Days Out NI
Farm Shop Portadown, Co. Armagh

Chapman's Farm Fresh

A stone barn on the Dobbin Road with FARM FRESH lit across the gable — shop, bakery, kitchen and the Little Gem café inside.

5 photos
Mon–Sat, 8am–6.30pmClosed Sundays
Free to visitPay for what you eat and buy
Dobbin RoadPortadown, Co. Armagh
1 hrHow long
All agesBest for
IndoorsShop & café
On siteParking
Mon–SatClosed Sun

A converted stone barn in the middle of Armagh's orchard country, with a clock on the gable and FARM FRESH lit across it. Inside is one of the best-stocked farm shops in the county — and a café that's genuinely worth sitting down in.

  • What you'll do — shop the fresh produce, work along a curved wall of chutneys, jams and sauces, pick up bread and traybakes from the on-site bakery and ready meals from the kitchen, then eat in the Little Gem café at the back.
  • How longan hour does it comfortably, shop and coffee together.
  • Closed on Sundays. Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6.30pm — a long day, so an evening call-in on the way home works.
  • The café — Little Gem, described on the wall as "the fresh heart of Chapman's". Coffee, freshly squeezed juices, scones under glass domes, and a soup of the moment chalked up each day.
  • Local to the bone — this is Armagh, so the Bramleys on the shelf are County Armagh Bramleys, grown in the orchards around you. Long Meadow Cider and the Armagh Cider Company are both a couple of minutes down the road.
  • Worth knowing — a shelf of awards behind it: Great Taste Awards, the Irish Restaurant Awards 2020, Independent Fresh Produce Retailer 2023 and Ulster Tatler Family Business of the Year 2023. It rates 4.5 out of 5 from 115 Google reviews.
Plan your visit

Open early and open late — for a farm shop

Chapman's runs Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6.30pm, closed Sunday. That's a much longer day than most farm shops manage, which makes it one of the few you can catch on the way to work or on the way home. There's no booking for the café — you walk in. Ring 028 3833 0222 if you want to check anything, and note their hamper range runs from about £75 to £200 if you're there for a present rather than the dinner.

Mon–Sat · 8am–6.30pm Little Gem café Bakery & kitchen on site Parking on site Hampers & gift vouchers
Make it an Armagh food run:

You're a couple of minutes from Long Meadow Cider and the Armagh Cider Company at Ballinteggart, both working orchards you can visit, and Brackagh Moss nature reserve is a short hop for a walk afterwards. Do the three and you've had a proper day out of what looked like a shopping trip. Prices and what's on the counters change — the boards are chalked up fresh, so treat anything you read here as a guide.

What's on site

Four things under the one roof

  • 🥬The farm shopFresh produce hand-picked rather than palletised — cauliflowers, tomatoes, salad and the County Armagh Bramleys the county is known for.
  • 🍯The preserve wallA long curved run of shelves carrying chutneys, jams, sauces and dressings. It's the bit people photograph, and the bit that empties your wallet.
  • 🥐Bakery and kitchenBread, scones and traybakes baked on site, and a kitchen turning out ready meals and savouries — the easy answer to what's for dinner.
  • Little Gem café"The fresh heart of Chapman's" — coffee, freshly squeezed juices, a soup of the moment on the board and scones under glass. Bright, calm and no booking needed.
Good to know

Everything before you go

Cost
Free to walk in. You pay for what you eat and what you buy.
Opening
Monday to Saturday, 8am–6.30pm. Closed Sunday.
Booking
None needed for the café — it's walk-in.
Food
Little Gem café does coffee, freshly squeezed juices, scones and traybakes, and a soup of the moment chalked up daily. The kitchen and bakery supply the shop with savouries, breads and ready meals.
Parking
On site, in the yard in front of the building.
Gifts
Luxury hampers, roughly £75 to £200, and gift vouchers.
Dogs
We haven't been able to confirm a dog policy for the shop or café — ring ahead and ask before you bring one.
Accessibility
Level access through the arched front and a wide, flat shop floor with a stone-tiled surface. For anything specific a quick call is the surest answer.
Awards
Great Taste Awards (one and two star), Irish Restaurant Awards 2020, Independent Fresh Produce Retailer 2023, and Ulster Tatler Family Business of the Year 2023.
Reputation
4.5 out of 5 from 115 Google reviews.
Contact
028 3833 0222 · chapmansfarmfresh.co.uk
Questions

Before you go

What time does it open and close?
8am to 6.30pm, Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday. That's early enough for before work and late enough for on the way home, which is unusual for a farm shop.
Do I need to book the café?
No. Little Gem is walk-in. It sits at the back of the shop, so you can do the messages and then sit down.
Is it just a shop, or is there a reason to linger?
The café makes it a stop rather than an errand. And the building itself is worth a look — a stone barn with a clock and a weathervane, lit up beautifully after dark.
What's the food like?
Well regarded: Great Taste Awards for what they make, an Irish Restaurant Award in 2020 for the café side, and Independent Fresh Produce Retailer in 2023 for the shop. Reviewers score it 4.5 out of 5.
Can I get a hamper made up?
Yes — they do luxury hampers in a range from around £75 to £200, plus gift vouchers. Worth ordering ahead at Christmas rather than chancing it.
What else is nearby?
You're in the middle of Armagh's orchard country. Long Meadow Cider and the Armagh Cider Company at Ballinteggart are both within a couple of minutes, and Brackagh Moss nature reserve is close for a walk.
Getting there

Chapman's Farm Fresh, 47 Dobbin Road, Portadown, Craigavon BT62 4EY — out among the orchards east of Portadown, with parking in front of the building.

Check before you travel: 028 3833 0222

Nearby

Make more of the day

The story

A barn built for the job, in the middle of the orchards

The date on the gable says 2002, which is when the Chapmans put up the stone building you park in front of. It doesn't look like a shop from the outside. It looks like a barn somebody cared about — rough stone, brick arch, a clock, a weathervane on the cupola — and after dark, with FARM FRESH lit up across the front, it's one of the better-looking buildings you'll pull into on a Tuesday evening.

Inside it does what a family farm shop does when it's done properly. Produce chosen by hand rather than ordered by pallet. A bakery working at the back. A kitchen making the savouries and ready meals. And a long curved wall of jars that turns a five-minute errand into twenty. The awards have followed: Great Taste for what they make, Independent Fresh Produce Retailer in 2023 for how they sell it, and Ulster Tatler Family Business of the Year the same year for the whole of it.

The café came later, called Little Gem and signed "the fresh heart of Chapman's", which is either a lettuce joke or a fair description, and probably both.

You're in the orchard country here — this is where the County Armagh Bramley comes from, and there are cider farms within two minutes in either direction. Go early, get the bread while it's warm, and make a morning of the whole townland.

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