named on the website include Mrs Darlington’s, Field Fare, Chatwins bakery and Cheshire Farm Real Dairy Ice Cream. Other small businesses, including a boutique, share the farm.
Visiting and buying
The Lowe’s website gives opening hours as Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm, with seasonal and bank holiday hours usually posted on social media. Parking on site is free. Byley is just outside Middlewich and close to the M6, Knutsford and Holmes Chapel, so it is an easy stop for much of mid Cheshire. The shop’s own vegetables vary through the year, so ask which ones on the shelves have come from the farm’s fields that week.
Lowe’s Farm Shop: website and opening hours.
Cheerbrook Farm Shop & Cafe
Map and location
Cheerbrook Food Ltd, Newcastle Road, Nantwich, Cheshire, CW5 7EL. View Cheerbrook Farm Shop & Cafe on the map.
Contact: 01270 666431.
Butchery, bakery and deli on the Nantwich edge
Cheerbrook has traded on Newcastle Road in Nantwich since 2000. Its website says the business has roots in farming and works with local farmers and producers rather than describing a farm of its own, so this is a shop for Cheshire food bought in from nearby rather than a farm selling its own crops. It says more than 50 local producers supply its butchery, deli, farm shop and café, and that it sells home-made products under the Cheerbrook name.
The shop has a butchery, a bakery and a delicatessen, where pies and other deli items are made daily with meat from the butchery and pastry made by its own bakers. There is also a café. Local suppliers named on the website include Buckley’s Cheshire Honey from about three miles away, Snugburys ice cream, Mornflake and Three Wrens gin.
Visiting and buying
The Cheerbrook website gives shop opening hours as Monday closed, Tuesday 9.30am to 5.30pm, Wednesday to Saturday 9am to 5.30pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm. Café hours are on a separate page of the site. Cheerbrook is on Newcastle Road in Nantwich, handy for Crewe and the south of the county. Christmas orders are taken through the website. Because the shop buys from many local farms, ask the butchery counter which farm the meat you are buying came from.
Cheerbrook Farm Shop & Cafe: 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 Cheshire?
Good farm shops across Cheshire include Kenyon Hall Farm at Croft near Warrington, The Hollies at Little Budworth near Tarporley, The Lambing Shed near Knutsford, Lowe’s Farm Shop at Byley near Middlewich, and Cheerbrook in Nantwich. Kenyon Hall, The Lambing Shed and Lowe’s grow or rear much of their own food.
Are all these farms in the same town?
No. Cheshire 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
- Kenyon Hall Farm , official website
- Kenyon Hall Farm , history
- Kenyon Hall Farm , farm shop
- The Hollies Farm Shop , find us and contact
- The Hollies Farm Shop , local suppliers
- The Lambing Shed , official website
- The Lambing Shed , our story
- Lowe’s Farm Shop , official website
- Lowe’s Farm Shop , our story
- Cheerbrook Farm Shop & Cafe , official website
- Cheerbrook Farm Shop & Cafe , sustainability and suppliers
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.