Thanks to a reader of this blog for recommending Nixons Farm Shop, it's been on my "to visit" list for some time. It's situated on a farm in South Manchester, not far from Lakeland's Handforth store.
The farm shop sells cheese, vegetables, jams, sauces, biscuits, Dunham Massey ice cream and pickles. They even sell Derbyshire Oatcakes (apparently nobody has ever offered them Staffordshire Oatcakes Kev)!
The main reason for calling is the butchers shop. They have their own farms (the other farm's down the road near Congleton) and slaughterhouse, which means that the animals don't get stressed - and that means better quality meat.
Their beef comes from their own suckler herd. The calves stay with their mother for at least 6 months, unlike beef from dairy herds where the calf is often taken from its mother days after being born. The animals are fed grass in the summer and silage (fermented grass) in the winter which you'll see as you leave the farm.
There's also a tractor playground, pet food store and a pets corner with rabbits that didn't want to be photographed when I was there!
There's a viewing platform where you can see the beef shed and suckler cows.
Nixons Farm Shop
Outwood Farm
Bolshaw Road
Heald Green
Cheadle
Cheshire
SK8 3PS
Tel: 0161 437 4801
Fax: 0161 437 1817
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