Trevaskis Farm, Gwinear, Cornwall

To celebrate my sister’s birthday (and my best friend’s hen do) a few weeks ago I went back home to Cornwall for a few days. I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to visit Trevaskis Farm as I’d heard so much about it from my friends, and from following them on Facebook I could see that they had a lot of gluten free products available in both their shop and restaurant. As a result, I suggested to my sister that we paid it a visit.

Firstly we visited the farm shop where I found a massive selection of gluten free goodies. My haul included easter eggs, sweets and gravy mixes, but they offer much more than this at very good prices.

Here’s some more information about the farm shop taking from the Trevaskis Farm website:

Trevaskis Farm presents the Trevaskis Market, from May 2008 – West Cornwall’s first farm market, offering the ultimate in convenience shopping with the uncompromising quality of a farmer’s market. Featuring not only the finest fresh fruit and vegetables, butchery, fishmongers, deli, dairy and bakery but everything you need for your weekly shop at competitive prices, all under one roof.

The quality of the farmer’s market with the convenience of a supermarket.

In 30 years of trading, Trevaskis Farm has always operated with the same ethos, prioritising home-grown and home-reared produce while supporting local producers by sourcing goods from trusted local producers. We have travelled the county and country to find only the very best organic, fairly traded, ecological, artisan and above all affordable products and have arrived at an offering that is uncompromising in terms of the quality and authenticity of the produce.

Baker Tom’s Bread
Greeting you on your arrival is the tantalising smell of ‘Baker Tom’s’ fresh bread. Baked using traditional baking methods only a few miles up the road, from the freshest organic and local ingredients. From the delicious ‘Carrot, Mustard Seed and Tarragon’ bread to ‘Rock Salt and Rosemary’ foccaccia, along with traditional bloomers and the popular spelt loaves, there are flavours to entice anyone and everyone. With absolutely no additives or preservatives the taste and quality is quite unbelievable.

Butchery
Our butchery continues to go from strength to strength, serving only the finest of our home-reared rare breed pork, the finest local South Devon breed beef, free – range, West Country chicken, local lamb and all the trimmings. With home cured gammon, ham and bacon and homemade sausages, burgers and salt beef, our experienced butcher can offer guidance on exactly which cut of meat is for you and our chefs are on hand with recipes and cooking ideas.

Fishmongers
The fish counter stocks a huge variety of fish and shellfish, beautifully laid out on ice and straight from local waters, with a fishmonger who has grown up in the industry able to offer advice on fish types, flavours and cooking. There are scallops, gurnard, megrim, smoked prawns and crevettes, John Dory, turbot, carb meat, cod and much more.

Deli
Welcome to ‘foodie’ heaven! If you are an olive fan you will love our deli counter; beautiful mammoth green olives, stuffed olives, mixed olives and the popular kalamata. With some of the finest Spanish cured meats from small artisan producers – 20 month dry cured Serrano ham, side cured Lomo and 24 month cured Iberico ham. The cheese counter stocks a huge range of mouth-watering Cornish cheeses, but also some popular world cheeses to complete the offer – all available to taste before you buy.

The dairy counter features all the staples you need for your weekly shop, milk, butter and cream from Trewithen Dairy along with many of the home-made delights you would expect to find in our restaurant – quiches, salads and soups to take away. For hassle free, delicious dinners, we have the Little Cornish Curry Company ready-made curries and the finest Italian fresh pasta from The Fresh Pasta Company.

The freezer centre provides frozen vegetable and fruit mixes, as well as mouth-watering willy Waller’s local ice creams and sorbets, made with Trevaskis fruit. With frozen pastries and croissant, ready to roll pastry and delicious organic pizzas, we make shopping a breeze – even better, for complete convenience, we have our own Trevaskis Farm ready meals – frozen pies and lasagnes for two that you can really trust!

Not to forget our Farm Shop roots – despite a cold start to the year, our crops are flowing in with our own strawberries, radishes, bunched carrots, beetroot, cabbage, shelling peas, mangetout, broad beans and many more on their way we offer the ability to buy a complete range of crops and with around 100 seasonal crops grown on the farm, you have the clear conscience that the majority of these have zero food miles! With many of these available to ‘Pick Your Own’ if you’re feeling energetic…

Although I didn’t buy a lot on this occasion, the farm shop is huge and offers a wide variety of local produce and if I was still living in Cornwall I know that this would be my first port of call for all things gluten free!

Whilst in the shop I also bought some Polgoon Black cider which is actually produced next door to my parents house in Penzance! It tasted absolutely gorgeous and next time I’m home I hope to buy some more as I have become quite a fan of cider over recent years! 🙂

Just before leaving the shop I was offered the opportunity to try some of their gluten free sausages. Despite my #bigsausagereview having just taken place, I couldn’t resist the opportunity!

Once back in Bristol I used them to make a sausage sandwich for my lunch and I genuinely think that these sausages would have been in the running for top prize in my sausage review if they had been included. You could certainly tell that they were freshly made and they tasted lovely. It was the best sausage sandwich I’d had for a long time! 😉

Trevaskis Farm are so proud of their gluten free meat produce that they regular advertise them on Facebook and even on their farm shop till receipts. I can definitely see why they would be proud, they’re great. I’ll definitely be getting some more the next time I visit! 🙂

Back to the review….

Upon leaving the farm shop we headed over to the adjoining restaurant for lunch. I never realised quite how big the restaurant would be, but I have to say that it’s huge!

The restaurant is beautifully decorated and laid out which makes for a very pleasurable dining experience. In addition the staff are very polite and helpful, which is great when you have to question the contents of everything!

Here’s some more information about the restaurant, again taken from the Trevaskis Farm website:

Renowned for its generous portions, all meals are produced from highest quality ingredients – meats from our own butchers, vegetables and fruit from the farm, or local suppliers!

The recent refurbishment and extension of the restaurant has met with an enthusiastic response from our devotees! The mirror image of the original restaurant, our new room allows us to happily cater for around ninety people, in a cosy, modern atmosphere. Set in open countryside, you can enjoy your meal either inside, or, sheltered from the elements, you can dine al fresco on our heated patio – for those clear summer evenings!

The restaurant is open all day, serving breakfast in the morning, a tempting range of hot and cold meals at lunchtime and a superb à la carte menu during the evening. So whether you start your day with a ‘Full Trevaskis’ (sausages, bacon, eggs, hogs pudding, mushrooms and sautee potatoes), treat yourself to a delicious lunch and glass of wine on the patio, or dine in style during the evening, we offer a wide choice of seasonal specials, designed daily by an experienced team of chefs. There is also a fully licensed bar serving an extensive range of fine wines from around the world, local beers and fruit juices.

Your eyes will light up when you see our sweet counter! The sweets are all homemade and whether you choose a decadent slice of strawberry roulade or a hearty bowl of apple pie and clotted cream, the choice is out of this world. It really must be seen to be believed!

Or why not just drop in for coffee and cake? We have an extensive coffee menu and offer a wide range of teas and cakes – an ideal treat after fruit picking!

My sister decided to opt for a pasty for lunch, which I was extremely jealous about, and I queried as to whether they had any gluten free bread as I really fancied a toasty! Of course they had gluten free bread, so I had a toasty with the fillings they advertise for their paninis (goats cheese, red onion and pepper), yummy!!!

Even such a simple meal was well presented and it tasted amazing. This would definitely be one of my favourite flavour combinations and this meal really didn’t disappoint! 🙂

Prior to ordering I’d already asked what gluten free desserts were available, as I’d noticed on their Facebook page that they certainly had a wide variety.

On the day that I visited they had 3 of the desserts available: Sticky Toffee Pudding (the one I’d been hoping they had!), Blackcurrant & Frangipane Tart and Walnut & Caramel Mocha Tart. I was very fortunate that I was given a slice of each dessert free of charge.

Obviously I wouldn’t be eating them all in one go, however there was no way I was leaving without trying my first Sticky Toffee Pudding since my diagnosis!

Oh my! This has to be the most amazing dessert ever! It’s making my mouth water just writing about it! The whole dessert was just scrumptious from the pudding itself and it’s amazing flavour through to the divine sauce. Wow, wow, wow!

The final two desserts weren’t eaten until later as I was truly stuffed after eating the Sticky Toffee Pudding, but both were great. The Frangipane Tart was particularly lovely (again, it’s not often that you find gluten free tarts) and the Walnut & Mocha tart I saved for Rich due to the mocha element, although it turned out that this was very minimal so I did actually have a bit of this one too!

It’s a good job I’ve taken up running….. 😉

You’ve probably already gathered from this review that I’d strongly recommend you pay Trevaskis Farm a visit if you’re in the area. You don’t have to be on a gluten free diet to enjoy the benefits of the shop and restaurant, as there really is something for everyone.

As it’s my own birthday in just over a week, I’m actually planning on spending my birthday lunch at Trevaskis Farm, just so I can start working my way through their amazing menu!

I should also mention that Trevaskis Farm was also recently a grand finalist in the Food Reader Awards 2014 which is great achievement and thoroughly deserved! Well done!

If you’d like more information about Trevaskis Farm you can visit their website, like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

Have you visited Trevaskis Farm? What did you think? Please leave your comments below! 🙂