Days Out NI
Farm Shop Near Lisburn, Co. Down

Ashvale Farm Shop & Tea Room

A family farm shop in the County Down countryside, with a bright tea room under a canopy of hanging greenery.

5 photos
Mon–Sat, 9am–5pmClosed Sundays
Free to visitPay for what you eat and buy
BailliesmillsNear Lisburn, Co. Down
Get directions Official website
1–2 hrsHow long
All agesBest for
IndoorsShop & tea room
On siteParking
Mon–SatClosed Sun

A working family farm shop with a tea room built underneath a canopy of hanging ferns and warm little bulbs, out where the Lisburn roads turn into hedgerows. Come for a coffee, leave with the dinner.

  • What you'll do — eat in the tea room and orangery, browse the farm shop for local produce and home bakes, and have a look round the ladies' clothing boutique the family added after the rebuild.
  • How long — about an hour for coffee, a traybake and a wander round the shop. Closer to two if you sit down for a proper breakfast or lunch.
  • It's closed on Sundays. Monday to Saturday only — the shop until 5pm, the tea room until 4.30pm, and the hot food stops earlier than both.
  • The car park is small. It fills at weekends and over the lunch rush. Come early, or roll in mid-afternoon when the tables free up and the coffee is just as good.
  • Food & cost — free to walk in and browse. Breakfast 9–11.45am, lunch 12–3.30pm, and sweet things, teas and coffees all the way to 4.30pm. No booking for the tea room, it's first come first served — afternoon tea is the one thing you book ahead.
  • Worth knowing — it took Best Eating Establishment at the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council Business Awards in 2025, and sits around 4.4 out of 5 across more than 900 Google reviews.
Plan your visit

Turn up any weekday morning and you'll walk straight in

The farm shop opens Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm, and the tea room and orangery run 9am to 4.30pm alongside it. Breakfast is served 9am until 11.45am, lunch from 12pm until 3.30pm, and after that the kitchen winds down but the cake counter, teas and coffees keep going until half four. Everything is closed on Sundays. There's no booking for the tea room — first come, first served — with the single exception of afternoon tea, which is booked through their website. Ring 028 9263 8099 if you're travelling a distance and want to check the day.

Mon–Sat · closed Sunday Tea room & orangery Parking on site Farm shop & boutique Accessible toilets
The honest steer on timing:

Saturdays and the middle of the day are the busy stretch, and the car park is on the small side — visitors regularly mention circling for a space at peak times. A weekday morning or after about 2pm is the easy run, and you'll get the pick of the tables in the orangery. Prices, hours and what's on the counter can all change, so confirm anything you're relying on before you set off.

What's on site

Four things under one roof

  • 🥬The farm shopLocal produce, everyday groceries and the food the family have built the place on — the shop side stays open an hour after the kitchen stops.
  • 🍰The tea roomBreakfast, lunch and a glass counter of cheesecakes, meringues, tarts and traybakes. Bright, planted, and the reason most people first come.
  • 🌿The orangeryAdded in 2021, it doubled the size of the original sixteen-seater tea room. Light pours in, which makes it a lovely spot on a grey day.
  • 👗The boutiqueA ladies' clothing boutique run by one of the daughters, opened as part of the rebuild — worth a browse while someone finishes their coffee.
Good to know

Everything before you go

Cost
Free to walk in and browse — you pay for what you eat and what you buy.
Farm shop hours
Monday to Saturday, 9am–5pm. Closed Sunday.
Tea room hours
Monday to Saturday, 9am–4.30pm. Breakfast 9–11.45am, lunch 12–3.30pm, and sweet treats, teas and coffees available through the day until 4.30pm.
Booking
The tea room runs first come, first served — no need to book. Afternoon tea is the exception and is booked in advance through their website.
Parking
On site. It's a small car park for how popular the place is, so it fills at weekends and over lunch — earlier or later is the easier run.
Toilets
Toilets on site, including accessible toilets.
Dogs
Guide dogs are welcome. We haven't been able to confirm a policy for other dogs — ring ahead and ask before you bring one.
Accessibility
The listing with Visit Lisburn & Castlereagh records accessible toilets and guide dog access. For anything specific — step-free routes, table space for a wheelchair — a quick call is the surest answer.
Also on site
The farm shop, the tea room and orangery, and a ladies' clothing boutique.
Reputation
Around 4.4 out of 5 across more than 900 Google reviews, and Best Eating Establishment at the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council Business Awards 2025.
Contact
028 9263 8099 · ashvalefarmshop.co.uk
Questions

Before you go

Do I need to book a table?
No. The tea room is first come, first served, so you can simply turn up. The one thing you do book ahead is afternoon tea, and that goes through their own website.
Is it open on Sundays?
No — Ashvale runs Monday to Saturday only. The farm shop is 9am to 5pm and the tea room 9am to 4.30pm.
What time does the hot food stop?
Breakfast finishes at 11.45am and lunch orders run to 3.30pm. After that the kitchen is done, but the cake counter, teas and coffees carry on until 4.30pm — which is a fine reason to arrive late.
Is there parking, and how busy does it get?
There's parking on site, but it's small for how well-loved the place is, and Saturdays and lunchtime are the pinch. A weekday morning or mid-afternoon and you'll park at the door.
Can I bring the dog?
Guide dogs are welcome. Beyond that we haven't been able to confirm the policy, so give them a ring before you travel with one rather than find out at the door.
Is it worth going just for the shop?
Yes — plenty of people call in for the produce and the bakery counter and never sit down. And because the shop stays open half an hour after the tea room closes, it's a handy stop on the way home.
Getting there

Ashvale Farm Shop & Tea Room, 11 Old Ballynahinch Road, Bailliesmills, Lisburn BT27 5PE — out in the countryside south-east of Lisburn, with parking on site.

Directions on Google Maps Official website See it on our map

Check the day before you travel: 028 9263 8099

Nearby

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The story

Sixteen seats, a fire, and a family who opened again on the anniversary

The Herrons started Ashvale in 2014, on their own farm on the Old Ballynahinch Road. It began about as small as these things begin: a farm shop with a sixteen-seater tea room, run on the idea that if you grow food for a living you may as well feed people properly. Word travelled the way it does in County Down, by somebody telling somebody. In 2021 they added the orangery and doubled the seating.

Then in February 2022 a fire took hold in a storeroom. The fire service put it down as accidental. By the time it was out, most of the site was gone — the shop, the tea room, the years of building it up. The family were left standing in front of the wreck of it deciding what to do next, and what they decided was to build it back.

It took a year. They reopened in February 2023, on the one-year anniversary of the fire, at nine in the morning. Today it's Edward and Julie along with their daughter Emily-Jane running the shop and tea room, with another daughter's clothing boutique alongside it — the second generation of the family on the same ground, still describing what they do as simple, honest food, and still buying from the producers around them.

Which is a good thing to know while you're sitting under the ferns with a coffee and something from that cake counter. Go and enjoy it — and if you like it, tell somebody. That's how it got here.

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