If you ever find yourself on the A34 just past Oxford you simply must come off at Weston-on-the-Green and visit The Milk Shed which is just along the road and in the middle of the countryside. Geoff found this gem on TripAdvisor and we stopped off here as it was half way to Derbyshire where we were spending a few nights away.
There’s a large car park and a small shop opposite The Milk Shed selling some very nice items such as jewellery, shawls, baby items, lamshades etc., it reminded us a little of Meg Rivers Cafe on the outskirts of Chipping Campden when we were on our way to the Cotswolds a few years back – it’s nothing like it really, I think it was just the car park which reminded us 😀 . There’s an outside seating area but I didn’t really find this very appealing – it looked like it was just a few tables and chairs on concrete with a white van parked up nearby – so we ate inside.
There were several ‘yummy mummy’ types inside with very small pre-school children and babies, so don’t expect a very quiet visit. Inside is nice with rough painted tables and chairs (or ‘distressed’ is perhaps the word), greys, blues, and lemons all quite rustic looking. There’s plenty of seating plus a very large long and high table made from crates with tall stools to sit at, little cups and saucers containing lit tea lights and metal milk jugs full of beautiful sunflowers. Magazines and newspapers are available to read if you’re on your own or don’t want to talk to your other half – Geoff!
I’m not one to go for a milkshake as I’ve never really found one that matches Fatty Arbuckles in Portsmouth many moons ago, they’ve long gone unfortunately but there’s were always lovely and thick. After reading that The Milk Shed’s milkshakes were good I decided to try one. Up at the counter there is a refrigerator full of delicious sounding ice creams which are made by on the premises (used to be Godwins) and its here that you can choose which one you would like your milkshake to be made of. I played safe and went for simple chocolate.
It was served in an old fashioned milk bottle, even before my time as it was a different shape to the ones I remember from my school days. The milkshake was good enough and I wasn’t disappointed.
As well as the daily menu they had a few specials such as corn fritters, baby kale, streaky bacon & chilli jam which sounded lovely. Geoff ordered the soft scrambled eggs on sourdough toast with bacon. He loved it and said that the scrambled eggs were very light, smooth and creamy, the best he’s had for a long time.
My dish was superb! I paid extra for pancetta – which was really very crispy bacon and just a little difficult to eat but very nice. A slice of Milwaukee rye toast, avocado, salad leaves, halloumi, a dressing (which it didn’t really need and spoilt it a bit), topped with pancetta, pan-fried tomato and sprinkled with seeds.
Geoff didn’t have a dessert but I couldn’t resist trying one. The Nutella chocolate brownie had a crisp top and gooey centre – as a brownie should be – and had chunks of hazelnuts in and although it was very nice I wish I’d gone for a scoop of ice cream with it as it was one of those rather gloopy brownies which tends to stick to the roof of your mouth and needed a drink to wash it down.
There are a few items to purchase in the cafe such as cheeses, homemade tarts, salads, artisan tortilla chips, Daisy & Dam chocolate, shaped pasta etc., and of course if you’re local you can buy a tub of ice cream to take home.
If we ever find ourselves out that way again we will definitely pay them another visit. It’s a place Helen would like too I’m sure. You can keep up with her travels at www.felicitymacintosh.com . Funnily enough, she’s currently on a dairy farm on the South Island of New Zealand.
Ambience 7 – too many noisy kids for us – gosh we must be getting old moaning about kids!
Quality 9
Value 7
Service 8
Overall 8/10
Return? Yes
Living life, loving cake
A x