A working organic farm where you can buy the beef, meet the pigs it isn't, drink good coffee, and walk two waymarked trails through the fields — all in the one visit. Bring boots and give it the morning.
What you'll do — shop the farm shop and the butchery, sit in the Ballylagan Kitchen for soup, a toastie or a coffee, and walk one or both of the two self-guided trails, which are open all year and take you past the pigs, the woodland and the pond.
How long — an hour for the shop and a coffee. Two or more if you walk a trail as well, which you should.
Only open four days a week.Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm — closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. This is the one that catches people out, so check the day before you drive.
Come ready for a farm — the trails are field and woodland, so shoes you don't mind. Rain makes the woodland smell wonderful and the pond look better, so don't let it stop you.
Cost & food — free to walk in and free to walk the trails. The kitchen does organic soup with sourdough, seasonal quiche, pastries and toasties, and there's a babycino for the smallest.
Worth knowing — the farm is certified organic and the shop is widely described as the first organic farm shop in Northern Ireland. It rates 4.6 out of 5 across 185 Google reviews.
Plan your visit
Check the day first — it's Wednesday to Saturday only
Ballylagan opens Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10am to 5pm, and is closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. That's a working farm's timetable rather than a shop's, and it's the single most common reason someone arrives to a closed gate. The two walking trails are self-guided and open through the year, so you take yourself round at your own pace — no booking, no guide, no charge. Ring the shop on 028 9332 2867 if you want to check anything before you travel, or 028 9332 2129 about staying over.
Wed–Sat only · 10am–5pmTwo self-guided trailsBallylagan KitchenButchery & charcuterieParking on site
Two things that make this more than a shop:
The trails are the reason to give it longer than you planned — they're free, open all year and they go past rare-breed pigs, woodland and a pond, which is a lot of day out for nothing. And the riding school on the same farm, Ballylagan Trail Rides, is a separate booking if anybody in the car has been asking about horses. Opening days, prices and what's on the counter can change, so confirm anything you're relying on.
What's on site
Four things on the one farm
🥕The farm shopTheir own organic beef, lamb and pork, home-grown vegetables and organic groceries. The veg goes out in wicker baskets and crates by the door with the prices chalked up.
☕Ballylagan KitchenDaily organic soup with sourdough, seasonal quiche, fresh pastries and toasties, in a room of bare stone and deep teal with plants everywhere.
🐖The trails and the pigsTwo self-guided walks, open year-round and free, out past the rare-breed pigs, the woodland and a pond that holds the sky on a bright day.
🛏️Somewhere to stayThere's holiday accommodation on the farm — an apartment and guest rooms — if you'd rather make a night of it than a morning.
Good to know
Everything before you go
Cost
Free to visit, and the two walking trails are free. You pay for what you buy in the shop and the kitchen.
Opening
Wednesday to Saturday, 10am–5pm. Closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
The trails
Two self-guided walks, waymarked, open all year. Farm and woodland ground — wear shoes you don't mind, and expect it soft after rain.
Food
Ballylagan Kitchen serves daily organic soup with sourdough, seasonal quiche, fresh pastries and toasties, with coffee, tea and a babycino for small ones. Prices change — the board is on the wall as you come in.
The farm
120 acres in south-east Antrim, certified organic, run by Tom and Patricia Gilbert. Beef, lamb and pork with an on-site butchery and charcuterie, plus home-grown vegetables.
Parking
On site at the farm.
Dogs
We haven't been able to confirm a dog policy — and this is a working farm with livestock in the fields the trails cross, so ring ahead and ask before you bring one.
Accessibility
The shop and kitchen are on the level. The trails are farm and woodland ground rather than made paths, so they won't suit every wheel. A quick call is the surest answer.
Also on the farm
Ballylagan Trail Rides, a riding school, and holiday accommodation — both booked separately.
Reputation
4.6 out of 5 from 185 Google reviews. The farm is described in tourism listings as the first organic farm shop in Northern Ireland, and the first farm in County Antrim to be certified organic by the Soil Association.
Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. It's a working farm, so the shop keeps farm hours — check before you drive out.
Can we walk the trails without buying anything?
Yes. Both trails are self-guided, waymarked and free, and they're open through the year. Most people do the walk and then end up in the shop anyway.
Will the children see animals?
There are rare-breed pigs out in the fields along the trail, and cattle and sheep on the farm. It isn't a petting farm with a timetable — it's a real farm you walk through, which some children like even better.
Is there somewhere to eat?
Ballylagan Kitchen, on site. Daily organic soup with sourdough, seasonal quiche, pastries and toasties, plus proper coffee. Small, bright and worth sitting in rather than taking away.
What should we wear?
Shoes you don't mind getting muddy if you're doing a trail — it's field and woodland, not tarmac. A coat for the walk. After rain the woodland smells terrific, so a wet day is no reason to stay in.
Is the riding school part of the same visit?
Ballylagan Trail Rides is on the same farm but booked separately — you can't just turn up and ride. If horses are the point of the trip, arrange that first and make the shop and trails the rest of the day.
Getting there
Ballylagan Organic Farm, 12 Ballylagan Road, Straid, Ballyclare BT39 9NF — in the country south-east of Ballyclare, close enough to Belfast for a morning out, with parking on the farm.
Tom and Patricia Gilbert farm 120 acres here in the country south-east of Ballyclare, and they went organic early — the tourism listings record Ballylagan as the first farm in County Antrim to be certified organic by the Soil Association, back in the early 1990s, and the shop as the first organic farm shop in Northern Ireland. Whichever way you count it, they were doing this a long time before the supermarkets put up a sign about it.
What that means on the ground is a farm run for the soil and the animals rather than the yield. Beef, lamb and pork, butchered on site, with a charcuterie behind it. Vegetables grown in the field and carried the short distance to a wicker basket by the shop door. Rare-breed pigs out on ground that looks like ground pigs should be on, which is to say muddy.
They've opened the place up rather than kept it behind a gate. Two waymarked trails run out through the fields and woodland and past the pond, free and open all year, so you can walk the farm that grew what you're about to buy. The kitchen came later, and the guest rooms, and a riding school along the lane.
Go on a Wednesday or a Saturday morning, walk the long trail first, and eat afterwards. You'll be hungry, and everything will taste better for having seen where it came from.
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