Willow Cottage Kitchen in Cheshire West and Chester

Absolutely amazing! Me and my partner popped into the farm shop just to look around, ended up buying and trying some cheese and cider! Extremely friendly, they gave us a mini cheese experience which we loved and recommended some amazing cider as I was unsure about what wine to have. We both learned a lot about their cheese. Great customer service, can’t wait to go back 😊

A good place for a Basil Fawlty experience. We called in for a quick coffee stop only to find that the cafe didn’t open until 11.00am which would mean a five minute wait. We were told that the opening might be later however due to a staff meeting. We politely pointed out to the owner that if he couldn’t tell us when he intended to open, we would have to continue our journey and find somewhere else. His unbelievable response was “We don’t want customers like you”

Review re-posted from Applegate Farm Shop as it appears that they have changed the name of their establishment: Every experience in Applegates Farm Shop was negative, and we chose to leave without becoming customers, as it was near impossible to do so. Firstly, on entering the building and making our way to the cafe,ready to order lunch, we asked to use the facilities. We were told a sit down order must be placed in the cafe first. We then tried to place our planned takeaway order and use the bathroom whilst waiting for our food, this was also not allowed. Sitting with a drink only and taking away sandwiches was also not allowed 'because it is for patrons only'. Our understanding of the term patron aligns with that of the Oxford English Dictionary "​(formal) a person who uses a particular shop, restaurant, etc". Apparently a drink and a lunch to takeaway isn't expensive enough to warrant using the facilities as the owners described the high cost of toilet cleaning materials. This was an embarrassing experience to us in our thirties, let alone an elderly couple or perhaps a customer with hidden disabilities who may have urgency to use a toilet? We do wonder wether the owners of the business understand that we would be paying the same amount of money, but literally leaving the table clear for a second cover and therefore allowing them to make more money? This seems bizarre considering profit margin appears to be their biggest priority. They are currently selling salami in the reduced meat section which is nearly 3 weeks out of date! We prefer in date meat and avoided the greying clearly deteriorating and possibly unsafe sausage and looked for a fresher option, but sadly when we looked in the full price section the best before was helpfully covered by the price tag. On peeling that back we saw that even the 'fresh' ones were 3 days out of date, and it wasn't just one pack were the price tag was over the best before date... we checked every one and the date was covered on all of them! The owner of the shop seemed agitated at this discovery and aggressively started pulling them off the shelves. We didn't catch his name, but Del Boy does spring to mind. You can sell items past their best before date in the UK, but only if the customer is aware of that it is past its prime and you as the shop owner has to take full responsibility for quality. This was all in all pretty unpleasant, the owner told us we weren't allowed to review the business as we weren't 'real customers' as we chose not to buy anything of his - by reading the other tripadvisor reviews this doesn't seem to be a unique problem. We tried to hastily exit as the owners then became increasingly annoyed as other shoppers overhead our discovery of all of his out of date produce so we tried to leave through the closest door. There was a one way system in place which admittedly they need for covid reasons, however the 'in' door has has its door handle physically removed so it cannot be opened at all from inside! This is illegal as it breaches fire regulations that all doors must be able to be opened from the inside and poses a serious fire risk with the possibility of people being stuck in the shop unable to escape in an emergency!. Overall - rude owners who would rather shout at people who pull over intending to make purchases in their shop to prevent the use of their toilet, who try to hide the expiry date of expired produce (and sell things nearly 3 weeks out of date) who have a shop which is frankly a fire hazard - avoid and stop off at a garage instead!

thank you for the service when i was out riding nice service staff and food ample parking a joy after riding round chester