Oxfordshire’s farm shops range from a large family farm centre near Abingdon to a small organic barn shop near Thame. This guide compares five: Diddly Squat Farm Shop on the Chipping Norton Road in West Oxfordshire, Wykham Park Farm Shop on the edge of Banbury, Rectory Farm at Stanton St John just east of Oxford, Sandy Lane Farm at Tiddington near Thame, and Millets Farm Shop at Frilford in the Vale of White Horse. 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?

The five shops sit in different corners of the county, so the nearest one is often the sensible choice. Wykham Park suits Banbury and north Oxfordshire, and is the pick for farm-reared Longhorn beef and lamb and, in spring, its own asparagus. Diddly Squat serves the Chipping Norton side of the Cotswolds and is more a day out than a weekly shop. Rectory Farm is a short drive from Headington and is best for its own potatoes and summer pick-your-own fruit. Sandy Lane, near junction 7 of the M40, is the organic option, while Millets, west of Abingdon, has the widest range under one roof.

Opening patterns differ a lot. Sandy Lane opens only three days a week, Diddly Squat is closed on Mondays and Rectory Farm’s shop is seasonal, so check before a long journey. Whichever you visit, ask which items come from the farm itself and which are bought in from other local producers.

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.

• Diddly Squat Farm Shop , Jeremy Clarkson’s farm shop near Chipping Norton
• Wykham Park Farm Shop , Fifth-generation family farm outside Banbury
• Rectory Farm Shop and Pick Your Own , Stanley family potatoes and PYO near Oxford
• Sandy Lane Farm , Organic family farm and barn shop near Thame
• Millets Farm Shop , Carter family farm at Frilford since 1952

Diddly Squat Farm Shop

Map and location

5-12 Chipping Norton Road, Chipping Norton, OX7 3PE. View Diddly Squat Farm Shop on the map.

A potato surplus that became a farm shop

Diddly Squat Farm Shop opened in 2020 on the West Oxfordshire farm made famous by Jeremy Clarkson. The shop’s own website says it was his idea after the farm’s potatoes grew so well that he ended up with 40 tonnes of them. With his partner Lisa he went on to keep bees, and the shop now sells the farm’s potatoes and its honey, labelled bee juice, alongside apple juice and milk from a local dairy. The website does not give a full list of what the farm grows or rears, so it is worth asking at the till what is from the farm that week.

Much of the range is Diddly Squat branded goods rather than fresh food: store-cupboard items, snacks and crisps, drinks, clothing, kitchen and garden goods, games and gifts. Food on site comes from the Big View Café in the old lambing barn, which has walk-in table seating only, and The Farmer’s Puppy Kitchen, with The Farmer’s Dough Kitchen open Thursday to Sunday afternoons. Both sites are card only, so there is no need to bring cash.

Visiting and buying

The shop’s website gives opening hours of Tuesday to Sunday, 9.30am to 4.30pm, including bank holidays, with food served until 3pm. The shop and food queues may close early on busy days, and both car parks close at 5pm. There is parking outside the shop, including disabled bays, plus an overflow car park the farm recommends only for 4×4 vehicles in bad weather; avoid parking on verges. It is about 20 miles from Oxford, so arrive early at weekends.

Diddly Squat Farm Shop: website and opening hours.

Wykham Park Farm Shop

Map and location

Wykham Park Farm, Wykham Lane, Banbury, OX16 9UP. View Wykham Park Farm Shop on the map.

Contact: 01295 262235.

Longhorn cattle, Suffolk cross ewes and asparagus fields

Wykham Park Farm, on the edge of Banbury, is run by the fifth generation of the same family. In the 1980s the family grew potatoes, courgettes, sweetcorn and onions and sold them from an honesty box, and the farm shop opened in 2000. The farm covers about 800 acres of arable land, permanent grass and woodland, growing wheat, barley, oilseed rape and beans. It keeps pedigree Longhorn cattle, a commercial herd of Aberdeen Angus cross cattle and around 250 Suffolk cross ewes, and grows asparagus and seasonal fruit and vegetables in its own market garden. It is LEAF and Red Tractor assured.

The shop is built around its butchery counter, which sells beef and lamb from the farm’s own herds and flock. The website also lists a fresh produce section with home-grown rhubarb and rainbow chard in season, a cheese deli with more than 50 cheeses, The Larder for store-cupboard goods, and The Kitchen. Asparagus is the big event in spring. Wild venison from Warwickshire is among the meats bought in.

Visiting and buying

The farm’s website gives opening hours of Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 5.30pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm, and notes that hours may change over bank holidays and Christmas. Parts of the website do not appear to have been updated recently (the asparagus section still refers to the 2024 season), so phone before making a special trip. Late spring, when the asparagus is cut, is a good time to visit. Ask at the butchery counter which cuts are from the farm’s own Longhorns.

Wykham Park Farm Shop: website and opening hours.

Rectory Farm Shop and Pick Your Own

Map and location

Rectory Farm, Stanton St John, Oxford, OX33 1HF. View Rectory Farm Shop and Pick Your Own on the map.

Contact: 01865 358309.

Three generations of the Stanley family since 1954

The Stanley family has farmed at Rectory Farm, Stanton St John, since 1954, when Thomas Stanley became the first tenant. His son Richard and Richard’s wife Carla took over in 1983, and their daughter Imogen joined in 2016. The land is rented from New College, Oxford. Pick-your-own began in 1981 with an acre and a half of strawberries and now covers 45 acres, plus 60 acres of asparagus nearby. The farm also grows about 150 acres of potatoes and around 750 acres of wheat, barley, beans and oilseed rape, with nearly all the wheat going to Warburtons for bread.

The shop sells the farm’s own produce in season, from asparagus in April to pumpkins in October, including several potato varieties that are picked and on the shelves within hours, and honey from its own bees. Meat, pies and sausage rolls come from Eadles Farm in neighbouring Beckley, cheese from Nettlebed Creamery and the Oxford Cheese Company, and bread from The Cottage Bakery in Thame. There is a café, and you are encouraged to bring your own containers.

Visiting and buying

The farm’s website gives two sets of shop hours: Monday to Saturday 9am to 5.30pm and Sunday 9am to 4pm on its plan-your-visit page, and 8am to 5.30pm and 8am to 4pm on its farm shop page. The shop page says it opens April to October plus four weeks at Christmas, so phone before visiting in November. Parking is free, and the 108 Oxford to Bicester bus stops at the farm. The Pumpkin Patch runs on October weekends and half-term week, and tickets are required.

Rectory Farm Shop and Pick Your Own: website and opening hours.

Sandy Lane Farm

Map and location

Sandy Lane Farm, Sandy Lane, Tiddington, nr. Thame, Oxfordshire, OX9 2LA. View Sandy Lane Farm on the map.

Organic vegetables, eggs, pork and lamb near Thame

Sandy Lane Farm is a small, family-run farm at Tiddington, between Oxford and Thame, and has been registered organic for more than 30 years. It grows fruit and vegetables in its fields and polytunnels, from carrots, onions and courgettes to cherry and beefsteak tomatoes, basil and mixed salad leaves. The farm keeps its own flock of hens for free-range organic eggs and rears pigs and lamb. Much of the veg also goes out in the farm’s organic veg boxes, which can be ordered online and collected from the shop.

The shop sells the farm’s own organic fruit and veg, eggs, pork and lamb, with other food bought in from named producers: organic chicken from Otter Valley Organics, beef from Rose Dale Organics at Chearsley, dairy from North Aston Dairy and Nettlebed Creamery, bread from the Natural Bread Co and Wild Frog Bakehouse, and honey from Hillside Honey in Islip. Take-away coffee comes from Dark Horse Roastery in Wallingford, and there is a refill station for household products.

Visiting and buying

The farm’s website gives shop hours of Thursday and Friday 10am to 4.30pm and Saturday 10am to 2pm, so it is closed the rest of the week. Veg boxes ordered online by 11pm on Tuesday can be collected during these hours. Dogs are not allowed on the farm, and the rest of the farm is closed to the public on shop days. Access is wider from the Milton Common end of Sandy Lane, close to junction 7 of the M40. No phone number is published; the farm uses email.

Sandy Lane Farm: website and opening hours.

Millets Farm Shop

Map and location

Millets Farm Centre, Kingston Road, Frilford, Nr Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX13 5HB. View Millets Farm Shop on the map.

Contact: 01865 392 200.

From dairy farm to award-winning butchery counter

John and Christine Carter bought Millets Farm, then a 300-acre dairy farm, in 1952. Nigel and Tony Carter joined in 1975, the year the pick-your-own opened, and the farm shop followed in 1978. Nigel’s children joined in 2006, making three generations running the farm day to day. It now covers more than 500 acres, and the family says growing its own fruit and vegetables remains important to the business. Millets also says it planted the country’s first maize maze in 1997.

The shop sells loose, seasonal fruit and vegetables, some from the farm’s own fields and some from local suppliers, including Millets strawberries in summer. The butchery counter, a past Butchery of the Year winner, sells traditional cuts, handmade sausages and ready-to-cook dishes. There is a deli with the shop’s own quiches, bread and cakes baked daily, more than 100 cheeses and the farm’s own honey. The Farmhouse Kitchen Restaurant and Webbs Garden Centre share the site.

Visiting and buying

Millets’ website gives farm shop hours of 9am to 6pm daily until 31 October, then 9am to 5.30pm daily from 1 November, with later opening on selected dates before Christmas. The shop is closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and the whole site closes at 6pm. Summer pick-your-own fruit has closed permanently, though the pumpkin patch still runs from September. Ask which fruit and vegetables on the day come from Millets’ own fields.

Millets Farm Shop: 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

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 List

Harvest Checker

Compare your visit with dates confirmed by the grower. This does not check live stock.

Use Harvest Checker

Use 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

• Diddly Squat Farm Shop , FAQs and opening times
• Diddly Squat Farm Shop , Our farm
• Wykham Park Farm Shop , Our farm
• Wykham Park Farm Shop , Contact and opening hours
• Rectory Farm , About us
• Rectory Farm , Plan your visit
• Rectory Farm , Farm shop
• Sandy Lane Farm , Our shop on the farm
• Sandy Lane Farm , Find us
• Sandy Lane Farm , BigBarn listing
• Millets Farm Shop , Our story
• Millets Farm Shop , 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.