12 of the Best Farm Shops in Scotland
Offering pure-tasting, zero-miles food in restorative rural settings, farm shops reconnect us with real produce and the people who grow and raise it. Here are 12 across Scotland to stock up at this season, writes Emily Rose Mawson.
Words: Emily Rose Mawson // Photography: Simon Hird
Written by Emily Rose Mawson
There’s a farm kiosk my family and I buy vegetables from every week. It’s little more than a blue-painted three-sided shed on the roadside, at the top of the lane that leads to the farm, with geese grazing nearby. My heart always leaps when it comes into sight: outside, old buckets display a forest of kale and cavolo nero, sprouts are the size of small cakes and misshapen cabbages are rowed up in trays.
This is the core appeal of a farm shop – food so fresh you sometimes have to pick slugs off it – but at the other end of the scale, there is an immersive rural experience that allows us to reconnect with the countryside. There are farms serving home-cooked, own-produce lunches in beautifully renovated outbuildings, others with additional shops selling small-batch preserves and artisanal treasures, as well as playgrounds, scenic trails and opportunities for children to help feed the animals. Some champion organic farming with their wide ranges of produce, and some have their own butcheries and florists. All of them give us the chance to support local.
“Farm shops take many visitors back to their roots – connecting them to the food story, farming and the land,” says Scottish Agritourism member Ailsa Currie, of Bellevue Farm on the Isle of Arran. “They can also feel satisfaction in knowing they have played a part in holding together the infrastructure of a small business, creating employment within rural communities.”
Currently, the approximately 700 businesses involved in the agritourism sector contribute some £60 million to the economy, according to figures from VisitScotland, and they can be found across the country. Here are 12 you can make a day of visiting.
Sillyflatt
Ailsa van Rooyen’s family have farmed the land at Sillyflatt for three generations, right where wildflower meadows meet the North Sea near Montrose. Today, the farm offers an all-encompassing rural experience: an Airstream trailer, the Field Kitchen, serves farm-grown and foraged brunches featuring smoked, pickled, fermented and cured ingredients; the Farm Shop stocks fresh harvests, smallbatch preserves and artisanal homeware made with wool and sheepskin; and historic buildings host barn dances.
Westerton Farm
What started in 2017 as a simple “spud hut” proved so popular that owners, the Gammie family, decided to develop their sustainable farming concept into Farm to Table, where their own produce is the star of the menu. When it’s cold, hunker down by the log burner for a long lunch of soup and toasties. On sunny days, picnic on farmgrown salads, sandwiches and bakes as you soak in the wide green setting, before browsing the farm’s chemicalfree produce in the shop. Children will love the play park with a mud kitchen, climb-on Davie Brown tractor and goats to feed.
Westerton Farm
Gloagburn Farm Shop
Everything is made on the premises at this thirdgeneration farm just outside the village of Tibbermore, including loaves, sausage rolls and the award-winning house oatcakes made with almost 33% butter. The butcher counter is excellent, stocked with organic lamb, beef and wild venison, and a delicatessen sells pastries, pies and eggs from the 4,500-strong flock of hens. The setting, among pastures of Highland cows, sheep, pigs and chickens, is blissful, and there’s an excellent play area for kids.
Ardross Farm Shop
The Pollock family, who have farmed on the golden coastline of the East Neuk since 1968, opened their farm shop in 2005 after moving away from supplying supermarkets. These days, they aim to offer good local food as a sort of rural supermarket: the 40 varieties of seasonal vegetables are beloved for their non-uniform appearance, and rotational grazing allows the cattle and sheep to enjoy their natural diet of wildflower-rich pasture. Along with farm produce, the now award-winning shop also has a kitchen serving seasonal soups, pies and home baking to take away.
Bowhouse
This hub of small producers and growers on the A917 between Elie and St Monans aims to replace a missing link by connecting consumers with makers. On-site businesses, including East Neuk Market Garden, Scotland The Bread and Butchery at Bowhouse are open throughout the week, but a great time to visit is the second weekend of every month, when an additional Bowhouse Market Weekend brings producers from across Scotland to the converted barn near St Monans, selling seasonal produce, cured meats and craft beer.
Blair Drummond Smiddy
Pastures of oak trees and cattle radiate around Blair Drummond Smiddy – named after the old iron works that served the local community for generations. These days, the name denotes an award-winning farm shop, café and deli, 10 minutes from Stirling that sells produce from Scottish suppliers and local farms. Depending on the season, hearty fare in the café might include blue cheese gratin tart or venison burger with smoked cheese followed by apple pie or salted caramel cheesecake.
Balgove Larder
Just outside the seaside town of St Andrews, the golden stone buildings of Balgove Larder contain a farm shop, butcher, café and the hugely popular Steak Barn restaurant – serving steaks, hung for no less than 28 days, along with homemade burgers and kebabs, all cooked to order on the wood-fired barbecue. Throughout, the focus lies on Scottish and local produce. Much of it is home grown, reared and stalked, and irresistible: grab a basket to stock up on market garden veg, milk, eggs, sourdough and coffee.
Comrie Croft Farm Shop
With festoon lights draped across a collection of woodpanelled buildings, Comrie Croft Farm Shop is a magical hideaway among the woodland and meadows of the 231- acre estate. Head here for the likes of organic fruit and vegetables with zero food miles from Tomnaha’s Market Garden, right on the croft, artisan bread from Wild Hearth Bakery, meat from Carroglen, a hill farm on the southern flank of Ben Chonzie overlooking Comrie, and local Perthshire honey, as well as curated gifts including hand-carved bowls and candles made by Croft-based craftspeople.
Grow Wild Organics
Conscious buyers will love this organic shop on Bonnytoun Farm near Linlithgow, run by Ben Cadell and his family. You’ll find everything you need for your weekly shop here, including store cupboard essentials and household items, as well as homegrown vegetables and herbs. Organic meat and poultry are delivered by Sascha Grierson and deli favourites include fennel salami and smoked chorizo.
Loch Levens Larder
Overlooking Loch Leven from its spot on the region’s Heritage Trail, this farm shop emphasises local and ownlabel produce across three spaces – the Larder Café, Greenhouse Café and Food Hall. Each overlooks the fields where the produce is grown, on the family farm Channel of Pittendreich, and visitors are invited to walk between the beds that are planted with the likes of potatoes and leeks, cabbage and cavolo nero, oats and wheat. An additional design shop, 1848, specialises in quiet luxury.
Long Island Retreats & Larder
Island crofting couple DJ and Lindsay are the current custodians of the land at Tigh Na Breacain on the tidal inlet Loch Skipport, where hardy native cattle breeds like Aberdeen Angus and Beef Shorthorn graze machair pastures and Highland cattle and North Country Cheviot sheep can be seen on the hills. All the meat, which is processed at island abattoirs, is available in the croft shop – including sausages and bacon for the most delicious breakfast if you are staying in one of the croft’s off-grid cottages.
https://longislandretreats.co.uk/
Loch Arthur Farm Shop
Just off the A711, near the Solway Firth Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this organic farm shop is run by the working Camphill Community, including men and women with learning disabilities. The café serves excellent lunches – with magnificent home bakes – and in the shop you can buy breads and rolls from the farm’s bakery, organic meats from the house butchery, an enormous range of organic produce from the gardens, artisan cheese and dairy products, and a lovely range of crafts and kitchen accessories.
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Newhall Mains
Newhall Mains on the Black Isle offers cottages and suites in restored farm buildings, plus a restaurant and bar. It is well placed for Cromarty, Fortrose and Chanonry Point, with beaches and coastal walks close by.
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