On the A38, between Tewkesbury and Gloucester, a beautiful little conglomeration of offerings is waiting to greet you.
Coombe Hill Farm Shop is a family run business, owned by farming couple Sam and Phillipa, whose shop is filled with fresh, locally grown vegetables, home-reared, free-range meat and eggs. There are sacks of earthy potatoes, fat green leafy cabbages and fistfuls of carrots with their frothy leaves still attached. These are vegetables that truly look like they are going to do you some good when you have got them ready for your plate. You can imagine the farmers, sleeves rolled up, pulling them from the ground.
Out front there are crates of whatever is in season, whether that is Seville oranges – ready for marmalade, chunky pumpkins – ready for Halloween, or wreaths and trees – ready for Christmas. In the meat counter, there are fabulous, fat sausages (sweet chilli and pork, anyone?), rolled sausage meat (homemade sausage rolls?), glistening legs of lamb or fresh mince. This is a good, honest farm shop providing everything you need for a fabulous feast, right from on the doorstep.
But there is more here than hearty fayre. In the little barn next door, there is an eclectic and fanciful collection of antiques and oddities, aptly named “Cow Shed Antiques”. I defy you not to find something that tickles your fancy as you peruse the bits and bobs. An old tin bath sits side by side with a clay urchin pushing a wheel barrow, an antique garden bench shields a selection of mismatched yet beautiful vases and a cart full of woven baskets leans against an old whisky barrel. There is something here for everyone.
If the barn is open to the elements and a little chilly, then fear not. Hunkered down behind one of the old, brick walls is the cutest little coffee van known as The Baking Bird. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate and cakes that will make you salivate as soon as you spy them are on sale every weekend and people who know return again and again.
This trio of businesses are all existing symbiotically and the customers are the winners. There is a lovely atmosphere and a good old mooch is encouraged. Well done, Coombe Hill!
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