St Kew Harvest Farm Shop in Cornwall

It has been long over due sharing details of this wonderful farm shop – perhaps a big statement to make, but I think St Kew Harvest Farm Shop could be my all time favourite farm shop.

On our last morning in Cornwall we decided to head to the farm shop to stock up on lovely items before we headed north to home. When we arrived the shop was full of the fragrance of warm cakes straight from the oven.

Sat at a little table looking out to the fields beyond, we ate lemon drizzle cake for breakfast and I had a divine cup of hot chocolate.

The girl serving us was sweet and friendly and it almost felt like being welcomed into someone’s kitchen. This is not the service of big slick fancy farm shops (if they can still be called that) but this is the kind I prefer.

It must be said that I went a bit mad and bought lots of things – I always get like that when I know I’m not going to be able to go back to a place for a very long time.

We bought more of the lovely locally made salami and a selection of Cornish cheeses. I also came away with organic yoghurt and clotted cream from Helsett Farm – I also spotted this for sale in London when I was there last week.

Sadly there was no bread on a Monday, but lots of wonderful – and many homegrown – vegetables. Like these small and wobbly carrots…

Shitake mushrooms that we’d cooked over the campfire earlier that weekend, with a sign telling you they were grown ‘down the road by Mark’. It’s little things like that sign that I get excited about.

There were big bunches of herbs – parsley, green and purple basil – all I imagine had been freshly picked that morning.

Mottled green courgettes and sunny yellow ones, big fat bulbs of onions, their skins still fleshy…

And still more of those little signs that tell you this is good, honest, delicious food from the place.

Outside you can see the beginnings of the growing area and this snowy white gaggle of geese with their bright orange beaks and feet.

And some very inquisitive pigs…

The family running St Kew Harvest Farm Shop were helpful and knowledge, are clearly skilled at growing and baking, and are closely involved with their local community – I recently watched this short video about their involvement with a CSA and there were young trainees there the morning we visited.