Merkins Farm Cafe

The layout when you get there on the ground, wasn't what I expected at all: A large and quite well-hidden gravel carpark, leading up to a modern barn with a building plugged into part of it. Walk through a passageway, and you're amongst picnic tables and covered seating in sheds carriages, set before a nice open space/view. It all makes sense from a planning permissions perspective though: They're not allowed to add permanent structures that aren't within the barn's footprint, and they're not allowed to tarmac the carpark. Meanwhile, they have huge amounts of spare land, which they want to use as effectively as possible. We visited as a party of nine, after our walk talk session. It was more surprising that it was already crowded: It's off a very narrow road. Even I pushed the boat out and caved into a bit of food too: It was the first time socialising after a long break, so there's no point making half-hearted engagements. The others did much the same, although at least two of us had a full breakfast-type meal. The little cakes and teas/coffees took a little while to arrive, which was puzzling as most of their components were pre-made. Oddly, the meals took exactly the same amount of time. Normally that's a sign of everything being cooked from scratch, to order, which mostly wasn't the case here. You have to cut them some slack though, as they were already rushed off their feet before we arrived. There was also quite a bit of fully-indoor seating, and it looked like they had toilets in a separate of the same building, reachable only by going outside, which seemed like a sensible separation. Despite their busy-ness, there were no shortage of staff to ask if they preferred us to sit first or order at the counter, and infact they found us first. (It's order pay at the counter, then explain where you want to be sitting, and they bring it out to you. It looks like they also have plans to do something with the remaining empty part of their barn, so it'll be interesting to see what.

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WOULD GIVE 5* BUT HAPPYCOW WONT LET ME... We are here a few times and it was great! There are many veggie options and a good selection of vegan including vegan spread for your toast. They also do vegan cakes, but I was too full to try everyone sad. I had the vegan breakfast both times! The owner is veggie apparently and the young girl behind the counter was vegan and said his really important to the owner that there is a good choice for not meat eaters and vegans!

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very good was eating nice. they provide for all allergies, vegan, vegetarian. they have individual sheds outside with cover and bank cover. view of the hills sheep in the fields. the staff was friendly and helpful, everything was clean. will definitely go back.

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great place to enjoy an breakfast with a group. we were well maintained and of course eating is excellent. we enjoy this venue several times a year and they keep the standards still high even if they flooded with customers!

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Excellent cafe! Very friendly staff and amazing food, well worth a visit! There's a great walk from the cafe down to Chalfield Manor that's worth doing to burn off some of the cake

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