Out & About Winter 2019

Out&About food & drink

Bailey’s Caf e National Animal Welfare Trust, Trindledown Farm, Wantage Road, Great Shefford Open Wednesday to Sunday 11am-4pm www.nawt.org.uk/ V isitors to Trindledown Farm are in for a treat. A popular place for families, Trindledown Farm is part of the National Animal Welfare Trust and looks after and rehomes dogs and cats as well as providing a haven for alpacas, guinea pigs, goats, pigs and rabbits. You can visit the farm, take a guided tour and see all the animals and buy bags of food from the shop and café to feed them. Bailey’s Cafe is a small and friendly corner of the barn, which was deceptively quiet on the afternoon we visited. “We get a lot of corporate groups, Scouts, Brownies and school groups here,” says café manager Denise. “The trust runs lots of education programmes and companies like Vodafone come here to do community work and they all need feeding.” Denise is doyenne of the kitchen and insists on making everything on the premises. The small kitchen area is packed with fresh goods and the tasty display of cakes on the counter is enough to make anyone pause for a treat. Weekends are particularly busy, when families visit the farm and the trust very often holds a sale of goods that have been donated towards the running of the centre. The shop across the way is brimful of goods, which are constantly being replaced and again the café provides visitors with a friendly place to have a sit down. The shelves in the café seating area are filled with toys and trinkets, both donated and also promoting local arts and crafts and food, such as Berkshire Honey and Well Preserved.

Paintings line the wall by local artists such as Nigel Hodgson, whose animal pictures are available for sale. “Because I make everything to order, we can offer bespoke fillings,” explains Denise. “Particularly popular are the jacket potatoes and the soup and sandwich lunches.” She also provides bacon butties most Saturday mornings for a cycling group that gives her advance notice that they are on their way so she can get frying. Afternoon teas are also very popular both at the weekends and after school on Wednesdays to Friday, when children can see the animals and adults can catch up over a cup of tea. A hive of activity, Trindledown Farm is well worth a visit, not only to see all the work that is being done for the animals living at the site – they have ambitious plans for a new education centre and rabbit village, but rely heavily on donations to get it built – but also to stop and sample the cakes and savouries that Denise has prepared in the kitchen.

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O&A WINTER 2019