These shops show how Devon sustains itself, offering a distinct take on local food.
Devon has more farms than most English counties, with over 70% of its land farmed. Ruby Red cattle graze old fields, local boats bring fresh crab and fish, and cheese is made the traditional way. Clotted cream is a staple.
This guide highlights shops where Devon produce shines. Shops are chosen for sourcing most goods directly from local farms and producers, maintaining ongoing relationships with at least three local suppliers, and proving that over 60% of key products come from Devon. Their transparent sourcing and regular engagement with producers set them apart. Here, beef comes from fields visible from the car park, bread is baked fresh each morning, and staff can tell you who grew what you’re holding. That’s what makes these shops stand out.
Quick Facts
- County: Devon, South West England
- Devon specialities: Ruby Red beef, clotted cream, Dartmoor lamb, cheddar, Brixham fish, cider, apple juice, artisan bread, and pasties.
- Opening times: While most of these farm shops are open daily, their hours often change with the seasons. For this reason, it’s a good idea to check each shop’s website before you visit.
1. Darts Farm, Topsham, Near Exeter, East Devon
Darts Farm is a lively family-run market above the Clyst Valley, known for daily-harvested vegetables and a deep focus on Devon’s flavours.
Darts Farm, named the UK’s best farm shop three times, delivers vegetables straight from its fields, just metres away, to the shop daily, cutting both food miles and plastic use.
The shop’s master butchers slow-rear and dry-age Ruby Red beef for 40 days, preparing each cut with care to reduce waste.
Just south of Exeter on the Exe Estuary, The Times called it ‘the future of food shopping, reflecting its role in modern retail.
Darts Farm began as a vegetable hut and is now a thriving farm with its own herd, fields, vineyard, food hall, fishmonger, bakery, deli, butcher, and restaurants. Pebblebed Vineyard, located on-site, grows grapes and produces wine. For directions and hours, visit the website.
- Worth Knowing: The Farm Table restaurant uses ingredients from the food hall, cooking Ruby Red beef, dayboat fish, and seasonal vegetables over charcoal. This perfectly showcases the shop’s finest offerings.
- Be sure to try a cut of Ruby Red beef, dry-aged by the master butchers, and pick up a bottle from Pebblebed Vineyard before you go.
2. Greendale Farm Shop, Farringdon, Between Exeter and Sidmouth, East Devon
Greendale Farm Shop blends working farmland with its own fishing fleet, supplying beef from its cattle, fish from Exmouth, Brixham, and Newlyn, and a café for visitors. Everything is sourced and crafted on site, offering a meeting point for the community.
Greendale recently won Gold at the 2025 Food Drink Devon Awards. Their takeaway serves fish from their boats and potatoes grown on the farm. Check Greendale Farm Shop’s website for opening hours and online orders.
- Worth Knowing: Greendale recently collaborated with local chef Michael Caines MBE to make a short film about Lyme Bay crabs and lobsters, showing their journey from boat to finished dish. This connection highlights why the crab at the wet fish counter is among the best in East Devon.
- Pick up some crab or lobster from the wet fish counter, and grab a fresh loaf from the bakery before you leave.
3. Quicke’s Cheese Shop, Newton St Cyres, Near Crediton, Mid Devon
Quicke’s Cheese Shop is central to a historic farm, best known for clothbound cheddars made from its grass-fed herd, showcasing generations of cheesemaking expertise.
For fourteen generations, the Quicke family has run 1,500 acres, producing real clothbound cheddars from grass-fed cows’ milk. Wrapped in muslin and aged 12 to 24 months, their cheeses range from mild to complex, with the notably nutty Devonshire Red. At Quicke’s shop, you’ll find award-winning cheese, butter, and local breads, while cheese tours and tastings are also available.
- Worth Knowing: Cheese tours, running from April to September, take you behind the scenes of cheesemaking, while the on-site shop offers whey butter, a by-product of the process, serving as an extraordinary spread on good bread.
- Don’t leave without a piece of the Vintage Clothbound Cheddar, matured for two years right on the farm.
4. Strawberry Fields Farm Shop, Lifton, West Devon, on the Devon and Cornwall border
Strawberry Fields is a nearly self-sufficient farm shop with butchery, bakery, and deli, recognised for homegrown produce, house-baked pasties, and pasture-raised meats. It has grown from a small weigh-and-pay to a showcase for farm foods.
Ruby Red cattle and lamb are raised on site with high welfare and full traceability. Strawberry Fields’ pasties use this beef, while jams are made from fruit grown in the open kitchen. Bees pollinate the strawberries, producing the honey sold on site. For hours and seasonal updates, check the website.
- Worth Knowing: Strawberry Fields won Best South West Farm Shop at the Taste of the West Awards. The pasties are made fresh each day in the open bakery and can be taken hot, which is the right way to eat one.
- Don’t leave without a hot Devon pasty from the bakery, a jar of strawberry jam made with the farm’s own fruit, and a joint of Ruby Red beef.
5.Otterton Mill, Otterton, East Devon, Jurassic Coast
A mill has operated at Otterton since Norman times, with records to 1068. Otterton Mill preserves this legacy today.
The mill was in disrepair by the mid-20th century, but a 1977 restoration revived the water wheel and milling.
Otterton Mill’s shop offers daily-baked breads and local deli foods, using flour ground on site in the working watermill, emphasising Devon tradition and low food miles.
The mill grinds local grain for all baked goods, made and sold on site. This grain-to-bread process earned Otterton Mill praise from Rick Stein, who calls it a Local Food Hero for commitment to quality and tradition.
- You can view the mill workings for free. The self-guided tour explains stone grinding and why it differs from roller-milled flour. The cream tea is one of the best in East Devon.
- Don’t leave without a loaf made from Otterton’s own stone-ground flour, a bag of their wholemeal, and a jar of their clotted cream fudge from the Mill studio.
6. Stokeley Farm Shop, Stokenham, South Hams, near Slapton Ley
Stokeley Farm Shop sources from over 70 Devon suppliers, featuring standout artisan cheeses, local meats, and a renowned butchery, all championing South Hams’ produce.
The South Hams is one of England’s most productive farming areas, with Stokeley at its heart. Durrant’s butchery serves beef and lamb from local farms, showcasing the region’s variety from coast to hills near Slapton Sands. Check the website for times.
- Worth Knowing: South Hams Drinks operates a taproom on-site where you can watch the working brewery and sample its beers and ciders. It is one of the more unexpected pleasures of a farm shop visit anywhere in Devon.
- Don’t leave without something from Durrant’s butchery counter, a bottle from South Hams Drinks, and some bread from the local baker, delivered fresh every morning.
7. Blackberry Farm (Lizzy’s Larder), Milton Damerel, North Devon, Ruby Country
Lizzy’s Larder, created by Lizzy Kirby, offers award-winning homemade foods, sausages, bakes, and ready meals, using the farm’s own meats, with a café and tea garden for a full farm-shop experience.
Lizzy says: We produce our own beef and lamb and free-range eggs. We make our own sausages and burgers, bake our own cakes, sausage rolls, pasties and pies. We cook a large range of ready meals. We make a good 80 per cent of what we sell.
Set in Ruby Country, named for Ruby Red cattle, the farm offers a tea garden with views of Dartmoor. With a long drive to the shop, it’s only a committed visit. Check the website for hours and tour details.
- Farm tours run from June to October. Children meet animals, join a farm walk, then enjoy a hot, homemade pasty and a glass of cider or juice. Bring wellies. Try a sausage roll or enjoy cream tea in the garden if the weather is good.
8. Miller’s Farm Shop, Kilmington, near Axminster, East Devon
James and Olivia Miller’s farm shop, in operation for over 40 years, sells farm-grown and locally sourced produce, including local fish, meats, milk, cream, and a variety of regional cheeses.
What sets Millers apart from most Devon farm shops is the French dimension. Malcolm had a property in France, and he liked the products they had there, so he started to bring some back with him, and it grew from there. Now people come here just to buy French wine. Great British Life The shop is restocked with French produce by weekly visits to France, resulting in shelves carrying soft cheeses, tinned duck, biscuits, olive oils and wines alongside the Devon produce.
The salad leaves and vegetables grown in the surrounding fields are picked fresh for the shop, and the Lyme Bay fish is as good as the county has to offer. The friendly atmosphere of a family-run working farm with people who really know their stuff and are passionate about great food completes this heavenly shopping experience. Visit Miller’s Farm Shopfor opening hours.
- Worth Knowing: The Teapot Café serves breakfast, lunch and cake made on the premises. The combination of Devon vegetables from the field outside and French cheese from the weekly buying trip to France is unusual and worth exploring.
- Before you leave, pick up something freshly picked from the field and a bottle of French wine chosen by Malcolm.
Practical Tips
- Devon’s lanes are narrow, and many of these shops are hidden away from main roads. Postcode navigation usually works, but it’s smart to check each farm shop’s website for exact directions, especially for Blackberry Farm and Stokeley.
- Most of these shops are busiest on weekends. If you visit during the week, especially from Tuesday to Thursday, you’ll have a better experience and more time to chat with the staff.
- Ruby Red Devon beef is a local breed known for its marbling and rich flavour. It’s dry-aged longer than most commercial beef. If you’re buying a roasting joint, ask the butcher how long it’s been hung and where it was raised.
- In Devon, the tradition for cream tea is to put jam on the scone before the cream. Locals take this seriously, so it’s best not to argue with the custom.
- The Taste of the West awards are the most respected in the regional food industry. Gold winners are always a good sign of real quality.
Responsible Visiting
These shops aren’t just supermarkets in the countryside. They’re real working farms that now sell directly to the public. Often, the people serving you are the same ones who grew or raised what you’re buying. So, plan your visit with that in mind. Try not to arrive just before closing and expect everything to be available. Ask questions, the staff usually have plenty of knowledge to share.
Reader Q&A
Which of these farm shops is the best for a complete weekly shop? Darts Farm at Topsham is the most comprehensive. The food hall covers vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, bread, deli goods, wine, cider and specialist produce from hundreds of local suppliers. Greendale is a close second for range, thanks to its own fishing fleet.
Which is the most remote and worth the drive? Blackberry Farm at Milton Damerel in North Devon. It is a genuine working farm with the kind of landscape and welcome that makes the distance feel like part of the experience. The views from the tea garden across to Dartmoor are the best attached to any farm shop in the county.
Which is best for cheese specifically? Quicke’s at Newton St Cyres is the definitive answer. The Quicke family has been farming this land since 1540. The clothbound cheddar is made from milk from their own cows, matured in their own stores and sold in their own shop. There is no shorter chain from field to cheese in English cheesemaking.
Can I buy Devon produce online from these shops? Darts Farm, Greendale, Quicke’s, and Strawberry Fields in Lifton all offer online ordering with national delivery. Darts Farm and Quicke’s have the most developed online offerings.
Devon produces more than enough food for itself, and these shops were built on that idea. The Dart brothers still send someone out to the fields every morning. The Carter family still brings in fish on their own boats. The Quicke family still wraps each cheese by hand in muslin, just as they have for five generations. These shops aren’t just honouring tradition; they’re living it.
