Surrounded by lush woodland, this beautiful family-owned farm has a tulip-picking patch that’s bursting with colour
Benty Farm and Tearooms in Wirral
A charming Wirral farm with a cosy tearooms is offering visitors the chance to pick their own bunches of beautiful tulips from a colourful field complete with a mini windmill. Tucked away in a Wirral woodland you’ll find the fifth generation family farm where you can pick your own fruit and flowers.
Mum and daughter Charlotte and Sue Reed opened Benty Farm Tearooms in Thurstaston back in 2014 on the farm where their family have lived for generations. The idea for the tearooms, based off School Lane, was born from Charlotte’s grandad Henry who used to live on the farm with his wife Jean.
Speaking to the ECHO, Charlotte explained this is the fourth year the farm has offered its popular tulip-picking experience, which has been selling out of tickets after going viral on social media. She said: “Every year we increase the size of the patch a little bit and the variety. They are quite big flowers and start closed but when they open up inside it’s like an artwork.”
She added: “I think most people have enjoyed it – it’s a nice day out you come to the tearoom and go there to the tulip patch, the colour is the best thing. We have got a family friend to build a windmill which is a new attraction this year.”
Benty Farm and Tearooms in Wirral
The farm and café are both dog friendly, but the tulip field is not suitable for pets. Entry costs £5 plus £1 per stem that visitors pick, with a maximum of seven stems per person. There are an incredible 40 different varieties of tulips to choose from.
There is also an additional £2 hire cost for the basket and secateurs required at the site, but this deposit is returned to customers after they’ve finished tulip picking.
Children aged under three go for free at the tulip-picking field, with plenty of photo opportunities available for a cute spring photoshoot.
Benty Farm and Tearooms in Wirral
Inside, the tearooms serve a variety of delicious cakes and hot drinks, with special tulip biscuits for the duration of the picking sessions. There is also a selection of adult and children’s meals, with indoor and outdoor seating available.
Speaking to the ECHO previously, Charlotte said the family decided to open the farm with the intention of realising their grandad’s dreams. She said: “It was always an idea of my grandad’s just to serve cream teas on the cobbled yard. We thought ‘let’s try it.’
“Gran was always making bread and things like that so I always think ‘imagine if she was in here now with us.’ She was up at six every morning.
“We serve breakfast and lunch wise we just do sandwiches to order, soup is always homemade. Afternoon tea is quite popular and again it’s all homemade. We try and source as much as we can locally, obviously that’s not always possible.”
The farm dates back to the 1800s and was previously owned by Charlotte’s great-great grandfather Herbert Hughes, followed by her great grandparents Milly and George, gran and grandad Henry and Jean, and it is now owned by her mum and dad Sue and Pete.
The tearooms itself has soared in popularity over the last 11 years, attracting visitors from across Merseyside and beyond. The afternoon tea includes a selection of sandwiches and homemade cakes, from lemon poppy buns to carrot cake and Viennese whirls, as well as quiche and scones with jam and cream.
The family also open up their fields at different times of the year for flower and fruit picking. In spring, visitors can walk among 10,000 tulips and pick their own flowers, while in the summer the farm is open for strawberry and raspberry picking.
This is followed by sunflower and pumpkin picking, and Christmas trees later in the year. Sue said: “As time has gone on farmers have had to diversify.
“Mum and dad started on the fruit which was planted in the ground then, 30-40 years ago. That’s how the fruit has evolved.
“It used to be a lot of older people picking fruit to make jam, plus people picking to eat, but now it’s more families.”
Charlotte said a lot of regulars visit the tearooms during the week, while at weekends people travel from further afield. Speaking of living in such an idyllic location, she added: “It’s great, I love it. The winters are wet but the summer comes and everything is green.
“People come and they say ‘we got lost in the woods and we just stumbled across you and we’re totally lost.'”