The Cattows Farm Shop is a family-run shop and tea room in Heather. As a child the best thing about summer was my mam taking me to the Cattows to pick strawberries - and the same for all my friends! Their strawberry fields are famous enough to have provided some inspiration for their Strawberry Fields Festival, which is a new venture into the music world and this year will feature Mystery Jets and Kelis.
The shop stocks all kinds of items - from staples like tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes, as well as frozen meat, to baked goods (they've started selling cupcakes, and they've sold scones and the like for a while), preserves and more exciting produce like Romanesco cauliflowers. There are brands like Belvoir Fruit Farms as well as their own, and most products are very logical - they stock things to go with their produce, like stuffing mix and cream. You could easily go in with an idea of what you want for tea and then buy it all there, at least if you prefer a more traditionally English meal.
I've never tried the tea room, but it's a big area with traditional cakes and tea, and strawberries in the summer.
I'm not sure how they compare price-wise. Shopping here is more expensive than grabbing a pack of pre-packaged tomatoes from Tesco, but the whole experience is different - you know that the food's actually being sold with pride, and you know where it's come from. It's not expensive enough to put my parents off buying their greens here as much as possible, although we do still get most from supermarkets for the sheer convenience. If you have the time and the money, the goods here reflect that - you get big, leafy cabbages, knobbly potatoes and generally healthier-looking, less uniform goods! You genuinely get excited about going, and about unpacking everything after.
The Cattows is a little out from anywhere - you'll need to drive along country roads from most places - but then again, it stands out for itself. Recommended! read more