Wellington Farm Shop

If the kitchen is the heart of the home, the Wellington Farm Shop is the centre of the Wellington Estate, a secret tract of Berkshire with glorious views. The shop sells all the best produce from the area, so you can fill your basket with locally farmed vegetables, honey from the estate’s hives, and lamb or Hereford beef from the fields in season. And it’s not just food: treat yourself from the range of home, garden and beauty products too.

In the café, wholesome dishes made with the shop’s own produce are ferried to rustic wooden tables from breakfast to late lunch (don’t miss the award-winning sausages in the Wellington breakfast). Bag a slouchy leather couch and unwind with a slice of cake if the Reading traffic has left you frazzled.

The farm shop is ringed with paddocks – home to rare breed sheep, pigs and cows – and there’s a fantastic tree house play area where the children can let off steam.

If you’re in a hurry, the takeaway menu is more than a cut above. Look online and call ahead and their hot club sandwich (a firm favourite) could be waiting for you to whisk away.