Hackney City Farm

Last Friday took me over Hackney way to see a client in the morning, so I took the opportunity of meeting up with my oldest University friend who lives nearby. She suggested Hackney City Farm as I had Matilda with me, I jumped at the chance as we'd never been but heard great things. She also suggested eating at the cafe which I was a little dubious about since most of our Farm cafe experiences have left a lot to be desired, frozen microwaved food with a menu that consists of chips, chips and more chips. So I was a little apprehensive, as I'm meant to be on a healthy eating kick.




Imagine my delight when I walked in to see a wonderfully appealing menu with fresh home made food gracing the blackboards. My friend and I both opted for the Cavolo Negro Bean soup and Spagetti Bolognese for Matilda, though there was plenty of choice and the sarnies looked great too. The food was extremely tasty, of good quality and generous, the sourdough bread that accompanied the soup was outstanding. It's the perfect place to take the kiddies as they are allowed to roam around freely with no complaints from the staff. Matilda even took a peek into the kitchen without anyone batting an eyelid, I guess they're pretty used to it! It's a bit of a ramshackle place with large wooden tables, mismatched furniture and crockery, with brightly coloured art work decorating the walls. If you like spic and span then this is not the place for you, but if you like honest, good grub then I would highly recommend a visit. The cafe alone is worth checking out if you're stuck with the kids in Hackney. They use Vegetables grown on the farm itself or they source everything from Kentish farms, none of this food has seen a microwave or the deep freeze.

Here is Matilda checking out the chicken.





There is no entry fee, so please do go spending in the sweet little shop selling farm related gear, as well as, their own hen and duck eggs! There isn't a huge variety of animals, which is hardly surprising given the time of year and, the fact it is an inner city farm! Nevertheless, we saw pigs, goats, hamsters, geese and hens prancing around oblivious to the punters. We didn't have enough time to explore the gardens but we'll back soon to have a thorough look. The place gives city children a good idea of the workings of a farm, allowing them to get up close and mucky with the animals. They run all sorts of educational projects at the farm, the link to their website is below so do have a look and get yourselves along for a very pleasant afternoon indeed!


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