Herb Farm in South Oxfordshire

I had coffee at the Herb Garden today and developed a nasty cough whilst I was there. A member of staff brought me a glass of water (she obviously heard me coughing) without my asking. I was impressed; she went beyond the call of service. Thankyou! Gold stars all round. Coffee and scone delicious too!

It’s difficult to express how dire the experience of eating here was. The only redeeming thing is that the waitress was friendly. Very dirty floor and window ledges covered with dead insects. Tables were dirty and sticky. The toilets are disgraceful. Crockery was chipped with residue of food remains. Not much choice and most definitely overpriced. £8.99 for a toasted sandwich with a few crisps. No garnish, no finesse and poorly presented. Sandwich was over-toasted just on the cusp of burnt. Tea cakes were the smallest we’ve ever seen or had. Coffee was just ‘ok’. Not hot enough. A very poor experience.

Cold. Even sitting in coats we were cold, uncomfortably so. Door to the outdoor toilet didn’t catch properly so flew open a few times. There was a heater on display but no actual heating was on. Coffee was like milky dishwater (large cappuccino) and even with the addition of a purchased double Espresso it was still on the weak side. Something is wrong with the beans, or the machine or the barista.

Wow what a lovely find. Lived in reading for 3 years and only just found this gem! Wanted to buy some herbs for my garden and spoke to the specialist Vicky. A wealth of knowledge such a helpful young lady. A real asset to the Herb farm. I would recommend Vicky and the Herb farm to anyone and everyone. Natalie Bond

Friendly servers were its only redeeming feature. Coffee definitely not up to what Rebel should be offering. Cakes and sandwiches average at best and expensive for what they were. Really let down by the toilets - in a separate building, only one functional and standard of cleanliness unacceptable.

A popular destination for this cafeteria - Rebel Coffee. It has great character, has a beautiful setting attached to the local Herb Farm, and a delicious menu. The sponge cake was light and tasty and the Eggs Florentine were amazing. The staff are friendly and efficient.

The coffee shop has been taken over recently and they are getting better by the week. Coffee really good now. Imaginative soups good and the sausage rolls are the best I tasted in ages! Brioche muffins very good as are the quiches. What makes this coffee shop stand out are the staff, excellent. This coffee shop is becoming very popular again and with good justification. Just needs to up their game with breakfasts.

For the cost this breakfast was not worth it, due to convenience it was the only place to eat. Costing Over 25.00 For 2 bacon and egg sandwiches, with 2 cappuccino and 2 lattes, service was good and the whole ambience of the coffee shop was nice. However toilets are outside across the terrace, this causes a few issues if you are disabled, like my husband, as pathway is very uneven.

I am always bemused by cafes that have separate breakfast and lunch menus: why can you only have a bacon sandwich in the morning, even though BLT is available for lunch? That said, they were pleasant and welcoming. My wife ordered a jacket potato ("the last one!"); our friend a Welsh rarebit; and I had the sausage hotpot (called something else I can't recall. All were tasty, though our friend said she found it odd to have horse radish in her meal. We paid by credit card("I'm afraid you can't put the tip on credit card") and scrabbled around to find change for a tip. So good and tasty meals but, as the title says, quirky.

Really average. Not sure I’ll bother going again. Was lacking in a lot. Stale bread and wasn’t the greatest coffee

Beautiful day so wanted coffee and cake in the garden but with so many wasps it was not possible. So went inside and that was just as bad. With a bit of citronella inside and out it would of been fine. But having wasps all over your food and drink and children I could not wait to leave. Will not be going back.

Perfectly fine. Very clean, nice food with friendly staff, at a fair price. As cafes go, this is an excellent one, and it’s the best of its kind in the area as far as we’re concerned.

A cafe with more a shabby look than the shabby chic look with an opportunity to become more than just a second rate cafe. With management in charge that seem to have an attitude towards their staff and customers. Could find better food down the road and various places and cheaper. The place in general looks like it's run down with the potential to obviously be a lot more then what it seems to be not a bad selection of herbs but nothing more than is sold in other garden centres overpriced shop full of taki Nik naks.

The potential for the cafe at The Herb Farm is immense however it never seems to translate into actual delivery. The menu is fairly standard, it's not imaginative or different which wouldn't be a problem if it was executed really well. However some days the food and service is ok and other days it's really rather poor. It's such a shame as this cafe is in a lovely location and it could be really good.

Home made tomato soup served with very good sandwiches in excellent bread. The bacon in the BLT was superb - not too salty and quite sweet. Good coffee as well.

booked a cream tea as a surprise for our friends 80th birthday, service was very poor not very friendly, bought our hot drinks there was four of us altogether, I think we all thought the cream tea would be on a nice cake stand with at least a choice of sandwiches and a few small cream cakes how wrong we were, it was bought out on a board covered in greasproof paper 2 small quarter sandwiches each cheese and marmite pickle and the other one was cream cheese and cucumber a very small scone with a small pot of cream and jam, a tiny sausage roll, 2 slices of cake so thin they looked like they had been cut with a razor blade, and a tiny shortbread biscuit, we had to call someone to ask for a knife to cut our scone as they did not give any of us one, nobody came to ask us if it was ok we never got asked if we would like another drink, I had to go out to find someone to pay the bill it was £59.96pence for what I can only describe as very very poor, I have been out for a few cream teas but this was by far the worst I have had, and won't be recommending it to anyone, I would have complained but did not want to spoil my friends birthday as it was our treat to her, all I can say is that she must have thought how mean we were as we all came away feeling very dissatisfied, not worth 15pound each that's for sure.

Went to the herb farm cafe twice recently. Both times the staff were lovely, the tea/coffee good and the toasted tea cakes tasty. Only gripe is that on the second visit - with grandchildren - they had run out of icecream!

Tan frustrado con este lugar, ya que podría ser mucho mejor con muy poco esfuerzo.

La granja vende hierbas comunes y no tan comunes, junto con otras plantas. El personal es servicial y los precios son razonables.

En una tarde soleada llevé a mi madre discapacitada a encontrarme con amigos para el té a las 3. 30 p. M. La zona de asientos más grande estaba cerrada ya que habían lavado los pisos (¡2ª vez que esto sucedió)! Así que nos pusimos manos a la obra para poder sentarnos en una mesa en la que no podíamos acomodar la silla de ruedas y mamá tenía que sentarse de espaldas a nosotros. A las 4 . 20 pm se nos presentó el proyecto de ley cuando cierran a las 4. 30 pm y luego nos hicieron sentir bastante incómodos. Lamentablemente, no volveré, es una lástima, pero cuando estés feliz de tomar mi dinero para el té y el pastel, al menos déjame terminarlo sin sentir que soy un inconveniente, si cierras a las 4. ¿A las 30 p.m. seguramente eso no significa que todos tienen que estar fuera? !

He estado visitando la cafetería The Herb Farm durante muchos años y buscando en la tienda artículos inusuales. Desde el cambio de la cafetería de Daisy hasta ahora, la calidad / cantidad ha disminuido. Solía ​​tener un agradable sentido hogareño, no ahora que es tan triste. Shabby chic es ahora chic raído. Señorita partido de muebles viejos, no muy atractivo. La selección de comida ha disminuido y es muy limitada si quieres algo caliente después de las 11. 30 a.m. La mesa en la que nos sentamos era muy pegajosa y necesitaba limpieza. Realmente es una gran pena. La oferta de tiendas también ha disminuido y es muy costosa. Lamentablemente no visitaré nuevamente.

Entorno encantador. Gran servicio además de lo que podría llamarse un supervisor que habló con el joven personal del sábado de una manera muy abrupta. Casi siento pena por ellos. Es una pena, ya que podría ser un equipo realmente encantador. Todos los demás hicieron todo lo posible para ofrecer un gran servicio

We had high hopes for this place but had to send sandwich back as there was very little filling and when it returned it wasn’t much better. We paid £52 for lunch for 3 of us and am sorry but we really can’t recommend it. We had Soup sandwiches and a cake

Great morning started in the shop then round the local traders of stained glass, jams chilly sauce.great atmosphere really busy then on to the cafe for coffee and cake. I had my ticket called by someone who was loud what was great as there was so much noise and I heard it perfectly above all the noise.great end to the day fabulous service from everyone at herb farm well done as it was so busy. Can’t wait to return

Loved this place over 10 years ago when I came down south to see my elderly mother and take her out. At the time the food and welcome were excellent. Lovely to see that 10 years on the good service and the shop/ plant nursery are still all of a high standard. Well worth a visit.

They have a large selection of herbs and plants, a good gift shop, with unusual items, the cafe is very nice, worth a visit

I come here a lot in the summer, when I can take advantage of looking out onto the gardens. The cafe is in an old converted barn and an added on conservatory. Always have a lovely time here. It has a very relaxed feel and the menu had a few favourites like jacket potatoes, halumi salad, nice sandwiches, cheese on toast, as well as cream tea. It's always nice to have a look at the plants and the gift shop. You can also sit outside in the summer. Nice place to spend a relaxed afternoon.

Really good lunch / catered for gluten free as well. Lovely staff and good quality plants. Will visit again.

La cafetería aquí es enormemente deficiente en buena gestión. No está mejorando. Cuando los clientes personal totalmente por alto. Se sentó y aunque el café era sólo un barrio, fue ignorada por las edades. Menú podría ser mucho mejor. Bollos caliente pero seco y el té servido antes de bollos llega. Quien dirige este lugar es claramente no es un entusiasta. Mejores lugares alrededor. El café necesita música para mejorar el ambiente. Tienda de fábrica es de buena calidad. Productos en la tienda bonito pero muy caro. Creo que se beneficiarían de la venta de más productos. Este lugar bueno ser una verdadera joya si alguien podría tomar más de pensamiento adicional.

Llevé a mi anciana madre aquí para el almuerzo.

Conocí a algunos amigos de aquí para almorzar temprano hoy y llegamos a 11. 20. El orden para nuestras bebidas fue tomada con bastante rapidez, pero después de un poco mientras tuve que pedir menús. Por esta vez estaba a unos 11. 40 y habiendo...

Llamamos aquí a tomar un café y tarta 11 o'clock un día. Las tartas que teníamos eran muy buenos. El servicio era rápido y agradable, dos tercios de las mesas estaban en uso, con algunos clientes estar fuera. En realidad vino a comprar algunas plantas de lavanda, y había una muy buena selección de todo tipo de plantas de aspecto saludable. Una gran tienda de adjunto con comida y regalos inusuales de categoría. Si usted está en mal estado muebles chic hay una buena selección. Algunos de los pubs locales debería venir aquí y ver cómo equipar un elegante bar/restaurante. En general un gran lugar para una deliciosa comida y un poco de terapia de compras.

I come here a lot with many different friends. It is always welcoming, friendly and serves the most delicious home made food. The soup today was beautifully warming and the cakes to follow were perfectly baked. I recommend this wonderful place for lunch, afternoon tea, cakes and any other occasion!

We have visited the Herb Farm many times over the years and have really enjoyed the experience but recently have been disappointed. Our visit yesterday was the third in about 2 months and on each occasion the service has let the Herb Farm down. The cafe has been redesigned such that the staff are not able to keep a view of all the tables and customers just appear to be forgotten about. On each of the three recent visits we had to try and find someone to serve us and wait at the till with other customers for someone to take our money. Although we ordered drinks and toasted tea cakes the tea cakes never arrived and because by the time we realised that no teacakes were coming we had nearly finished our drinks and there was no staff member to ask so we had no teacakes. With a small adjustment to the layout and some staff customer service training the Herb Farm could be great again.

Returned hoping for improvements, but sadly not good. Walk in and no greeting from staff, no menu offered. Waited 10 minutes, in the end went up to find someone and ask for menu. Very little food on offer with run of the mill basic stuff. Seems no one really cares about the place. Is it about to close? actually they are seeking to enlarge the place. Waited ages for drinks. In the shop they are selling cakes, but they are not fresh made by local bakers, why? one can find these cakes in Budgens supermarket up the road. Really sad as it used to be so popular. This coffee shop needs an injection of passion.

used to go regularly but reshuffle has seemed to have caused the menu to shrink and prices to rise, looks very pretty and stylish but unfortunately no substance to back it up, where is all the lovely choice gone, scones and cakes are still lovely but lunches are just a choice of modern looking leafy offerings!

The cafe is good. The herb farm itself used to hold a lot of rare herbs. This seems to have changed, with the general availability being just standard herbs.For example, there must have been a couple of hundred French tarragon plants, but not one Russian tarragon one - the Russian is far more flavoursome than the French.The shop is full of expensive gifts, foods and personal hygiene goods. They also now have a chilled food section - but it is expensive.

It was a nice sunny day and a short drive from the hotel we were staying. We spent a lovely few hours there, smelling the herbs, buying some new goodies and having a small lunch. The variety of herbs was amazing and beautifully laid out. A sense of quirkyness and family fun with the gifts in the shop, the greenery around the farm and the maze. Lunch was incredible, a nice menu with a good choice of foods, drinks and sweet dishes. Food was brilliant quality, will definitely be going back there again. The knowledge the staff had was really helpful and they were lovely to talk to.

A group of four of us went to the Herb Farm cafe for an informal lunch to celebrate a friend's birthday. I tried to reserve a table beforehand but was told they didn't take reservation for parties under six. The telephone manner was stroppy and impatient and the member of staff who answered the phone, around 1130, did not inform me that the range of food that day would be very limited. We arrived at 1 pm, sat down at the table only to learn that the chef had not turned up for work that day and had given no notice. Even in those circumstances one could expect some freshly made food, an offer of sandwiches or jacket potatoes. There was no apology, the attitude of the person in charge was "take it or leave it, I couldn't care less". And it used to be such a happy eating place, with nice atmosphere and a small but well composed selection of simple dishes. It's a pity because an establishment like this only gives a bad name to the Herb Farm.

The service was brilliant when I stopped by to have some post shopping soup.The soup was very good although a little spicy. I had a choice as to whether I wanted served with croutons, seeds or a third option I forget. The herb scone was good.It is not the cheapest soup but worth it. Note no wifi - they ask you talk with your friends.

Went here yesterday with my daughter. Prices a bit steep. I Ordered drinks and food was even asked what topping I wanted on my Cheese on Toast! My daughters cake and our drinks came I waited and waited but my Cheese on Toast didn't come!! I asked another waitress if she could check on it and it had been forgotten so our lunch was over an hour rather then 30 minutes for Cheese on Toast! As I got up to pay the Waitress in charge said "no need to pay seeing as we kept you waiting for so long hope to see you back". The food it self was lovely but not worth £6.95. Hot chocolate would have cost me £3.40 with Marshmallows! Staff could be a bit more with it especially the young ones!

Range of food on offer for a mid afternoon "tea and cake" was disappointing, although the cake that I did choose was good. Very limited number of items for children to select from. All in all, I thought that the "offering" was a bit pricey for what you got.Items for sale in the shop area are very expensive.

The quality of the plants are very good. General shop merchandise, too expensive. This place needs an owner with better vision. Should be more of a farm shop. Started to sell excellent quality bread though.There coffee shop looks lovely but sells very little in the way of food. Too many staff with not much food to serve, shame. Need to employ someone with better vision to take the herb garden forward.

We are locals and have visited the Herb Farm over many years and through the various ups and downs of the cafe eras. Whilst Daisy's at the Herb Farm always served disappointing main courses their cakes and teas were reasonably consistent and service acceptable. We had high hopes for the new ownership which seems to have gone in-house but were sadly disappointed today. The young blonde girl who served us was morose, utterly disinterested and completely inattentive. Whilst the hot chocolate was ok the shortbread was salty, slightly stale and not a patch on previous visits. The savoury food is extremely limited to non existent and there has been no effort to update or refurbish the cafe which amazes us as it desperately needs reconfiguring. To start with how can it be in 2015 they still have outdated aged and very poor outside toilets! The kitchen is too small to serve the food required for the table numbers and in sited in the middle so there is no logical flow to the place for customers. The owners have sweated this asset its now time to invest to bring this place up to modern standards and the competition.

If you want to get into herbs this is the place. Give yourself plenty of time to browse the herbs, chat to the staff who really know what they are talking about and then visit the lovely shop and cafe.

Visited on Good Friday and was amazed by the quality if the plants and items in the shop.Cafe food and drink were first class and the staff were very friendly and attentive.

What is this site trying to be? Some parts not open all the time and seems to be more of a cafe area for retired or semi retired people.

Surprisingly wide choice of snack food and drinks (all types of tea and coffee) on the menu. Nice surroundings.

Have had a lovely time here this afternoon Carl was wonderful,made us all giggle. Variety of coffees was great.

Great little cafe in an interesting place. We went for breakfast but I did eye up the cakes on the way out and thought they'd be worth a separate trip. Good food, if I was being picky there isn't much choice for breakfast so I wouldn't necessarily return for a nice brunch at the weekend to try something else out. Dogs really welcome.

Not the best time of the year to visit a herb farm/shop - we'll for plants! but the cafe - Daisies is open all year as is the shop and serves good food and wonderful homemade cakes - there is always a selection of five/six different cakes and sponges.They do reserve tables for lunch - so at busy times (especially when the sun's out) it can be difficult to find a table for a coffee and cake - arrive well before lunch time and they will often offer you a reserved table but let you know at what time you need to vacate it. I would definitely recommend a visit as it's pretty unique and only a 10/15 minute drive from central Reading.

Lovely little gift shop with unusual items...not cheap but good quality...a separate café with snacks and lovely cakes (lunches were limited due to the time of year)...good choice of plants in the greenhouse - even in December

The cafe there is lovely - the staff are really nice and friendly, and the food there is amazing, especially the cakes. It's homely and a nice place to go to for some coffee and a chat with your friends too.

Yes, half the maze is very short, but the back half still proves fun for little ones. My three year old, went round it twice. Drink prices may have been a little high at £9.40 for latte, tea for one and blackcurrant drink for children, but then the place kept us amused for a couple of hours without admission charge etc. lovely setting, lovely cafe area.

We had been to the cafe there many times before and went there on this occasion to go to the maze there but were highly disappointed to find out that they are currently re-planting the maze so majority of the bushes are rather short so we had lunch there instead. They had plenty of seats and the service was incredibly friendly. They had a large lunch menu and a smaller childrens menu with beans on toast etc. We didnt wait very long for our food but it had a lovely relaxed atmosphere anyway. Three of us had sandwiches and the other chose from the very large selction of cakes instead. The best part of our visit was certainly the food as it was lovely and everything was freshly made.