The Homestead Café & Farm Shop

13/07/2026

Courgettes all round, aren't they gorgeous 😍

Our menu is currently using lots of ingredients freshly picked from the garden, greenhouse and field:

Courgettes
Potatoes
Peas
Tomatoes
Peppers
Cucumbers
Lettuce
Chard
Broccoli
Cabbage
Mint
Rosemary
Sage
Oregano
Thyme

I'm sure I've missed a few!

The flowers on the tables are grown in our gardens too. This really is a wonderful time of year!

08/07/2026

Photo opportunity!

The phacelia is looking gorgeous 😍

It's been planted as a cover crop in the school plots opposite the café where we grow some of our vegetables and Sally operates Field to Fork for the schools.

It's great for pollinators and adds an interesting variation to the usual rotation. It is a good nitrogen holder, making it a soil improver.

As a wee experiment, I'm going to leave the gate open tomorrow, if anyone would like to take some arty photos at the crop edge. I would ask that you don't wander into the crop but you're welcome to stand at the edge. Please tag us if you get any good ones!

Please don't judge my weeding, this wet then hot weather means everything has taken off! It's in the diary to deal with it on Friday!

Anyway, please put your floaty frocks on and snap away, tomorrow (9th July) only! Then pop in for a Doddington ice cream or a Luckie Beans iced coffee!

*we accept no responsibility for cornfly annoyance, midge bites or any other injury - entry to the field is entirely at your own risk

06/07/2026

Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards!

We are delighted to be a finalist in the Food and Drink Producer of the Year Category. We face some really stiff competition, including The Schloss Roxburghe (with the full weight of Hyatt behind them), The Best Eating Experience in the South of Scotland 2025 - Wilson's Farm and Kitchen, and also Grazers, who look incredible.

We are really just terribly grateful to be standing alongside these giants! Well done Team Homestead 👏

You can still nominate us for another award if you fancy it - we are in Berwickshire, when it asks - but really we are just super proud of our team already.

https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=czZ3F85uSkWHxlYRvVepWpQwF8C0-FxAiwnKC8lEEkhUM0FSTDhQWk1SWUFSM0pCU1E3TTJJSkU1VC4u&route=shorturl

29/06/2026

I've come away from the Global Agritourism Conference inspired, although also with a list of about 27 countries I now would like to visit!

The family came up to join me in Aberdeenshire for the weekend and we sampled lots of lovely things.

A cracking stay as always at the Saplinbrae Hotel and Lodges eating Simple Pure Scottish Yogurt and lots of other lovely local produce.

On the way home we stopped at Farm Cafe and Shop | Wellness | Event Space | Aberdeenshire , sampled Castleton Farm berries and loved the lavender. Do you reckon we could do something similar with lavender at The Hirsel?!

25/06/2026

24/06/2026

Incredible day at the Global Agritourism Conference. I've learned that nothing is straightforward and small farms are disappearing at an alarming rate across the world. Can Agritourism slow that rate down and bring the consumer closer to the source of their food? I am sure it can!

We have lots of our own beef and lamb available in the shop, salads for the café doing really well in the greenhouse and walled garden, first early potatoes coming through...

Fingers crossed that the future is bright 🤞