A FARM shop is a farm shop, isn’t it? A draughty barn filled with some good things but also some produce that you wouldn’t touch with a barge pole. And usually only reached by navigating a slippy farmyard reeking of over-cooked slurry.

Lovely.

But we found an award-winning farm shop and cafe which turns all those perceptions on their head.

This farm shop is as good as they get – and they have got the awards to prove it.

Knitsley Farm Shop and Cafe, near Consett, has picked up so many awards it has a web page devoted entirely to all of the gongs it has picked up since 2010. It goes on and on. The honours trail culminates in it being judged UK Farm Shop of the Year in 2013, by that august publication the Meat Trades Journal.

But we didn’t head for a blasted North Durham hillside on the wettest and windiest of Saturday mornings to check out the artisan chutneys and homemade preserves.

Our hearts’ desire was breakfast in the Granary Cafe which had been highly recommended.

We thought we would get there early, on the way to somewhere else, and arrived just after its 10am opening to find the large car park already full and a steady stream of heavily laden shoppers pouring out of the converted stone barn which is the smartly appointed shop.

The cafe is reached via the crowded shop and there’s clearly exit-via-thegift- shop method in this madness.

However full you are after your cafe visit, you have to be strong willed not to pick something tasty-looking on the way out.

We were lucky to get the last table available in the 40-seater cafe which is decked out in a simple rustic fashion – tiled floor, plain white walls, stripped beams and sturdy pine furniture.

The breakfast menu is pretty nononsense too. You can make a mixand- match selection from all the English breakfast staples, have a straightforward full English, smoked salmon and scrambled egg, or ‘Black Pudding & Co’ – sliced black pudding with soft poached eggs, sprinkled with bacon pieces and served with granary toast soldiers.

Sylvia mixed and matched with fried egg, two sausages and bacon. I had the full English (£8.95) which was served with toast, butter and marmalade and glass of juice (orange, pink grapefruit or tomato) This was a top breakfast. Firstly, the sausages and bacon are sourced from the farm’s own animals or from near neighbours, slaughtered at a local abattoir and butchered on farm.

The pork sausage was closetextured, encased in natural skin and well seasoned and slightly herby – an ideal breakfast sausage. The bacon was equally good, thickly cut and mildly dry-cured. The eggs, mine poached, were golden yolked and again sourced from the farm.

My full English included the farm’s own black pudding – loose textured, quite a high fat content but delicious – mushrooms, some very lightly sautéed potatoes and some barely roasted cherry tomatoes.

The granary bread – thick, crunchy and baked in the farm’s own bakery – came with plenty of butter and a nicely bitter-sharp marmalade.

Darlington and Stockton Times:
The interior of Knitsley Farm Shop and Granary Cafe

Sylvia had a hot and strong latte with her breakfast. I had a pot of tea – two tea bags and plenty of hot water to top it up with.

We felt well looked after by the staff who seemed under a fair amount of pressure given the numbers and the high turnover. It was clear we had been lucky to get a table as soon as we arrived. Others had to queue, albeit not for very long, to get seated.

Apparently, it is always like this at weekends.

Our bill was a pretty reasonable £17, so we had only to negotiate our leave through the shop which is something of a challenge in itself.

Firstly, because it is very crowded and, secondly, because it is very impressively appointed and even more impressively stocked. All the goodies we ate in the cafe were available for purchase in the shop and quite few found their way into our basket. Our shop bill was rather bigger than our breakfast bill.

Ratings:

Food Quality: 9/10

Service: 8/10

Surroundings: 8/10

Value: 9/10