Value for money. Small family-owned farm with their own farm shop, coffee shop and very…read morechildren-friendly! I didn't go into the shop but did get time to enjoy cream tea in the cafe. For only £2.50, I enjoyed a pot of tea, with extra hot water should I have fancied more, a warm home made fruit scone served with clotted cream and jam! It was delicious! The staff were lovely and checked to see if I enjoyed the scone and if I wanted a bacon sarnie to take with me! The coffee shop also had some farm-themed gifts, greeting cards and nik-naks for giving your home a touch of country feel. The place had been newly finished with extra seating inside next to a cosy log burner. There is also extensive seating outside where there is also a mini bouncy castle! I will be popping by again to pick up some meat soon but wanted to share it with you Yelpers now as its a bit of a hidden gem. Bring your family here this weekend (if the weather is not too grim)!

This is exactly the type of place I've been searching for since moving to the area. All other…read more'butchers' I've been to around here don't stock the cuts of meat I'm usually after...bone in pork shoulders and beef ribs or they are overly expensive. Here they will butchers cut you wish as they deal in whole carcass and the prices are very reasonable...£3.50 for brisket and beef ribs is very cheap compared to most places. It is a very clean place considering it's on a farm. There is also a tea room and small pet shop to visit.

This is a fabulous Garden Centre in a beautiful setting. The cafe is lovely with great service and…read moredelicious food. The shop and butchers is also excellent. We have had many plants, turf, bulbs, stones, logs etc over the years and everything is first rate. The staff are friendly, helpful and knowledgable. We always get our Christmas tree here too!

This is a very nice garden centre but it is a bit out of the way in broadbottom. It sells lots of…read morevery large plants in huge pots which you will need a truck to take away and lots of interesting shrubs and potted plants. There is a lovely teashop attached and it has some homemade fare.In stock is a nice array of little gifts and greeting cards as well as flower and vegetable seeds and plenty of bulbs. a good all round selection.

A lovely little farm shop hidden away in Dunham village. We only found it by going to the Axe and…read morecleaver pub and it being up the same road. When you go in you are greeted by fresh veg, packs of lovely meat from their only animals and a friendly face. The meat from here is absolutely fantastic and we use them for our Christmas joint as it is so good. I should really use it more often as the bacon and sausages are amazing!!

From the owner: We are a family run, traditional Farm Shop, in Dunham Massey village, near Altrincham and…read moreManchester. Providing Red Tractor Food assured Beef & local seasonal produce. Throughout the year we stock our own fresh Aberdeen Angus and Hereford Beef and local, free range Pork and Lamb. We exclusively stock Venison from Dunham Massey Park between September and January. Watch out for updates on the website and twitter. We also sell homemade gluten-free and plain pork Sausages, homemade Beef, Pork and Lamb burgers, Gammon and Bacon. We are happy to accept orders of any size and any cut and we sell Turkeys at Christmas time to our customers. We hope to see you soon, the Jones family

I ventured here with my bro-in-law and young nephew one evening for an hour's session of Insanity -…read moreand my body paid for it afterwards! Located in a HUGE former barn at Ashley Hall Farm in Ashley (just south of Altrincham), they offer sessions of Boot camp, Zumba, Insanity, Body Combat and Kids' Boot camp. We paid £5 each (it's £3 for kids) so it was a pretty cheap way to shed the pounds - I've never been more worn out after a training session in my life before! Bring plenty of water with you and your own towel, you'll be in desperate need of both every time there's a brief water break. Really welcoming and encouraging staff; and with it open to all ages, made for a particularly family-friendly bout of exercise! Tip: Follow them on Twitter (@GetFitAtTheFarm) for further information.

Amazed by this place…read more I haven't seen anywhere like it since my travels to Portland. It has a real community atmosphere. Everyone involved, from the growers to the staff to the people shopping, care and it really shows. It's honest. It's exactly where you want to buy your vegetables. There's soil on the fresh produce. Actual soil. No cellophane, no unnecessary packaging, no nonsense - just tasty, local food. The shelves are clearly labelled and well stocked with interesting offerings. They have your staples - potatoes, all the usual veg, cereals, spices, fruits as well as some more unusual choices when/if it's in season. Prices are reasonable and when you pay you feel like you're contributing - something you never experience in a chain supermarket. There's a play area for kids and free apples to keep them occupied - with a little compost bin for the cores. A big green thumbs up.

Unicorn is quite simply the best place ever and the eco-jewel in the crown of the noble and good…read morekingdom of Chorlton, that land of the yoga bunny, the eco-warrior and community campaign group Keep Chorlton Interesting http://keepchorltoninteresting.org/ Walking around the unusually-wide aisles of this wholefoods supermarket, it is easy to feel inspired that the times are *not* a' changing. Because they've changed. And here we find ourselves in a land flowing with everlasting organic milk and honey, and we no longer have to constantly check the label because it's all good stuff! Unicorn is a fully-fledged supermarket with the small and large trolleys to prove it, but the relaxed atmosphere and experience of the five senses being bathed in everything that is good is tangible. Starting outside the door, the Big Issue vendor deftly helped me free a trolley that was jammed, and I could feel his genuine wish to help and for my Unicorn shopping experience to be a good one. Inside. Organic seeds. Garden tools made in Wigan by a company called Bulldog. (I bought a hand fork and a 3-pronged hand cultivator, which I think will prove useful for weeding close to plants without damaging their roots.) Organic fruit and veg which is all labelled and sourced as locally as possible (e.g. Broad Beans from Gielty of Ormskirk). And plenty of choice of fruit and veg - how come supermarkets never manage to have more than a few lines of organic produce? A lovely blackboard telling what's in season and how things have been going for the farmers out in the field. Sometimes, I've seen another small blackboard outside showing how Unicorn is cheaper than Sainsbury or Tesco for the same items. This doesn't surprise me, as a good co-op is a very strong business model, without the big salaries and pressure for huge shareholder dividends of all chain supermarkets. I've not tried much from the chilled display, so I'll leave that to others to review. The dried goods are handily displayed on tiered shelves with small, medium and large sizes of each item. In the back corner, there is a lovely little play area, including a compost bin for the little eco-warriors to put their apple cores in! Every time I've visited, the play area has been very much in use, with lots of fun being had. The kids are nice to each other! The bakery and hot food takeaway is all good stuff from the best organic bakeries in the area, supplemented by some goodies baked instore. I've had great soups from here, eaten with a buttered roll or pastie, very wholesome-tasting - sweet potato or roasted red pepper, mmm! On the shelves in the middle are a many speciality ingredients which are hard to find elsewhere. From my till receipt, for example - Toasted Sesame Oil (organic), Pomegranate Syrup, Puffed Wheat (organic), Puffed Millet (organic), Polenta (organic). Even if you're not an enthusiastic cook, I would personally much rather have a breakfast cereal of Puffed Wheat with a dash of maple syrup and whatever else I fancy rather than trust the Honey Monster! Waiting at the checkout, the lady in front offered me half a organic loaf in a brown paper bag - thank you very much, madam! I always find the checkout staff and all the others very pleasant and on-the-ball - there is a maturity about this place. Unicorn is not a side-show in Chorlton it's the dominant retail model (shh - you know what I mean!) with a turnover of millions of pounds. One last thing - at the checkout, those branded plastic things that supermarkets provide to separate your shopping on the belt from the customers in front and behind are replaced by...pieces of wood! Pass on the well-worn, wooden baton and the good word about Unicorn. :-)

The Gabbotts Farm Stockport is situated at the front of merseyway shopping centre in Stockport,…read morenext to Argos. They sell cuts of raw packaged meat which are great value and have started doing ready to cook full meals too that go straight in the oven, I picked up one this week for tea while in stockport shopping and was really inpressed, cooked in a foil tray which can be thrown away so less washing up, it included the meat (I had Chicken breasts), Potatos and the Veg. The best bit about any gabbotts farm though is the cooked food counter where they sell roast chickens, chicken portions, gammon joints, chinese sausages and hot roast sandwiches. These taste great straight out of the bag whilst shopping and just as good when you get home reheated. The prices arent bad and the quality of the food is good. The staff are fast and helpful and genuinly friendly.

Lovely Freshly prepared food :) Always buy food from here its amazing cheap prizes for really good…read morequality meat

Cheap eat Monday this week, which is a thing I've just made up, is courtesy of Gabbots, in the…read moreArndale centre. Although it says it has a new name, the plastic bag (no charge) it came in says Gabbots, so Gabbots it is. Situated near, but not in, the Arndale Food Markets (more on those another day) its a handy place to get away from the hipsters of the Northern Quarter and just chow down on some straight up food. Theres all the meats, and at least 2 types of chips available from their hot food counter, and you don't need to worry about if your food comes on a plate, as its all takeaway in plastic containers. Theres probably some bull in there as well, but refreshingly, no bullshit. The first thing your going to notice about Gabbots, it is almost impossible to tell what they serve, as the heaving mass of meat eaters obscures the front of house. Peak a look through the crowd, and you'll spot what you want. You've got all your basic meats, sausages, burgers, chilli con-carne. If your feeling in a healthy mood, you've got your chicken option as well. Its not one for the vegetarians. I make a compromise and go for the 'Zinger' burger, any resemblance to any other chicken live or dead is un-intentional. I pair it with curly fries, which may also be referred to as salt and pepper fries, a bit like the Chinese salt and pepper seasoning, but not quite as nice. You've got to know what you want by the time you enter the queue, it always looks long, but they don't mess around at Gabbots. I imagine its close to the atmosphere on the trading floor at Wall Street. Before you know it your asked if you are being served, and you don't want to still be deciding if you want some chicken wings on the side. You need to be decisive. Do you want butter? No. Salad? All of it (I'll pick the cucumber off later). Stick me some mayo on the burger, and ketchup on the chips. Grab a can of your chosen fizzy drink, diet for me, got to watch the calories. £3.80 all in. You grab the bag and a plastic fork and your off. Now your thinking, I don't want to go back to the office, I'll probably get asked questions, its really difficult to seem like you care when you've got a Zinger burger and fries to think about. This is where the second part of the trading floor is. Head to the Food Market, dodge pass the crowds and try and find somewhere to perch, or if your lucky sit. If you play your cards right, you'll negotiate your self the prime real estate of a window seat. Its not quite the Hollywood Hills, but it gives you something to keep your mind of what bullshit you will entail on the return to work. I end up with a chair, but only a view of Panchos, which makes me wonder if I should have pushed the boat out and stumped up £6 for their hefty burritos. But I'm content with my faux KFC and curly fries. It might not be Michelin star, but you know exactly where you stand with a Gabbots, and you've got change from a fiver. You might get a half with that later in the week. Overall: Three hundred and eighty pence out of five english pounds.

Gabbotts Farm is one of the top 5 independent butchers in the UK. I do my monthly shopping for…read morefresh chicken and meat at this store. I find them to be cheaper than the main supermarkets especially if I'm buying in bulk for the freezer.

I think the small, local and independent butcher is something to be cherished. With more and more…read moreof us doing all of our shopping at a massive supermarket once a week, finding an independent butcher, baker or candlestick maker is becoming more and more of a surprise. Longsight Meat Market isn't a market, it is just a small butchers. They've got one of those hot meat stands out at the front of the shop. Unfortunately, rather than successfully ripping off Gabbotts Farm butchers popular hot meat stand (think chicken wings, nuggets, popcorn chicken), it's more a case of tired looking meatballs in this case. But this betrays what the Longsight Meat Market is actually about, which is providing quality meat at great prices. There's plenty of staff behind the counter to help you get exactly what you want. Two lbs of bacon here costs just £1.50. Try getting those types of prices at the supermarket.

Run by Manchester City Council's Markets New Smithfield…read moreMarket is the largest wholesale market in the North West of England occupying a 35 acre site just 2.5 miles from Manchester City Centre (in Openshaw). Want cheap Fruit, Veg & Meats. Well here at New Smithfield Market is where you want to go. If you buy your fruit or veg from a greengrocer or meat/fish from a Butcher/Fish Monger then beat them to the punch and buy it from here before they do. Yes most local companies will normally buy from here. Most of the action is based in C/D Hallway and the Fish Market. It does look like it is still stuck in 70's and could do with a rejuvenation (unfortunately the market lost a £30m grant to redevelop it due to the cuts)

Its difficult to comment on Manchester Markets as a whole as they cover such a large area of the…read morecity and sell so many different things. From handmade jewellery to homemade soup, the Manchester Markets have so much to offer if you know where (and when) to look. My top three are the Food Market, The Plant and Flower Market and the Fashion Market (for full details and all of the other markets check out the Manchester Markets website). The farmer's Market is easy to stumble across as it is held bi-weekly in Piccadilly Gardens. There is a mix of locally sourced and continental produce for you to try (I tend to make my way along the cheese stand and take advantage of their free testers). I'd highly recommend the Savin Hill Farm butchers stall which sells fresh meats from their traditional, ethical farm. There is a lovely little soup stand which always has something warm and tasty, and definitely pop over to Trevor Duerden's fine fudges for a treat (their gift boxes also make great presents). The Food Market is held twice monthly, on the second and fourth weekend (Friday and Saturday) of each month between 10am and 6pm. The Flower and Plant Market often accompanies the Food Market and has some really interesting things on offer for anyone green fingered. From a fresh cut bouquet of roses to an ancient Bonsai Tree, there is something here for nearly everyone. The market is held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, opening between 10am and 6pm. The Fashion Market is held on Tib Street (just off Piccadilly) every Saturday. The stalls comprise of local shops and boutiques (like Rags to Bitches) as well as independent designers and jewellers. There is always something new to look at here, and plenty of bargains on offer if you're willing to haggle. I'd recommend deciding how much money you want to spend in a day and not taking any more with you or it will disappear before your eyes. Not as cheap as more traditional markets (such as the Longsight Market), Tib Street's Fashion Market is focused on quality over quantity and is worth every penny.

This is a special little meat stall. There are many of these scattered all over. They specialise in…read morechicken really as that it what you see when you approach, but you can more or less smell the chicken a mile away. If that's not your thing, then I wouldn't go near this place as the smell hits your nostrils quicker than a bad fart! But apart from the chicken, they also have other meats and pies and sandwiches too. It could be classed as a butchers really. The chicken is cooked of course so that is easier for you if you just want to grab something for tea. But make sure it is properly wrapped as you do not want it leaking everywhere!