This is a fabulous Garden Centre in a beautiful setting. The cafe is lovely with great service and…read moredelicious food. The shop and butchers is also excellent. We have had many plants, turf, bulbs, stones, logs etc over the years and everything is first rate. The staff are friendly, helpful and knowledgable. We always get our Christmas tree here too!

This is a very nice garden centre but it is a bit out of the way in broadbottom. It sells lots of…read morevery large plants in huge pots which you will need a truck to take away and lots of interesting shrubs and potted plants. There is a lovely teashop attached and it has some homemade fare.In stock is a nice array of little gifts and greeting cards as well as flower and vegetable seeds and plenty of bulbs. a good all round selection.

Found this farm shop and cafe by pure chance and it has quickly become one of my favourite places…read moreto eat a small snack or meal at. The farm shop is quite small but they sell their own beef (mince, steaks etc), lamb (chops etc), eggs, veg, pies (beef and cheese and onion), sausages as well as local preserves and chutney. Their main business is their cafe, which has a fantastic selection of small snacks (sandwiches, tea cakes, homemade soup, cream scones etc) to larger meals including salads, all day breakfasts, homemade beef and lamb burgers and daily specials. The food is all either from their own produce and meat at the farm or locally grown and sourced when possible. You can taste the difference and all the food is fresh and tasty. Their selection of cakes is fantastic, all home made and yummy. Last time I went they had crumbles, fruit pies, chocolate biscuit cake, sticky toffee pudding and many more I can't remember. But the one thing that I adore the most about this place is their own homemade ice cream! It is the best ice cream I have ever come across, it's not overly sweet and the flavours are great quality. The choice is huge and changes nearly every week but they can include: cherry and yogurt, strawberry cheesecake, sticky toffee pudding, hot cross bun, double chocolate chip, chocolate mint chip, strawberry, toffee fudge, sherry trifle, grandma's special (sweets perfect for kids), farmhouse vanilla, cookies and cream, liquorice... the list goes one. They also do sobets. As well as this huge selection you can buy cakes to take home, anything that's in the cake counter as well as homemade scones and cookies. It has a large outdoor area for kids to play with lots of toys and slides while adults can sit nearby in the sunshine watching the nearby cows and sheep in a field. The whole place just has a wonderful, friendly feel. Only caution I would suggest is if like me you don't have kids and like a bit of peace and quiet, either go early (before 12pm) on weekends and avoid on bank holiday Mondays as it gets very busy with families.

A great cafe located on a quiet farm! As you walk to the cafe, you can hear the sounds of grazing…read morecattle and the baas of roaming sheep. The have great pastries and cakes for breakfast, along with a hearty and filling breakfast and lunch menu. They offer some vegetarian options which are great! I also love that they have paired with a local coffee roasters and offer lovely local coffee which tastes great. It's a great stop for bicyclists, as well as those who want a brunch break. They also have a farm shop in which they sell lovely personal goodies, along with other foods from local businesses!

From the owner: Farm Shop, Cafe, Butchery and Deli in the Heart of Cheshire.read more

I'm sure in a past life (over the past decade) I used to spend most of my weekends going to watch…read morebands and falling in and out of clubs - enjoying the scene and living for the music. Fast forward to the present day and now that I'm reinvented as a family man I spend my weekends in the great outdoors, at play parks and on many occasions staring at random animals. My 1 year old daughter can't get enough of our cats and this has now moved through into a general affinity for all creatures with 4 legs that don't use a knife and fork to eat their dinner with! So on Sunday we hit the Reddish Vale Farm which is a bit of a hidden gem, amazingly tucked down the road from Reddish South rail station and the high street. It was £4 entry - cards charge £1 extra if less than a fiver...which is a pretty high charge but they will quite happily let you have a free animal mask instead of just losing a pound... Overall this probably ins't in the Jurassic Park leagues of animal excitement - but there are lots of baby chicks, baby rabbits etc to keep the little ones happy and plenty of generic farm animals that you expect to see. There's also quite a few picnic benches meaning you can take your own food and take a load off - just make sure you sit on the far side away from the "barnyard smells" You'd be doing well to last here for more than 2 hours in terms of what there is to do and a penny more than £4 would seem overpriced but it was a fun day out and definitely worth visiting.

From the owner: Reddish Vale Farm and Riding Schoolread more

I ventured here with my bro-in-law and young nephew one evening for an hour's session of Insanity -…read moreand my body paid for it afterwards! Located in a HUGE former barn at Ashley Hall Farm in Ashley (just south of Altrincham), they offer sessions of Boot camp, Zumba, Insanity, Body Combat and Kids' Boot camp. We paid £5 each (it's £3 for kids) so it was a pretty cheap way to shed the pounds - I've never been more worn out after a training session in my life before! Bring plenty of water with you and your own towel, you'll be in desperate need of both every time there's a brief water break. Really welcoming and encouraging staff; and with it open to all ages, made for a particularly family-friendly bout of exercise! Tip: Follow them on Twitter (@GetFitAtTheFarm) for further information.

Visited this for the owl experience and also got to handle some of the hawks. It was absolutely…read morefantastic and I would re visit this again. The owl experience involves using the gloves to handle a variety of different owls. You can feed and pet them and they look pretty happy in themselves! None of them are aggressive they all appear used to human contact with no evidence of nervousness etc. The Hawks are slightly less personable but still really interesting. Again they can be fed and flown but not petted. There is the option depending on which option you book to take the Hawks into the field and see them in their natural habitat. They quickly become distracted with animals in the surrounding area and it's really interesting to watch how they hunt naturally in the wild. Handler was really knowledgable and managed to get all of the birds to interact well. Definitely worth a visit !

An excellent day out with the children which all starts out with a ride on the tractors trailer,…read morefeed lambs & goats, see pigs horses cows and various other farm animals. This also has a great outdoor play area to keep the kids entertained.

An excellent place to visit. Our two kids (aged 3 and 5) loved it -- there was so much to do. There…read morewere plenty of animals to admire in the farm-yard, and they have several demonstrations throughout the day (we saw the milking session which was particularly entertaining). The play-barn is a good place for the kids to run off some energy. Throughout there's an emphasis on informing and educating as well as entertaining, which we liked. There's a good farm shop too, and a great restaurant/cafe -- we very much enjoyed the lunch we had there. All in all, an excellent place to visit -- highly recommended.

Windmill Animal Farm is fab for kids. I don't have kids but didn't have much trouble finding some -…read moremy friend desperately needed a day off. Problem solved. So off we go, it was a Saturday and gorgeous weather. So, we were hoping that it wouldn't be too busy given it was a Saturday and not raining. Well we weren't disappointed, although fairly busy, the farm staff were well organised and kept all us all in check. The kids and I started off on the steam train, with the idea that we would get a good idea of where everything was from the ride (well this is what I thought), the kids were more concerned with just going on a train. Half way around we stopped off at the Lake View and the kids played while I chilled out and absorbed the view. After that we got back on the train and finished the journey. The farm has some pedal tractors that kids use to go around the farm on. They looked great fun to me, but I had so much trouble convincing my friends kids that they should try them too. So after much convincing and no way forward, I gave up and instead they went off to the Children's Pet Area where they got to feed and play with the animals. A great day out and thoroughly enjoyed by us all.

I love this farm. A day trip today was no exception! My other half and I are both animal lovers and…read morewhile we didn't take kids with us, it's a perfect day out for kids. First off when you arrive parking is easy enough with plenty of space. Entry is £6 for adults (£7.50 for kids, and there's family ticket and concessions too). It's £1 for three bags of food (which is well worth it!) There's a small café as well as plenty of picnic benches near the entrance along with a kids playground. Just before the barn, quite often they have birds of prey in or creepy crawlies, both of which have been there on previous trips and you're allowed to get hands on. In the farm itself you can see pigs, donkeys, deer, llamas, alpacas, horse, cows, goats and all the sheep! New this year were also wallabies. They have lamb feeding at set times that you can get involved in too. They've also grown a maze made out of maize which is good fun. Finally there's a small train that you can jump on if your little ones are a bit tired!

A lovely little farm shop hidden away in Dunham village. We only found it by going to the Axe and…read morecleaver pub and it being up the same road. When you go in you are greeted by fresh veg, packs of lovely meat from their only animals and a friendly face. The meat from here is absolutely fantastic and we use them for our Christmas joint as it is so good. I should really use it more often as the bacon and sausages are amazing!!

From the owner: We are a family run, traditional Farm Shop, in Dunham Massey village, near Altrincham and…read moreManchester. Providing Red Tractor Food assured Beef & local seasonal produce. Throughout the year we stock our own fresh Aberdeen Angus and Hereford Beef and local, free range Pork and Lamb. We exclusively stock Venison from Dunham Massey Park between September and January. Watch out for updates on the website and twitter. We also sell homemade gluten-free and plain pork Sausages, homemade Beef, Pork and Lamb burgers, Gammon and Bacon. We are happy to accept orders of any size and any cut and we sell Turkeys at Christmas time to our customers. We hope to see you soon, the Jones family

I stumbled on this city farm accidentally during a day out to Wythenshawe Park, but it's pretty…read moreamazing! With a few different pens to explore, you can see cows, sheep, goats, pigs, ducks, horses, bulls and birds. In the spring and summer, you can usually see some babies too. Last year, they had some adorable piglets! I think it's a lovely opportunity for city dwellers like me to get close to animals you'd usually only see in the country. Entry is free, but there is an option to make a donation to the Farm, which is a registered charity.

Being a city girl, I don't often get the chance to oooh and awww over cute little baby farm…read moreanimals. Then, myself and a friend stumbled upon this Wythenshaw Community Farm during a day out, and - as soon as I held my first baby chicken, and coo'ed over a teacup sized rabbit, it was love. Wythenshaw Community Farm is a fully working city farm as well as a registered charity, which means they will ask you to make a small donation when you go there. But it's worth it to spend a few hours in the company of sheep, goats, ducks, incredibly friendly pigs, and even a few incredibly cheeky Llamas! (One of which attempted to eat my handbag, the cheeky bugger). Whilst it is full of cute and furry little critters, this is not just another pets corner, so you will see helpers milking, mucking out, feeding and all those other rather unsavoury bits of farmyard life. The farm also provides horse riding lessons if you're looking to don your jodphurs and prepare for your next gymkhana. Wythenshaw Community Farm is a lovely little place, and the ideal place to go if you're wanting to waste a few hours and tickle some pigs under their chin.