7 of the best farm shops in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is home to striking architectural landmarks, from Belfast’s grand Victorian buildings to the historic walls of Derry-Londonderry, as well as being known for its wild coastlines, rolling countryside and tranquil glens.

Through both its natural and developed beauty, Northern Ireland’s landscapes, heritage and distinctive food culture tell the story of the place and its people. At the core of the region’s food scene is its farm shops, where shelves and counters are full of local produce, artisan goods and pantry staples made by regional producers.

Stop at any of the farm shops on this list and you’ll discover food and drink that responds to shoppers’ calls to know where their food comes from, while also enjoying a taste of the people, traditions and landscapes that make Northern Ireland so special. It’s a reminder that by visiting farm shops you’re choosing quality and specialty products, while supporting the people and small businesses behind them.

Colemans Garden Centre

Location: Ballyclare

Shop Hours: Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.00pm, Sun 1pm-5pm

Since setting up shop in 2019, Colemans Garden Centre has strived to be a destination for foodies. Bringing international and local influences together, the farm shop simultaneously stocks high-quality products from global suppliers while shining a spotlight on Northern Ireland’s vibrant food scene.

Rather than a mere transaction, Colemans’ team focuses on making a trip to its farm shop an experience, going beyond the grab-and-go nature of modern purchasing. Shoppers are encouraged to chat to its award-winning butchers about recipes and the deli team about ideal cheese pairings.

The shop has seen the local food scene explode in recent years. As it continues to grow, Colemans focuses on entrepreneurs beginning to turn their food business dreams into a reality. “We hope to provide a showcase for established local producers and those just starting out,” Gareth Edwards, Farm Shop Manager at Colemans Garden Centre, told Speciality Food.

Supporting Ballyclare’s community is also central to Coleman’s approach. “By giving local producers space in a thriving retail environment, we hope to play a small part in the development of those businesses, to the benefit of everyone in the local community,” Gareth added.

Increasingly, Colemans has seen its customers become more interested in food quality and provenance, while cooking at home more often and seeking the best ingredients. “Good quality olive oil, locally farmed meat or artisan cheese have become a regular staple rather than an occasional treat,” Gareth shared.

Colemans holds regular sampling days with local chef Paula McIntyre, “herself a great champion of Northern Ireland food”. The events introduce customers to local producers and offer recipe ideas and tips for using in-store ingredients.

Some products, including Erin Grove preserves, Neary Nog’s chocolate and Peppup sauces, have been with Colemans from the very start and remain familiar favourites. Popular new brands include Capparelli pasta made in Belfast and Ouro Hot Honey from County Down. “We are constantly on the lookout for new products,” said Gareth. This mix of classic choices and new finds continues to attract shoppers.

Broughgammon Farm

Location: Ballycastle

Shop Hours: Fri-Sun 11am-4pm, Closed Mon-Thurs

Creating an authentic business was crucial to Broughgammon Farm’s founders from day one. “Charlie and I have always been transparent about our struggles, our wins and our journey from literally a caravan of goats to now a thriving, diverse business,” Becky Cole from Broughgammon Farm told Speciality Food.

But beyond this, the other ingredient that really resonates is their approach to sustainability. “We’re really focused on making positive environmental change in agriculture,” said Becky. For Broughgammon, forward-thinking farming is about farming with nature first, while keeping environmental impact and ethics at the forefront.
“Our farm, we like to think, is a really good example of a biodiverse system with a lot going on, but still really nature-friendly,” Becky added. Its products are therefore designed to be inherently forward-thinking, with the farm shop offering meats such as rose veal, kid goat, regeneratively reared pork and seasonal lamb.

Agroforestry is also at the core of Broughgammon’s approach. The team harvests berries and turns them into jams and they also host supper clubs that reflect its farm-to-fork story. “And the farm shop is really the hub of it all,” said Becky. It’s where they meet their customers each weekend, serve their food and buy their meat directly. “That’s how we try and keep everything connected.”

Trust is huge. “Our customers have always been conscious of what they put on their plates,” Becky shared. They also want food that’s going to make them feel great from an ethical, sustainable standpoint, while fueling their bodies with nutritious food.

Broughgammon’s founders have seen how its customers have always cared about agriculture, the environment and health. “Everyone wants to shop that way now,” said Becky. There is growing awareness around ultra-processed foods, ingredient lists and greenwashing.

From its handmade sausage rolls, complete with all-natural ingredients and regenerative pork, to brownies, with chocolate and butter (the magic ingredient!), Broughgammon backs real ingredients, at the best quality they can find. “There’s no cutting corners, and that’s really reflected in what we serve up,” said Becky.

Glebe Farm Shop

Location: Limavady

Shop Hours: Tues-Sat 9am-4pm, Closed on Sun and Mon

A fourth-generation family farm, Glebe Farm has opened its shop to let visitors glimpse what they do every day. As a small independent farm shop, “we know many of our customers by name”, Nicole Love from Glebe Farm Shop told Speciality Food.

And it’s Glebe Farm’s authentic farm-to-fork produce that helps it stand out. “It is genuinely rooted on our family farm,” said Nicole.

The farm’s beef, in particular, is a huge part of that. Glebe Farm rears its own native-breed cattle, including Irish Moiled, Dexter and Belted Galloway. The beef has been reared in the fields surrounding the shop. “Being able to take something from our own farm and put it directly on our customers’ tables is something I’m incredibly proud of,” said Nicole.

When the team opened Glebe Farm Shop, it spotted the growing appetite for local food. Fast forward to today, and while that’s still true, it’s also seeing how customers are becoming more interested in the story behind what they buy. “That’s something we’re in a really fortunate position to be able to offer because the story is quite literally on our doorstep,” said Nicole.

Customers are also looking for quality over quantity. They’re happy to buy less meat if they know it’s a really good product. Equally, they’re looking for convenience. Glebe Farm Shop aims to make buying local as easy as possible, whether that’s picking up a pack of beef, fresh vegetables, local dairy, bread and baking, or something for dinner on the way home.

There’s something really satisfying for Glebe in seeing its customers who first came in to have a look at the shop becoming regulars. Alongside its own produce, the team is always looking for great products from other local producers and makers. It currently stocks products from more than 70 local artisans and producers.

The products that resonate most are the ones where customers can see the story behind them. “Whether it’s our own beef, local milk, fresh produce or something made by another small local producer, people really value knowing that their money is supporting farming and independent businesses here in Northern Ireland,” Nicole said. “That balance of quality, provenance and convenience is really important to the modern farm shop.”

Looking to the future, Glebe Farm Shop is conscious of retaining what draws in shoppers from Limavady and further afield. “There’s a real community feel around the shop, and that’s something we never want to lose as we grow,” Nicole noted.

McKee’s Farm Shop

Location: Newtownards

Shop Hours: Mon-Sat 8.30am-5.30pm, Closed on Sun

McKee’s Farm Shop focuses on providing fresh, locally sourced and home-produced food. Located on a working 400-acre family farm, the business has been farming for five generations, with the farm remaining in the McKee’s family since 1922. Today, it’s run by Colin and Linda McKee’s alongside their four children.

The farm shop’s food is produced on or near the farm, ranging from meat, eggs and prepared dishes made in its on-site bakery and deli. McKee’s stocks a wide range of products, including beef, lamb and free-range eggs, as well as dairy products, bakery goods and speciality items. It also works with other local producers to offer products such as pork, potatoes, milk, yoghurt and cheese, giving shoppers a broad range of Northern Irish produce.

Combining traditional family farming with a contemporary farm-shop experience, McKee’s aims to provide quality local produce while supporting regional producers and the surrounding community.

Ballykenver Farmshop

Location: Balleymoney

Shop Hours: Thurs-Sat 11am-5pm, Closed Sun-Wednes

Ballykenver Farmshop sits on a working 200-year-old dairy farm. Owned and managed by Amanda Hanna, Ballykenver combines farming, food production, retail and hands-on workshops that emphasise local, high-quality food.

The farm shop developed from Amanda’s original “Jam at the Doorstep” honesty-box venture into an established destination to find local food. Today, it is particularly known for Amanda’s handmade products, made in small batches in the farmhouse, including jams, chutneys, curds, salted caramel sauce, Christmas puddings and sticky toffee puddings.

Provenance, sustainability, and keeping food miles low are central to Ballykenver’s approach, which is designed to make locally produced food accessible at fair prices. Supporting other local businesses is also a core feature of Ballykenver, which stocks a range of artisan cheeses, fresh bread, farm produce, honey, dairy products, snacks and beverages.

The Croft Farm Shop

Location: Enniskillen

Shop Hours: Tues-Sat 10am-4pm, Closed on Sun and Mon

The Croft Farm Shop started with a simple idea: to open a place in Fermanagh that would champion local produce and artisan goods made by small, independent businesses across Ireland. “Since then, it has grown into so much more than we ever imagined,” Melissa Paget from The Croft Farm Shop told Speciality Food.

A little stop in the countryside, The Croft seeks to offer a place for people to relax, take their time and feel connected to something local. “Our customers often comment on how peaceful The Croft feels, particularly in our outdoor seating area, with the stream running alongside us,” said Melissa.

The Croft opened in 2021 with a small farm shop, speciality takeaway coffee and house-made bakes. Its coffee proved popular after the pandemic, and the team soon saw an opportunity to further develop the cafe.

“As the business grew, so did our customers’ expectations,” Melissa said. The team noticed a dip in sales around lunchtime and saw an opportunity to develop the coffee shop further. They introduced a brunch menu featuring local ingredients that changes with the seasons. The coffee shop continued to grow, and they gradually added more indoor seating, with the café side of the business eventually taking over much of the original space.

“However, we always felt that something was missing,” Melissa shared. Although the farm shop remained popular, it wasn’t big enough to offer the range and variety of Irish products the team wanted.

That led them to take The Croft back to its roots. In July 2026, they launched their newly extended farm shop, creating a much larger space dedicated to local and specialty food. They can now stock a wider range of locally grown vegetables, meats and Irish-made products.

Its expansion has also seen them launch Fermanagh’s first cheese counter, showcasing Irish cheeses exclusively. Shoppers can now select the amount of cheese they need rather than pre-packaged portions, with options including Mike’s Fancy Cheese Young Buck, a raw-milk blue cheese made in Co. Down, and Killeen Farmhouse Cheese’s Dutch-style goat’s Gouda made in Galway.

The shop also features a wall of house-made jams and chutneys from Erin Grove Preserves, alongside locally made breads, cakes and desserts. “There’s something really special about having products that are uniquely yours and that customers come back specifically for,” said Melissa.

Fodder in the Woods

Location: Downpatrick

Shop Hours: Mon-Sat 9am-4pm, except Wednes (closed) and 10am-4pm Sun

Providing seasonal, local ingredients and farm-to-table food, Fodder in the Woods is a farm shop located on the Finnebrogue Woods estate. Starting life as a small farm shop selling Dexter beef from the estate’s grasslands, the business has since expanded to offer local food and woodland trails in a relaxed countryside setting.

Alongside stocking its grass-fed Dexter beef, the farm shop stocks local cheeses and speciality products. The café seeks to complement the farm shop by serving seasonal dishes made with local ingredients and the estate’s beef.