Heron Farm — Restaurant in East Devon

To say our family visit on the 7th August '22 in the middle of a heatwave, was a disappointment, is an understatement. We visited with 3 generations of family in a party of 6 adults and 3 children for lunch, to celebrate mine and my grandsons birthdays.

The first downer was the extremely dusty car park, thank goodness I had not taken my convertible, as the interior would have been coated in white dust every time a car passed through. Heron Farm really must do something to stop this dust on dry days.

Sadly, the most disappointing thing though, was that on a very hot day, all the adults ordered salmon and salad, a cooked meal/all day breakfast was considered too heavy, sadly the waiter came back to say they had run out of salmon completely and we would all have to choose something else. I went for an all day breakfast and regretted it later, feeling overfull and actually unwell.

My wife ordered a tomato and mozzarella salad, only to be told there was no mozzarella, the salad was sparse, tasteless and missing ingredients such as the arancini! The stock management was abysmal. This should never happen on a busy Sunday. Why not send someone to the nearby Aldi or Lidl for more Salmon?

The waiting staff, although young were doing a good job but the food was only so so and uninspiring, especially on one of the hottest days of the year. Frankly it was not good value for money.

I suspect that Heron Farm are sitting on their laurels and after all the glowing revues I expected better and I am...

Lovely setting, with water features, goats and a fairy trail, as well as a secure outdoor play area for kids. Heron Farm is certainly trying to be a great destination - it's not far off. Nice little café serving food as well as cakes, although the breakfast options end before lunch begins, leaving a "cake only" gap. Food quality struggles to meet its price at the moment unfortunately. The venue also offers outdoor seating and a mobile cocktail bar, so summer evenings should be pleasant. There are communal areas used for baby groups to meet up (baby sensory), and a little gift shop with quality products and toys. There are two instavolt electric car chargers which have always been working well when I have been, as well as ample regular parking. Some of the kids toys in the play area are broken (the ride on tractors), but the play equipment is well maintained. During the pandemic restrictions there was ample provision of sanitising gel in dispensers around. These unfortunately lay empty now, but there are two outdoor sinks available. Staff have always been lovely and friendly. Definitely worth a visit, particularly if you're looking to entertain young children for an afternoon whilst...

Driving in we were relieved to see a well put together area, as the trip there was a tad sketchy. Inside is okay. Not charming, or cute, but decent with very little indoor seating. They have a pretty darn cool shop with a good selection of higher end products and not the typical stuff usually offered! It's pricey, though. We started with a jasmine tea, an oatmilk chai latte, and a sour cherry ginger cookie. The crockery was adorable. The drinks were forgettable, but the cookie was freaking amazing!! We both ordered the vegan brunch...so, so, so awful! The punch of cumin hit us before she put the plates down! Baked beans- homemade, very cool, but you couldn't taste anything but harsh cumin! "Spinach and leek"croquettes- tasted terrible, very stodgy weird texture, gross. Mushrooms- rubbery, bad taste. Toast- cheap bread not actually toasted, gross. Falafel's...what?! Another cumin overload, bad texture, gross. I really appreciate the out-of-the-box thinking for this plate, but there was no balance in flavor, or tasty flavors, the texture's were wrong, and the execution was way off! Uneaten plates. We talked to an employee about it not being edible. She took 20% off my fully...