{"id":278539,"date":"2025-07-20T23:32:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T23:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/278539\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T23:32:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T23:32:17","slug":"we-visit-the-farm-cafe-near-the-m4-with-alpacas-and-epic-cakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/278539\/","title":{"rendered":"We visit the farm cafe near the M4 with alpacas and epic cakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can watch the resident goats while sipping on a milkshake or sampling a Victoria spongeThe friendly goat at Burton Farm Shop(Image: Sophie Grubb\/Bristol Live)<\/p>\n

If Clarkson’s Farm has taught fans anything beyond its host’s<\/a> hatred of planning rules, it’s the huge pressures on the farming industry and the need for diversification. Many farms are introducing public-facing facilities such as shops and cafes, to encourage other income streams separate from crops or cows.<\/p>\n

There are several award-winning farm shops in the Bristol area<\/a>, from destination food halls like Flourish in Saltford to small but perfectly-formed city gems like in St Werburghs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I was searching for an option that would make a half-way point to meet family, and found Burton Farm Shop simply by zooming in on the map along the M4 corridor.<\/a> It’s located on the outskirts of Chippenham in Wiltshire, about half an hour from both Bristol and Bath, and has gained hundreds of positive reviews since opening almost four years ago.<\/p>\n

It’s less than a 10-minute drive from the Tomarton Interchange of the motorway, or you can take a more scenic route through the surrounding villages. I was pleased to find the drive was pretty easy as it’s right in the centre of Burton village – no narrow farm tracks to navigate and there is a small car park on site, although it was already filling up by the time I got there late on a Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t sure what to expect but the site was smaller than I anticipated, with a dinky farm shop that just takes up a little corner of the cafe. However, there is a big outdoor seating area beneath a stretch tent, offering lots of shade next to a field where alpacas roam.<\/p>\n

My toddler loved pointing at them from a distance, as they were on the other side of the paddock during our visit. However, the resident goat was much more sociable. Initially it was chilling in the sunshine on a tiny trampette, but it soon trotted over to give itself a good scratch on a big bucket next to the fence.<\/p>\n

Apparently there are a few more goats and alpaca living at the farm, although we only saw a few – perhaps they were staying in the cool of the barn as we did visit during the heatwave. There were also sheep on the hill and apparently there are a couple of donkeys too.<\/p>\n

There isn’t much space for children to run wild but the village itself makes a pretty spot for a wander round. The parish website advertises a new playground with swings, picnic benches and a climbing area, although we didn’t manage to make it there during our visit.<\/p>\n

The cosy farm cafe at Burton, near Chippenham(Image: Sophie Grubb\/Bristol Live)<\/p>\n

We did pass a pretty pub called The Old House at Home, just opposite the farm cafe. Bristol foodies should know this is also on FirstTable<\/a>, meaning you can often get a good discount on food during off-peak hours, if you book via the app.<\/p>\n

As midday arrived we headed back to the cafe for our lunch booking, although there were plenty of tables available inside as well as outside. There were a few specials on the blackboard including some delicious-sounding salads and sharing boards, as well as a children’s menu. Sandwiches, baguettes, jacket potatoes and tarts also featured on the menu.<\/p>\n

The setting is really cosy with wood-panelled walls, strings of LED lighting and an old-school fruit cart displaying organic produce. The shop in one corner was well-stocked despite its size, with some tempting jams and preserves for a reasonable \u00a34.95 and some juicy steaks in the fridge that also seemed really well-priced at just over a fiver each.<\/p>\n

You have to order lunch at the till and I’m sure it’s no coincidence that diners have to pass the cake counter to get there. It was lined with a mouth-watering selection of sweet treats, from great hunks of chocolate-studded blondies to massive stuffed cookies and buttercream-filled sponges.<\/p>\n

Set on something savoury, I ordered a coronation chicken sandwich on granary bread, served with crisps and a side salad for \u00a38.95. This was one of the cheapest options on the menu compared to some of the pricier sharing boards and burgers.<\/p>\n

Service was swift and friendly and the sandwich was generously packed with the creamy filling, which had just a hint of spice. I also had a taste of fig, prosciutto and burrata salad, which was deliciously fresh and studded with sun blush tomatoes and pecans.<\/p>\n

The fig and burrata salad at Burton Farm Shop(Image: Sophie Grubb\/Bristol Live)<\/p>\n

Although my stomach had been sated, the glowing cake counter was calling my name before we left. I took home a piece of millionaire’s shortbread, which was not cheap at \u00a34.65 but it was a hefty slab of a portion. It was completely indulgent and worth every calorie, with oozing caramel sandwiched between set chocolate and crumbly, buttery biscuit.<\/p>\n

The traybakes and cakes at Burton Farm Shop. Yes, those cookies are \u00a35.25 but they look big enough to share…(Image: Sophie Grubb\/Bristol Live)<\/p>\n

I also spotted afternoon tea being advertised in the cafe, which also has to be booked in advance and can be amended to suit vegan and gluten-free diets. They charge \u00a325.95 per person and the scones piled on top of the counter did look delectable.<\/p>\n

We had a brilliant couple of hours in Burton and the cakes alone are worth the journey in my opinion, although there are probably bigger family-friendly options if you want somewhere to spend a whole afternoon. However it would be easy to make a day of it if you consider it’s really close to tourist hotspot Castle Combe – frequently voted the prettiest village in England <\/a>– as well as the beautiful National Trust property Dyrham Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Burton Farm Shop & Kitchen, <\/strong>Burton, <\/strong>Chippenham, 01454 218866<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You can watch the resident goats while sipping on a milkshake or sampling a Victoria spongeThe friendly goat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,748,393,786,4884,9730,15125,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-278539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-food-and-drink","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-m4-motorway","14":"tag-things-to-do-in-bristol","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114888176250391561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}