IT’S not so long ago that your average farm shop was nothing more than some scabby vegetables piled on a few rickety trestle tables held together with little more than forlorn hope and a few lengths of baler twine.

But then people started taking the local food thing seriously and not having a five-star farm shop on your doorstep became as important as being in the right school catchment area.

Farm shops are really, really good these days. In fact, they may be as big a threat to the High Street as any of the other factors making life difficult for the UK’s butchers, bakers and candlestick makers (well, maybe not the candlestick makers).

Some are seriously up market. The Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Fodder shop in on the Great Yorkshire showground at Harrogate is like an outpost of Fortnum and Mason. And others, like Mainsgill on the A66 west of Scotch Corner, are getting so big they could be Tesco.

Of course, they all have cafes which provide the ideal showcase for all the yummy stuff they sell. We can happily say that some of the best meals we have had in recent years have been in farm shop cafes. Roots at East Rounton, Dropswell at Trimdon, Spring House at Leeming Bar, Cross Lanes Organic farm shop, further down the A66 from Mainsgill – all of them excellent.

Strangely, Wensleydale was for years a farm shop-free zone. It was the Thornton-Berry family who spotted the large gap in the market and opened Berry’s at Home Farm on their Swinithwaite estate in 2012. The enterprise has expanded, now boasting a deli, a butchery selling their own meat and from Beavers Butchers in Masham and there a petting farm for the kids.

The cafe, kitchen and shop have been created in what was an old mill building and structures previously used for storing hay and sheltering cattle.

The cafe is bright and airy with views over the farm courtyard and the petting animals, and through a stone archway to the dale beyond. It seats more than 60 people and on the Saturday lunchtime we called – admittedly the first decent Saturday weather-wise for a while – the place was packed. We secured what appeared to be the last table, next to a large group of farmers enjoying a late full English accompanied by pints of beer (yes, it’s licensed too).

The menu features a range of sandwiches (Wensleydale cheese and Raydale red onion marmalade £4.95 for example), light bites/platters, (deli meats from the farm shop served with Yorkshire chutney and warm local bread - £7.95) and main meals (steak sandwich served with caramelised onions, chunky chips and salad - £8.95). There’s also cakes and other sticky sweet things plus a kids’ menu. So no shortage of choice.

Sylvia picked the Berry’s burger (£8.95), topped with cheese served in a bread bun from the community bakery at Bedale. We assumed the juicy, flavoursome burger, beautifully cooked with a little residual pinkness in the middle, came from Beavers of Masham. It was served with some dressed salad, a rich, creamy and crunchy coleslaw and excellent chunky chips.

My club sandwich (£7.95) featured the same bread bun encasing some tender strips of nicely browned chicken. Mayo and tomato. It was also accompanied by the slaw, salad and, instead of the chips, a few crisps. And very nice it was too.

My sweet tooth demanded to be soothed with some bread and butter pudding (£4.50) served with custard (ice cream or cream were also offered) but this was somewhat disappointing. The essence of a good B&B in my book is the contrast between a crusty, caramelised upper layer and the creamy, buttery soggy bottom. This was all soggy bottom which, as Bake-Off fans will know, is just not on, even in a pudding in which sogginess is a premium quality.

Sylvia drank Mad Hatter (from Richmond) tea and I had a bottle of golden All Creatures Great and Small ale (£3.95) from the Black Sheep Brewery at Masham.

Service was pleasant, helpful but a little bit under strain as folk flocked in. Mrs Thornton-Berry was pressed into service to help the staff keep on top of it all.

Our bill was just over £27. By no means was it cheapest lunch but there’s no question about the quality of the local produce and the care with which it was prepared.

We left via the farm shop/deli which also happens to be a gift shop. We were sorely tempted. We could have spent a fortune but made some modest purchases. So beware, lunch may be more expensive than you expect.

Berry’s Farm Shop and Cafe, Swinithwaite, Leyburn DL8 4UH
Tel: 01969-663377 www.berrysfarmshop.com
Vegetarian options, Disabled access
Open: 10am-4pm every day (winter opening hours)

Ratings (out of ten): Food quality: 8 Surroundings 7 Service 7 Value 7

:: Correction, published March 6, 2015: In our review of Berry's Farm Shop and Cafe two weeks ago we praised the bread bun served with the burger from the Bedale Community Bakery. We have been asked to point that while the Bedale bakery supplies Berry's with bread, other baked goods, including the burger buns, scones and teacakaes come from the Taste of Wensleydale Bakery, also in Swinithwaite. And very good it was too.