The Granary At Willowbrook Farm

We don't get to see our family often due to their busy schedules, but when they do visit, we like to treat them. This past Sunday, we took our oldest grandchild out for lunch before he headed back to London. Despite having many local options, he chose to eat at 'The Granary' at Scotsman Lodge between Ufford and Marholm. We had always enjoyed the service and food there in the past, but this time we were disappointed. The restaurant was not busy, with only one other couple dining. When I asked the waitress about ordering, she initially said we should order at the till, but eventually agreed to take our order at the table. Unfortunately, the food did not meet our expectations. The pork was too fatty, the salads were lackluster, and the chips seemed old. The portion of halloumi salad was minimal for the price, and the cream for the scone was too hard. The staff, with the exception of one, seemed unfriendly. When I mentioned this at the till, I was told the particular staff member was new and shy. The total bill came to £64.15, which would be reasonable in normal circumstances, but the quality of the food was not satisfactory. We will not be returning to 'The Granary' anytime soon based on this experience.

Unfortunately a very disappointing experience, my friend I ordered a cappuccino, an americano a piece of carrot cake. Both coffees were bitter we were unable to drink them and the carrot cake wasn’t much better, stodgy not light my friend who loves carrot cake left most of it. The waiting staff gave us our money back on the coffee but it was a wasted visit.

We were warned by our friends that the place has gone down hill but unfortunately we didn't take their advice and went anyway. Sadly we found the staff to be very rude on several occasions, we didn't have any specific or special requests but everything seemed too much trouble for them. The table next door adviced us as we sat down, I do wish we took their advice. Very very long wait just to place an order and even longer to wait for food over an hour . Sadly I would advise to avoid this place at all costs.

This cafe/ restaurant is in a lovely setting overlooking rural countryside, with a choice of local walks as well and a farm shop selling locally produced meat, eggs, cheeses etc. There is also a small area selling good range of plants, trees, pots and compost. Staff there really helpful. In the cafe I tried to order two cream teas, asking for one with coffee, initially told this would be extra. Having sorted that out asked for Earl Grey tea, warm scones and blackcurrant jam. Initially wrong tea arrived which was changed, but no lemons ... and scones were cold!! They were tasty however and enjoyed the cream and jam with them. Paid the bill and thankfully asked for a receipt. Then went to see farm shop. Few minutes later one of the waitress came out and said I had not paid. Thankfully had my receipt so was able to show I had paid. Felt this was all a bit disappointing...it could of been a great experience.

If you want a nice Afternoon Tea then don’t go here!! We arrived and we were told we could sit where we liked and we sat in the gazebo part. My partner asked to use the toilet and was just told ’down there’. I sat down and the table surface was very sticky but then again they all were. Had to ask the young server to clean the table which she did do. The stand with the scones,cakes and finger sandwiches was then just placed on the table. The server then went about clearing dirty crockery from other tables and I had to ask her for some plates. We then proceeded to start on the fingers sandwiches, a grand total of 4 each and some of the bread was dry. There were 2 1/8 pieces of pork pies and what appeared to be 2x 1/4 of a sausage roll. Both were extremely dry and the pastry was hard and didn’t manage to eat all of them. We then started on the small cakes which looked like they had sat on display for a long time. 3 of them were very stodgy chocolate ones. The 2 scones looked very nice but again were dry and crusty on the outside. There was no butter just a small jar of jam and a pot of well known clotted cream. They did bring out 2 pieces of chocolate cake which we were told goes with it. As this was a birthday treat for me reaching 70 I was extremely disappointed and I can honestly say this was the WORSE afternoon tea I’ve ever had. The only saving grace was the tea was hot and we had a second pot to wash the dry food down. To cap it off the floor had snail trails over it along with crumbs etc from previous customers. My suggestion to the owners would be to go and look at other establishments offering afternoon tea and see how it is done properly. Will never recommend this place.