Ford Barns in Tendring

Went to buy a bed ordered through them then they had one on display cheaper. Asked if we could have that as they originally said they did not have any in stock. When we complained the owner and his wife got rude and cancelled our order. I would never use them again. Found a better place up at stansted called you’re furnished much better quality and a lot cheaper. AVOID FORD BARNS at al cost as there plain rude

Whilst I love a trip to look around all of the lovely bits they stock, I have been totally disappointed by some bedroom furniture. We bought a wardrobe, bedside table and chest of drawers from one of their ranges. On the first delivery attempt, I noticed some minor damage to the back of the chest of drawers. This was simply dismissed. In addition, there was some damage to one of the wardrobe drawers. But unfortunately, the wardrobe wouldn't ft up the stairs! So the kind men took it away and arranged to bring it back in smaller sections. On the second delivery attempt, the wardrobe drawers had been fixed but the staples in the door had pierced through. Basically, the wardrobe had holes in it! The response was - well, what do you expect from cheap furniture?! Erm... what?!?! I called the lovely ladies in store who said they would look into it. Nothing. I sent pictures through. Nothing. What went from lovely consumer service has ended with radio silence. I'm utterly disappointed and won't be shopping there again. I'll also be letting friends and family know to avoid. P.s. the tea room closed!

This is a fantastic place to visit, but sadly the restaurant is awful. I have visited several times so this is not a one off review. Have now learnt my lesson and will visit barns and go elsewhere for coffee. Only redeeming thing was one lovely staff member in tearoom, wish I had her name, the other younger girl barely grunted an answer.

While visiting family in Clacton we were brought here to see the alpacas, browse the furniture and home decor and relax over a cuppa. My husband and I enjoyed all three. There was some fabulous solid wood furniture and unusual objects that I would love to find a spot at home for. The cakes we had were delicious, Nice way to spend an afternoon.

This place is well worth a look esp if you are into furniture and just want to look. You might find a gem or an interesting item you never thought you wanted! Plenty to interest you and two barns worth to look over. You can imagine, inspire or just plain look at the items there. Plus you can have food and drink to finish off an enjoyable visit in the restaurant there. Take a look!

We go here often for cake and coffee but on this occasion it was really disappointing . We ordered 4 cakes , 3 coffee’s , a milkshake and a tap water . A carrot cake was brought over instead of rocky road and a black coffee was brought over instead of a caramel cappuccino . We understand that sometimes mistakes are made so we asked the lady if she would kindly change the items to the correct one , to which she gave no apology which would have just been courteous as it wasn’t our mistake . My fathers cake had rock hard buttercream around it , I think it must have been sitting around for a while so he didn’t eat it . Usually the cake is lovely , so it was a shame . I noticed several reviews about the service staff not serving with a ‘smile’ and I do have to agree , we felt like we were being an inconvenience to the staff by paying for items and simply wanting them to do their job of selling them to us and then serving our cakes and drinks . I feel there are only so many times the management on Trip advisor can argue with every negative comment until they realise that maybe they need to take a look at some issues within the cafe . It is a shame as this isn’t usually the service we receive . The shop is beautiful and I would recommend visiting to look around the shop .

In full summer season you have a good choice of snack and cakes to eat with your tea / coffee or soft drink. Easy to park and free to view and pet the alpakas. Nice place to walk around to look at unusual items. Well worth a visit but not particularly for the food

We had a lovely coffee and cake in pleasant surrounding. Added bonus we saw the Alpacas in the field. This place has a lovely unusual choice of furniture and ornaments/ soft furnishings in two barns. Well worth a visit.

I found out about this place from a friend and thought I would give it a look, it was lovely to see the animals peacocks etc and it really is a quiet peaceful place and the two warehouses are filled with lovely furniture and bric-à-brac. The real wood items are very nice and good quality if not expensive but you get what you pay for I suppose. Never tried tried the cafe but did seem busy (only a good thing) I will definitely go back it’s well worth a look.

We visited Ford Barns on home way through to see the alpacas and have a wander around the shop / sale warehouse and get a coffee and cake. It was 3.20pm on a Sunday and the cafe was empty they allowed us to order a coffee and cake late in the day before they closed. The carrot cake and latte was very nice (£12 for two of us). Friendly staff and nice environment with a window view of the alpacas.

I was shocked when I visited here to find the cafe proudly displaying someone’s feedback from this platform as an excuse for no longer selling food. Whilst I agreed with the management’s articulated response it should have stayed on this platform. Additionally it did not really describe why they no longer serve food, or is it solely down to one individual who was not happy with the price of a jacket potato? Perhaps I am misunderstood... This has annoyed me a little because the shop, cafe and grounds are great. I have come here many times, spent large sums of money and will hopefully continue to do so, but I was disappointed that the management would stoop so low, publicly displaying a negative comment so proudly. Not particularly professional.

Called in for a browse around the shop and also to have a coffee. You do have to wait a little time for your coffee, but the quality of the drink is excellent. There is also an excellent selection of cakes although on this occasion we did not indulge - maybe next time we are in the area.

This really is an excellent store with a cozy tea room. I speak as a customer of the store and patron of the tea room. Firstly the store, what a pleasure to be properly served. Upon moving home we were looking for a number of new furniture items and found exactly what we were looking for. Delivery was arranged and expertly handled. The great quality items (very competively priced) were positioned in the rooms with great care and all the rubbish removed. Well done Ford Barns for recognising what customers want and is important. Next the tea room, very friendly staff, great spot for coffee and cakes. All in all a real find. Really unusual thing to buy and great coffee wrapped with old fashioned customer service in beautiful surroundings.

We revisited the Ford Barns to view the furniture with a view to re-furnishing our sitting room as the barn has a good range of furniture. We decided to have a quick tea and cake and were serviced by a friendly lady. There was a wide choice of lovely cakes to be had. Unfortunately the cake I chose was a little dry, as I expect they don’t have sufficient turn over to keep them fresh. Perhaps they may need to reduce the choice during the quieter months. Looking at other reviews the seating is limited, but they have to work within the confines of the barn, I assume in the summer they can use outside seating in the better months.

Really tasty cakes , polite staff but service for 2 cakes was ridiculous. It took far too long to put a slice of cake on a plate .Such a shame as the cakes were really good ! Also - very odd choice of music playing a bit too loudly. I don’t mind a bit of Britney Spears and Will.I.Am but judging from comments from the other older clientele - they weren’t such fans. Price was reasonable , products in the barn were good quality and fairly priced .

Ideal place to have an afternoon pop into. Interesting products for the home on sale, animals outside and great range of cakes which are apparently supplied by Tiptree jam makers. Nice leather sofa to relax on too.

Visiting Ford Barns and decided to try the coffee shop. Very friendly service, great range of cakes available. Reasonable prices. Coffee was excellent and the Carrot Cake and Lemon Cake were amazing

Lovely little cafe in a wonderful barn. After lunch you can browse the lovely furniture and homewares then say hello to the alpacas on the way back to the car.

The Ford Barn is a great place to have a look around and for a slice of cake and a coffee, I personally would not go for lunch, not enough choice. I took a friend a couple of weeks ago, to find she could not eat anything as everything contained egg, not a good idea for a person with an egg allergies.

The whole barn is a lovely space, with interesting and quirky furniture for sale. The café is a fairly small end of the barn, serving the normal range of drinks and snacks which are ordered and collected from the counter. all very nice but I wouldn't travel specifically to eat, there are bigger and better cafes at garden centres nearby.

We really had a lovely time in the tranquil and lovely setting of Ford Barns near Weeley! The Alpacas, birds and other farm animals were great to see and they looked well cared for. We had their coffee and smoothie which comes highly recommended. The ambiance of the shops encouraged browsing and we sighted many unique and lovely items we hope to come back to buy. This place comes highly recommended for visits and a nice light meal . The customer service was exceptional and welcoming .

Ford Barns lovely place to visit. The ambience is expensive and quality goods.

We wanted a no frills, intimate and friendly environment which Ford Barns gave us. The staff were friendly and extremely helpful and couldn't do enough for us to make our lunch/reception something to remember. We are very happy with the service we received.

Have visited Ford Barns many times but this was our first visit to the cafe. Coffee is lovely but service very slow and food is expensive...£5 for a jacket potato? I don't think so, you can almost buy a sack of potatoes for this price! Some of the tables are awkwardly placed making it impossible to be able to sit on all the chairs - there is not enough room to pull them out. The two barns are lovely to browse around though and there are many unusual items to purchase if you are looking for a special gift, furniture is lovely too. A bonus is the Alpaca's, they are gorgeous and always come to see if you have any tit-bits for them, they certainly enjoyed the carrots we took them for their 'elevenses'. Lol. Well worth a visit.

Shop and eat, what more could you want. This place is a hidden gem used mainly by people who live locally. There is ample parking and you can see the alpacas by the car park. Chickens and a peacock stroll around so be careful not to run them over. Light lunches and cakes along with teas and coffees. The cakes are amazing, brilliant selection, all served by pleasant staff. Both tables and also sofas and comfy chairs. Is an ideal place to meet up with friends for coffee and a chat. No intrusive music.

When visiting Ford Barns we gave ourselves some time to enjoy the very tasty coffee and cake.....both were really good. I would certainly recommend a visit .....so may even have to go there again and try a different type of cake!

It had been a few months since we last visited. The second barn was now open with even more beautiful items on display. Saw a few items I would be happy to see as birthday presents so will pop back at weekend with wife. Had a coffee , tea and a piece of Victoria sponge. This was light and fresh and not to sickly.

Discovered Ford Barns by accident this summer - have visited many times since due to their friendly Alpacas and greedy shetland Pony Pebbles! Fresh sandwiches, cakes and drink available in their tea room. Very good range of house hold goods for sale. The most enjoyable way to spend your money.......

Ford Barns is a lovely place to visit the furniture is lovely. We went to browse we stopped at the cafe for a drink and snack. It is quite small and was crowded but it was a nice place to visit to look at the furniture and other items for sale and we were able to sit down and have a coffee.

Fantastic range of goods and I would go again just to see the main barn and have a coffee. Best I have ever seen and we live on a farm

After hearing very good things about Ford Barns, we finally made it! We had tea & cake - the cake was delicious. There’s a varied choice of food & drinks. We loved looking at the furniture & other house products.

Took my daughter here recently but I was particularly disappointed with my meal. We arrived just before one o'clock only to find two favourite items were already sold out from the menu, namely baked potatoes and quiche. I did not want a bread based meal so I ordered what looked to be a reasonable sausage roll with salad. When it arrived the salad was very unattractive to look at and in sampling the sausage roll found it to be too highly seasoned with herbs. I like herb based foods but even my daughter found it over the top in flavour making it hard to eat. I left most. A very disappointing meal.

We had seen some good reports of the cafe at the Barn and decided to give it a try. When we arrived ordered scones with coffee. The coffee was not too bad but the scones were awful. I expected fresh home made ones but they were absolutely horrible mass produced ones heated up in the microwave. How they can possibly charge over £10 for 2 scones and 2 filter coffees is beyond me ! There were 3 staff in the kitchen chatting - it doesn’t take long to make a batch of fresh scones. I suggest that you go to the tea rooms in the Dedham Craft Centre to see how it should be done. 3 different flavours of freshly baked scones offered each day as well as absolutely yummy cakes. 2 scones and 2 filter coffees is £5.50.

Have been in during various times of the day and always met by pleasant staff sometimes the lady owner, great coffee and food

This is a fabulous find with lots of interesting items to look at. It is not a 'cheap, bargain basement' place but the unusual items or solid wood furniture are reasonably priced for the quality you get. Small tearoom area can be extended if weather is ok to outside by the alpaca field. Well worth a visit or two.

Love this fabulous place. Its a regular haunt for us as we view the great furniture and unusual lamps and other items of quality.

We, my husband and my mother, popped in on the way home at lunchtime yesterday as we have heard good comments on Ford Barns.

Something out the usual, drive in and your greeted by peacocks and chickens,

Lovely place for a wander through fantastic furniture. Cafe has a good range of lunches such as quiche and salads. The cakes are to die for !! Well presented lunches, staff very pleasant.

My mum and I have been here a few times as there is always so much to see, the furniture and other items and of course the animals are lovely. However.. the cafe side of it. It is lovely food and we have no complaints but it is expensive. They never seem to come and clear the tables quickly so you have to sit at a dirty table, even though I counted 3 or 4 staff behind the counter. They forgot about us one time we were there! Review your prices and Im sure you will have more visitors for food and drink ☕

I am not reviewing this as a restaurant as I did not visit the restaurant in this visit, I am reviewing the shop.

really nice place , friendly people and good food and coffee .Will be going again , try it you wont be dissapointed

It was lovely to walk around the barn and view all the unusual items on display. I have been there a few times and the variety is always changing.

Go to Ford Barns about once every 2 months, always have a bite to eat and a drink before we shop. Never been disappointed yet. Always purchase something from the Barn also. This time we ordered a table, so still awaiting delivery. Will let you know how the service on that works out. But they do have some gorgeous furniture. Have our eyes on 1 or 2 more pieces if this works out ok. But pay a visit to the Barn and the Café, you wont be disappointed.

This is a good place to go & browse on an inclement day. Lovely pieces of furniture, interesting ornaments & soft furnishings plus candles. I thought the café had limited selection & was expensive. And that was just tea & cake!

Beautifully restored barn, full of great furniture and furnishings. Unusual, interesting things. Great cafe area. Lovely cakes, great and friendly service. A very interesting place to visit. Alpacas to meet too. I would recommend a visit.

Looked promising and is certainly an interesting venue. Sadly when we went to use the small café bar, the staff were just not interested. We had no idea whether to order at counter or sit down, so went to the counter, totally ignored. Walked out without getting anything, very disappointed.

I am a regular visitor to Ford Barns, and I find it a relaxing and enjoyable place to sit with a latte and soak up the ambience. The barn itself is beautifully constructed and is an emporium of great furnishings for the home, where the visitor can spend just a few pounds or invest in some timeless furniture. I find the coffee, food and service in the restaurant very good and the alpacas and Pebbles the pony are friendly to boot.

Fantastic furniture and furnishings but boy was the café bad! Sunday afternoon and we managed to bags the sofa although the table had obviously been a dumping ground from other overflowing tables. You order at the counter, eventually, they reluctantly clear the table despite going to clean empty ones first, then take an age to bring over two coffees and cakes. Had we not already paid we would have left. Can't remember the last time I saw so many staff ignore so relatively few customers and completely abandon any attempt at "service"!

If your visiting Tendring don't miss Ford Barns...fabulous furniture/gifts...amazing coffee shop...beautiful building!!very welcoming staff will be back.

I went there for a catch-up with my sister's, to have tea and cake etc, it was very good. It wasn't too expensive either. There are only a few tables in there,so not too crowded, just how I like it. The toilets are very posh and clean,no worries there. The gorgeous furniture for in and out are wow,good quality and lots of variety.I would say take your credit card with you!! Small car park though. Worth a visit.

Went here for a sandwich and tea. Was very busy but the staff were unorganised. Had to wait quite a while for our order. Left and went elsewhere for desert. However, it's clean in there and pretty.

Ford Barns is jam packed full of beautiful furniture and home wares, that is of high quality but not ridiculous prices. The barn itself is a new build, which must have cost a small fortune, as it is absolutely stunning, and could easily lend itself to a wedding venue if they ever changed their business plan. The cafe inside the barn is cosy and welcoming, and as you sit there, you are surrounded by all the lovely things for sale. The menu is standard fayre: baguettes, panini's, jacket potatoes etc, but it was absolutely delicious! and the cakes!!! they not only look good, they taste wonderful. The staff members we came across were all friendly and helpful. There is also a warehouse barn onsite that sells furniture seconds. When we went, there were some stunning dressers for sale in there, as well as dining furniture. On the day we went it was very cold and wet, so we didn't venture over to visit the resident alpacas, but I would imagine on a sunny dry day, children would love visit them. We fully intend to return again in a few months, if only for another lovely lunch!! Well done Ford Barns! You've obviously invested a massive amount of time and thought as well as money. I hope you reap the rewards.

Popped by for a browse and a cuppa. Barn is beautiful with a huge range of furniture and accessories for the home. However, highlight for me was the cafe. Spotless and comfortable. Lovely cup of tea but the bit by far was the cherry and almond cake. Sublime. Homemade and delicious selection. Loved it.

You just would not think in a million years in the quite countryside a amazing place was about to open to you. You even get to see Alpackers yes friendly but go inside and see for yourself a mind blowing furniture plus other items beds so much to see view and droll over, but also a small refreshment area all at reasonable prices

This barn was reconstructed - the roof timbers are superb, and make for a great atmosphere. There is an eclectic mix of quality furniture, objets d'art, basketware, rugs - I just wish I had a house big enough! Close enough to Clacton on Sea, but on the outskirts, in a country lane. Service of the lunch was a bit on the slow side, especially as it was after lunch, however, we had got the last table, so others had ordered ahead of us..

I visited Ford Barns a few months a ago after hearing good reviews about it. Unfortunately as I use a small mobilty scooter I had great trouble entering the barn as there was a step. Also it was very congested inside so I couldn't get round easily. Shame because there were some nice items for sale.

We went there to view it and what a venue outstanding really was recommend it every time Food is quality with coffee tea but they got a great selection on goods to buy not to be missef

Ford Barns is tucked away in Tendring. There are unique gifts and home wares and a cafe selling lovely drinks and snacks. They usually have a gluten-free cake option too. An added bonus is the alpacas in the field. We find it a relaxing way to spend an hour or so. Well worth dropping in.

We went to Ford Barns for lunch today, age range from 8 months to 89 years of age. The ladies were so very helpful and moved chairs around for us, so we could all sit around one table, the drinks were served and were lovely and hot, and the lunch was very good, my dad said the quiche was lovely, salad was excellent that came with it, the cakes looked wonderful. The furniture was lovely and a reasonable price for the quality. The alpacas were a real hit with the grand-daughter, a lovely time was had by everyone, thank you, will definatly be back.

A great place to spend a few hours on the weekend, the tea rooms are a lovely atmosphere and the cakes are delicious. The animals are friendly too, my little boy loved meeting the pony, Bubbles.

We went for an impromptu visit on Monday around 3pm.

Visited to find a present for a friend had a coff and a toasted tea cake very nice and lovely coffee all the food looked very tempting indeed serves by very friendly ladies and with a smile ,have been a couple of times now and it has always been constant , had a look round this lovely barn and ended up buying some furniture which we didn't go out to buy ,but who could not be tempted by all the lovely furniture what an asset to the area Ford Barns is.

Set in a modern barn with beautiful wooden beams. Tables quite crowded and food is staple affair. We had a tuna baguette which came with a salad and crisps. All very pleasant and ok but on the pricy side for what it is. Barn itself is full of furniture and knick knacks.

Excellent delicious homemade cakes and nice coffee. Have not tried any other food but the staff were friendly and helpful

Fabulous furniture and housey bits and bobs.

I have been here several times and it's lovely.

The barn is quite lovely, but the cafe is over priced and poor quality. Food is not home-made and incredibly expensive. For the overall cost of a lunch for 3 (£26) you would expect decent portions of homemade produce. The quiche was 'claggy' and cakes had a synthetic aftertaste. Nearby garden centres, produce delicious home cooked quiches and sausage rolls at a fraction of the cost. I visited with a pastry chef, who left very disappointed after reading reviews on Ford Barns FB page! It is also difficult to use a wheelchair, we watched a lady try in vain!