Leckford Farm Shop in Test Valley

There’s a very strong meat smell when you walk in. Very off putting. Toilet didn’t work so that was embarrassing, quite cold, coffee poor to moderate , really needs more warmth, no smells and approachable staff, I felt like a stranger except for 1 lady who was lovely and the only reason I stayed because of her. It was pretty cold so I wasn’t in the best of spirits. I felt nice when I left so it’s not a bad experience- it’s that sharp meaty smell that threw me (I’m vegetarian). I used to live in Stockbridge and was brought up in marsh court next to the infamous and gorgeous river test and live at Langtry house (was called Hermit Lodge) on the brought on road

The food is always lovely here and always lots of tables. It’s nice to look around the shop as well. The nursery & shop are also good to stroll through after a nice meal.

We were camping locally (Stockbridge) and other campers suggested a visit here. It’s great they said! So we did with high hopes. Entrance in was inviting, offering at the cafe was inviting. That’s when it went downhill. Coffee was insipid, scones were doughy, the other visitors were so rude, high & mighty attitude. The shop had some stuff but nothing exciting. Really wish we had spent our money on local cafes in Stockbridge . We also visited the Water Garden £10 each. Spent all of 20 mins there. Nice not exciting

Extremely inefficient and slow method of service. We had to queue for 20 minutes, with the queue stretching into the outdoor section, just to place an order and get our drinks. We ordered 2 scrambled eggs on toast and then had to sit down and wait for the kitchen to deliver it. Which they did not do. After 50 minutes of waiting we had to complain and request a refund. My husband had to leave me sitting there after 30 minutes so he could go and buy the garden equipment we’d originally come for, because we were running out of time. And I had to buy some brownies in the farm shop because I was feeling faint and shaky from hunger! We were planning to browse and spend money in the nursery but couldn’t as we had wasted an hour and 20 minutes for food which never came. The queue was still snaking out of the building when we left. With elderly people and children waiting on a hot day. Absolutely the worst service we’d ever experienced from a cafe. Waitrose - inexcusable and way below an acceptable level of service.

Dreadful set up. We had to wait 1.5 hours for breakfast on a sunday, between the queue and getting food, so clearly the system isn't working. Waitrose - wake up and smell the coffee! Change it. Seat people first and let them order via a QR, using your current staff to serve. No idea how the kitchen is run, but so bored now. It's nearly lunchtime and still no food

We had visited the Longstock Water Gardens - also part of John Lewis (separate review) and called in to their garden centre, shop and cafe, but only for cold drinks. We were with friends who live in the Salisbury area. The garden centre was well stocked and reasonable prices, one of our friends bought a plant. The farm shop was just that (see photos) with an appropriate but very limited range. Oddly they are selling Cook frozen products in a big way - strange - how about promoting the JL range?? We only had cold drinks but the cafe sold the usual selection of cakes etc, sandwiches and light meals. The Food Standards Agency Hygiene Rating is a 5, the highest category - excellent. Toilets clean. It is disappointing to see many unfavourable reviews and not one response from the management - that's bad and not up to JL standards. Clearly there are some problems here. So, an OK location but I suspect that there are many pubs in the area that do better. Not wortth a special visit.

Excellent toasted sandwiches… carafes of water available. Staff very friendly… it was busy at 12:30 on a Friday lunchtime but didn’t take long to get a table. Nice shop with local gifts… good stock of plants and pots available

Whilst touring in Hampshire we visited the Leckford Farm Shop and nursery enjoying a cream tea in the garden. The nursery has a lovely long border and a good selection of plants with staff offering helpful advice so I bought a good quality plant. The Farm Shop stocked only a small selection of food from the Estate, flour, wine, rapeseed oil and few Waitrose products and oddly a freezer full of the Cook Brand products. I was told they are supporting local businesses! They should be championing their own brand. Biodiversity signs everywhere driving in but I expected more food production from the farm. They do not accept the my Waitrose/JL loyalty card and looked weary explaining ‘their system is not set up for it’. Obviously others are asking the same question. Maybe the CEO Sharon White can explain.

Quite literally the worst cup of coffee I’ve ever tasted. It was supposed to be an Americano but I knew I was in trouble the moment it arrived. Rather than being a healthy dark, dark brown, almost black, it was pale brown. It looked and tasted like dishwater, not coffee at all. A cup of instant would have been a lot better than this cup of supposedly ground coffee.

This was a great stop-off for light refreshments on our way to Mottisfont Abbey near Romsey. An ideal place to wander the walled gardens, purchase plants and Waitrose goodies.

Lovely tea - thank goodness for Teapigs! Dry Victoria Sandwich cake. Zero customer service - barely any recognition of our existence at the cafe counter.

Very nice to visit, it's a little shop but a nice cafe and nursery where you can buy lots of flowers. There is also a garden shop to buy things for outdoors

My daughter and I visit every Friday morning.The cafe is warm and cosy with helpful staff.The shop is well stocked.

We made a special visit as we’d heard it was a Waitrose run cafe / farm but it was clear from the start it didn’t live up to the Waitrose brand. The farm shop is unattractive and uninspiring compared to the large numbers of other independent farm shops . The local produce is hidden away and difficult to find. The presentation of produce is tired and the local range is limited. Unfortunately the food in the cafe was no better and fell short of our expectations of a ‘treat’. It was very basic and boring. You’d be better off at one if the local pubs on the river, which have far more atmosphere. Really disappointed. If you’re not involved Waitrose, take your huge sign down!

We usually have breakfast once a week here (a relative insists) - It's definitely a lottery. The last few times the toast has been just limp warm bread not toasted, the fried egg yolks hard and overcooked, the plate of fried eggs swimming in oil and the portions of scrambled egg vary in size. They are mean with their butter - two tiny portions don't spread well over a 2 slices of tough sourdough (which varies in size each time). The worst is how mean they are with their portions of mushrooms. They sell brown bags of mushrooms in the shop for about £1.25 ish. Yet extra mushrooms on your plate are £1.50 a portion - usually comprising of three or four tiny mushrooms . . . sometimes only one mushroom cut into 2 pieces! John Lewis run a mushroom farm for goodness sake . . . . Also, they sell toast, they sell cooked mushrooms - but you can't order mushrooms on toast, you can only have mushrooms with a cooked breakfast! The menu is unchanged and boring - it's been the same for so long - variety please . .. poached eggs, boiled eggs, hash browns, black pudding, other items on ordinary toast rather than tough sourdough! Longing for change!

Went to the farms shop on a Sunday morning (15 October 2022) for breakfast and had scrambled egg on toast and the scrambled egg was not cooked but didn't bother complaining then had a plain scone which was doughy /uncooked in the middle and did complain but all they said was I will tell the cook and no offer of refund or alternative which I know they have offered to others that have complained about food there. Was a shame as the food there is usually good there but was disappointed with their attitude.

Long queue, cheap tasting coffee. A very basic Waitrose cafe, nothing special. Only one vegan option on the entire menu, which was very embarrassing, as I had told my friend that the website said they had vegan options plural at least!!

Fantastic location, beautiful food, good prices, excellent facilities and friendly, helpful staff - what more could you ask for!? Well worth a visit.

Full disclosure... I'm a retired Partner of Waitrose and have "some" inside knowledge. Longstock Park Nursery has thankfully evaded the modernisation that is happening across the partnership, where it's nigh on impossible to identify the partners in a JL Dept store (if you can spot the badge you're a winner) or find a Partner on a Waitrose shop floor. The nursery is brilliantly laid out with knowledgeable partners available to offer advice. The shop has a wonderful range of products from "Essential Waitrose" to artisan foods. Frankly the quality of the fruit and veg was better than I ever achieved running a branch. Now the cafe.....well, let's just say, they care! Genuine engagement, great food and true empathy. This is what the partnership used to be all about, sadly I frankly don't get what's happening in the department stores and as for Waitrose......Agency staff everywhere and shops that look awful. Please have a re-think and focus on delivering the basics. Put the stock on the shelf, welcome your customers and employ the very best people on checkouts. They can recover all sorts of issues. Rant over....but please go take a look at Leckford Farm Shop. You wont be dissapointed.

A very nice place. The farm shop has a lovely range of items. Plant nursery has a wide range of plants. There is also an outdoor cafe with separate seating area. Excellent place to visit.

First time we had been to this place. The Garden Centre is lovely ..the restaurant equally so. Though not a huge menu which I can understand, there was enough choice for us. The jacket potatoes were really nice, quick service although they were busy. Little disappointed with the Farm Shop but hey you can't win them all

I regularly visit once a week with a elderly lady I support, it's our favourite place to visit as the Cafe is fantastic with quality food and drink, at times it becomes very busy!. the staff do a fantastic job ensuring customers are well looked...

I usually love it here but I can't believe what I witnessed this morning when two people got told they couldn't sit and eat the food THEY HAD JUST PAID FOR! I was disgusted and appalled that such a highly rated farm cafe would discriminate...

Leckford was one of the pitstops for my cycling event with 70 riders spread over 2 hours. It would be able to take a fair number more. For reasons beyond my control it had to be arranged at short notice but their management was up...

A good strong flat white, and a hot bacon roll, JLP quality and value, in their barn-style café. A good menu, with trendy bits for the trendies. (The friendly staff have to battle valiantly with a counter which is not suited to the work they...

So in short, the customer seems to come last here, yet people tolerate it. Ordering breakfast you cannot have your hot drink with your food as this doesn’t suit their system. Requesting a poached egg with avocado with (not on) sourdough I was told that...

Lovely "safe" outside seating (even in January) and good selection of plants. But the bacon and brie panini at £6.95 was poor value, very stingy amount of bacon and brie. Could have been so much better with a more generous filling, I expect better of...

How dull, lacks the Christmas spirit, You would think they would light the big beautiful burner, no. You’d think they would have some sort of decoration on the tables, even a sprig of holly would have done, maybe even played Christmas music in the background,...

It is several years since we last ate here. It was lovely to return for lunch today. We enjoyed a super carrot and coriander soup (my husband and I both commented that it is probably the best carrot soup that we have ever had) We...

What a fantastic place we discovered by accident, great farm shop,cafe,and garden centre with additional garden.

First time to long stock farm cafe for coffee and cake very good service and the cake very good value

A visit to the Leckford Estate farm shop and cafe which is part of the Waitrose farm just north of Stockbridge. There is a lovely nursery and garden emporium to have a walk around before sitting down for a spot of lunch. Menu included jacket...

Yep, our 1st visit to the Leckford Cafe and Water Gardens (see separate review). Delightful setting and great food. Coronation Chicken was superb, better with a Jacket Potato than as a Sandwich. Why no Brown Bread on offer? Good coffee. Returned for drinks and Scones...

Visited the water gardens and then the farm shop and cafe. Good coffees and lemon drizzle cake. We sat in a new additional area with picnic tables. All were suitably distanced and service was good.

went last Sunday to have a good look at the amazing garden centre run By Waitrose with excellent plant/shrubs on display and ability to purchase.All kinds on show with ample spaces to view;very popular outing finished by going to sit down outside or inside large...

We decided to stop for a coffee on the way back from Salisbury, following a friends recommendation. We were not disappointed, instead of having a coffee and scone we decided to have the afternoon tea (just after 12.00 noon). The sandwiches were moist, freshly made...

Great location for coffee and cake and catching up with friends. The breakfast/brunch menu is also great. The shop itself it beautiful with friendly staff and the garden centre is lovely!

Not surprising , it was good to see it open at all. A very hot day, all shade outside already taken so had our drinks inside. Tables were cleaned though some people couldn’t wait and sat at used tables.

This is no longer a farm shop - don't bother if you are looking for a deli type offering of food. They should change their signage as you can find better variety of food at the co-op in Stockbridge.... Sadly a very disappointing experience

We've been regular customers here for a couple of years and have been back twice since the cafe re-opened. True, things aren't quite the same as they were but they are working under very different and sometimes very difficult circumstances (there is a plethora of...

As a garden centre, this place looks great. Lots of variety, well laid out. Covid-19 precautions are well signposted and feels safe. Good one way systems, 2m clearly marked out, and helps there is quite a bit of space so you can keep your distance...

A few months ago the cafe opened for takeaways and i would cycle there with my children and have tea and cake under the trees. That will always be a positive memory of this horrible time for us. The farm shop was also a godsend...

Well organised to deal with the virus. Tables set apart. Cleared. Kept clean. Excellent food. Fresh & well presented.Good value. Friendly and helpful staff.

Is it really a surprise when it is 12-1 o clock and people want to eat? 2 staff taking so long to make one coffee, staring at the till in bewilderment, messing about with napkins etc, that a queue of 15 people form outside. When...

We travelled to the farm shop cafe to have a breakfast and it was excellent. It arrived quickly and it was very tasty and hot. The staff were helpful and very pleasant. We bought some items from the well stocked shop and also some garden...

It was busy! But we had a really good lunch and it was perfect for catching up with a friend. Delicious Welsh rarebit!

Delighted to see an unusually large selection of sliced cakes also scones and I recall some other tray type slices. Had a wonderful fruit scone. A good cuppa too. All good...

Have visited here many times. The nursery is wonderful. The shop has been through several transitions since it opened. There is an interesting range of products now and some lovely locally sourced items. I always enjoy buying the Leckford estate produce - mushrooms, rapeseed oil,...

We visited for lunch and a wander. The restaurant was good value for the price paid and surrounding areas clean. Lots of gift items to look at plus food drinks and chocolates. Vegetables and fruit also a Cooks Shop. The toilets look as though they...

For once this John Lewis owned cafe was not absolutely crammed to the rafters, it being a grey and drizzly afternoon. It’s perfectly OK here but something is missing. I suppose it is just a bit characterless. There are never quite enough staff who always...

Had coffee and cake whilst browsing the nursery for trees. Had a fabulous flat white and a wonderful fruit scone.

Sunday morning breakfast, on arrival long queue to order and informed that no pancakes available and 20 minute wait for food. This was only 40 minutes after opening. Finally the food arrived after sn hours wait, eggs burnt at edges and rock hard. Bacon was...

Recently we went for brunch with children and grandchildren, 8 of us in all. The cafe is a large pleasant space but when full, as it was on this occasion, it is very 'echo-ey' making it hard to hear what's being said from one end...

Really good value for money , we orders the ploughman’s for lunch and was a big portion. All fresh and put together well. Would also recommend the scones there quite big. Does get very busy at lunch time but service seemed fairly organised and the...

I used to live in this area, and visited Longstock Water Gardens regularly. Had not been for many years, and this cafe is new since I last came. The menu was interesting and varied, but it didn't take long for us both to pick on...

We visited as it was just off our route home having been to Salisbury. A lovely, tranquil setting with an excellent café and interesting garden centre. We arrived just in time for the last breakfast order and were served by helpful, friendly staff. breakfast was...

Well worth a visit, busy cafe, not cheap, but top quality...sales areas well stocked with high end products

What a fantastic surprise this turned out to be food delivered within 10 mins and beautifully cooked, (so easy to mess up a English breakfast) but not this one six of us and all very impressed. Every member of staff was cheerful and courteous, If...

Loved this place great selection in the nursery and shop nice vibe in the cafe.. Lovely produce. Will be back.

Having recently retired and having more time on our hands it's hard not to come here more often. The staff are always so friendly and the food always delicious plus the location is just lovely. We also rarely leave the nursery without a plant in...

Thought this would be a good location to visit, being a Waitrose & Partnership, but was very disappointed, a very small amount of fresh produce, and no butchers. We bought a Coffee and Walnut cake again thinking it would be good value but in trying...

This restaurant has really gone downhill breakfast today not what we ordered. A feeble apology, then muttering by staff. We come here monthly to meet friends never again. Bacon like leather. Scrambled eggs solid. Not what one expects from John Lewis!

No signage until you get to the estate. Sat nav is useless. Plenty of parking. Very small scruffy "garden centre". Nursery was okay. Farm shop sold lots of expensive products from outside suppliers. Not much in the way of produce from the estate to buy....

The drive from Southampton to the farm shop is very beautiful and the location of the shop cafe is very tranquil. It was a warm sunny day and we were prepared to enjoy the moment which was good as we waited patiently while everyone around...

I have been here several times and enjoyed it, but this time was not so good. We looked for a table so that we had a number to give when we ordered, and found that there were lots of tables that hadn't been cleared from...

Popped in here on the way back from Winchester. A bit off the beaten track and could have been signposted better. We got there about mid day. No queue for food (unlike when we had finished our lunch). We had jacket potato and coronation chicken....

We really enjoy our annual 90min each way jouney to Leckford. Superb coffees and almond croissants, plenty of seating indoors and out, lovely staff, good varied menu plus lots of farm shop/deli type things to checkout ouy, everything on the level and good toilets. Excellent...

A year or two, we might have given 5 stars but the cafe seems to be going down hill. Prices seem to have increased significantly but with quantities slightly reduced. On our last visit, we found our table sticky and knives dirty. The member of...

This place ought to be great but sadly it is missing the mark (for us anyway). It was relatively busy in our first visit but we queued and placed an order only to be informed 10 minutes later that the kitchen had run out of...

This is another one of my favourite places that I have visited recently. Highly recommend. It is busy but we managed to get a table without too much effort. The queue for the food order did take a while though. We shared such a good...

On May Bank holiday Monday with the annual Plant Fair in full swing, you can be sure that the Farm Shop Cafe would be busy. And it certainly was! It was packed and as expected, there were long queues to get served. Despite this, it...

We've visited the cafe many times and in general it's a good place to have coffee and cake. The service is pleasant and the food reasonably priced, nothing exciting but that's fine for a garden centre. However last time we visited we decided to have...

A large airy eating area with reasonable prices. Usual snacks but also a few main courses until 4 o'clock, inckuding a good range of vegetarian meals. Clean toilets and good disabled access. Farm shop with fresh produce as well as usual jams and relishes. Oh,...

Enjoyed our coffee and cake. Good menu at reasonable prices. Staff friendly and good atmosphere. Plenty of seating inside and out.

We visit here fairly regularly and have never been disappointed. Sure, sometimes they are very busy but the service is always good and friendly. We visited this Sunday morning for brunch and there was 7 of us. We all received our food at the same...

I hardly ever write reviews but this place used to be one of my favourite places to go for coffee/brunch but recently I feel like it is poorly managed and it is such a shame. Last couple of times I have been I have had...

A revisit after a gap of about six months which didn't disappoint with one exception: the impression of my smoked trout when it arrived. It looked very pretty and attractively presented but with tiny squares of beetroot "secured" to the trout with a dot of...

What has happened to the food? We have been regular visitors and my favourite dish was the quiche with coleslaw and salad. Advised today that they had stopped making the coleslaw and replaced with something called mixed salad (lettuce and a few pieces of cucumber...

A nice out of the way place to visit, nice coffees,carrot cake although a bit pricey was good in size and texture, very busy. Nursery is worth a look.

We met friends for an informal lunch and this venue was ideal. A good variety of dishes , the cheese soufflé was particularly good. Also good range of hot drinks and cakes . The farm shop adjacent is worth a look as well, with nice...

As another reviewer has mentioned. The bacon and Brie panini is dreadful. Barely any content at all and well over priced for such a poor quality. Soup of the day (broccoli and Stilton) was really bland and again over priced! We won’t go back.

The site and venue is gorgeous, they have totally nailed that! What a lovely place to visit! But..... sigh.... the but..... We ordered a couple of drinks and it felt a bit like "mum serving at the school disco" with a nervous and very slow...

This country retreat is a special place to enjoy a great meal out. You can do lots of people watching , enjoy a varied menu of vegetarian and other special foods , which are brought to your table ensuring a hot , well cooked meal....

Have been twice before and really enjoyed, so it was particularly disappointing when the Cranberry Brie and Bacon Panini I ordered turned up with a few scraps of bacon that amounted to less than a rasher and a single sliver of brie in each half...

... management really need to invest in a bit of training of their waiting staff as they don't always manage the most basic element (clearing dirty dishes!). This is local to us and we pop in every few months on our own, or we take...

Visited here for the first time on Saturday having always stopped in Stockbridge before for breakfast/brunch. Choice of food was excellent as was the quality. However, when we have breakfast/brunch, we always like to have our tea/coffee WITH our food. This however is not possible...

This cafe is situated in countryside outside of Stockbridge. The approach is very attractive as is the building and surrounding garden centre. Unfortunately my poor rating was food related. I was astonished when I asked for my cheese scone to be served warm and was...

We go here for Sunday breakfast with the papers, nice selection of food. Self service, order at tills. Like the shop area and we always enjoy a stroll around the nursery.

We found this lovely farm shop and cafe through Trip Advisor and it was everything we expected .We had a great breakfast and which meant no room for lunch.Great menu and friendly staff.extreamly good wheelchair access,Although we live 20miles away we will certainly return.

Initially not what we expected but friends recommended despite it appeared to be a 'garden centre' It is - but what a 'garden centre'! everything you ever wanted in the way of horticulture, ornaments - and food - meals, snacks and just hot chocolate and...

My husband always moans when we visit garden centres, but he does love farm shop eating, we are regular Waitrose customers and I needed some Cretan pots to complete my latest garden installation. Cue a visit to the Longstock Park Nursery owned by Waitrose. We...

We live locally and tend to go here quite frequently. However, twice recently we have been disappointed. I ordered a prawn sandwich a few weeks ago which was cut from the heel of the bread. It was literally two mouthfuls! We sent it back and...

Following a disappointing visit 6 months ago we returned yesterday for lunch. This time I tried the Steak & Stilton pie with mashed potato. This was not cheap, being priced at just under £12 so my expectations were fairly high. The restaurant was not very...

Very popular, so the queues for service are lengthy, however when one can finally get served the food and drinks are delicious. Service is good and the outdoor seating is lovely, surrounded by the magnificent specimens from the attached garden centre.

Much better service than the last time we visited and a delicious Soufflé's with olive bread and salt as a lunch special. Nice range of food available, with some enticing looking cakes.

Lovely clean place for lunch .We had the Leckford Mushrooms Toastie which was filled to brim with delicious mushrooms.Lovely salad and crisps.Tap water to drink.

Homemade soup: small portion with 2 thin slices of bread. For £6.50 I expect a big bowl of soup and a generous chunk of bread. Homemade Quiche with coleslaw & mixed leaves £8.95 Small piece of quiche with just a few salad leaves. Cheese Souffle...

Customer service in need of attention. A rude elderly customer spoilt our visit (which I appreciate can happen anywhere but doesn't make you want to return).

I recently took my mother here for a trip out, to buy plants and treat her lunch. The shop and cafe were very busy for a Wednesday lunch time. The wait was not to long to be served and the choice of food and drink...

Really quite out of the way and the roads here were interesting - the place was quite busy with visitors and lorries making deliveries. Came for the afternoon tea - which was pretty average. 3 finger sandwiches each (cucumber, ham and mustard and salmon and...