CityLife

Falshaw's Farm Shop

Falshaw's Farm Shop
Bury
June 2010

Casual dining review

Overall: 3/5

It’s often said you don’t always know what’s on your doorstep. As temperatures soared recently, our thoughts turned to finding the perfect place to lunch on a hot Friday, not wanting to waste this welcome taste of summer.

After much debating over which cafes and pubs near us had beer gardens, a chance conversation with our neighbour led us to Falshaw’s Farm Shop and Ice Cream Parlour in Bury. The shop and eaterie have been here for the past two years, when the Falshaw family decided to diversify from their main farming business of selling meat and vegetables.

The farm is on Rowlands Road, just off the busy Walmersley Road, but is a lovely little oasis of country life near Summerseat. As we pulled into the car park we could see cattle grazing in the adjoining fields and there was a gentle aroma of baking wafting from the tearoom.

The three of us found a table on the veranda and our animal-mad toddler was delighted to find chickens wandering around our table and excitedly proceeded to send ‘moo’ and ‘baa’ sounds to the field of cows and sheep in front of us.

The clientele was a mixture of families, couples and retired diners, who were all catered for by a varied menu. We soon ordered and had a short wait, in which time we could sit back and relax in our picturesque surroundings. I’d gone for the afternoon tea, which was a sandwich of my choice (I went for tuna and sweetcorn), a scone with jam and cream, all washed down with a pot of tea.

I had expected the sandwich to be a small token effort, but I was given four triangles of fluffy fresh bread bursting with filling with a colourful side salad. This came with my tea, separate to the scone, a good idea seeing as the scone would have probably gone a touch dry in the heat as I ate the savoury part of my lunch. 

Opposite me, my other half had opted for the homemade lamb burger and joked with our waitress that he hoped it wasn’t related to one of the sheep we could see from our table. The meat came on a home-baked bun and he told me he’d already decided it was the tastiest lamb burger he’d ever eaten before he found the little dish of mint sauce in the corner of his plate – which confirmed its elevated position in his affections. His dish, too, came with a bright salad.

Main courses finished, my scone, with pots of strawberry jam and fresh cream, arrived, prompting the two boys to go and investigate the ice cream that the Falshaw family seem to pride themselves on. Flavours like sticky toffee pudding, liquorice and royal bourbon vanilla were all tempting, but they plumped for ginger, which, with its creamy smoothness with bite, was genius.

It would be well worth visiting just to sample the ice cream. The bill came to just under £12, which we considered a snip for such good quality homecooked fare.

After our meal we walked down from the patio for a closer look at the animals and there was also a small play area with ride-on tractors and a slide for the little ones. The shop part offers a variety of meats, cheeses and delicacies such as biscuits, jams and preserves.

Falshaw’s is the kind of place you’d visit on holiday and rave about when you got home, yet, as it’s just around the corner, we’ll definitely be returning soon.

Falshaw's Farm, Rowland Road, Walmersley, Bury, BL9 5LJ (0161 764 9312).

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